Auckland, 13 May 2022 – MonopolyWatch NZ is urging kiwis of all political persuasions to say “stop picking our pockets” and demand an end to the country’s outdated, unfair and unsustainable supermarket industry structure. Sign the Consumer NZ’s Stop the super profits petition.

The monopoly busting NZ public policy group says that any Kiwi concerned at the way a globally unprecedented market structure underpins a geographically monopolised supermarket industry needs to vote with their pens. Because they can’t vote with their wallets: they don’t have that choice.

It is not a time to get let party politics take precedence when a sector that affects everybody is so badly broken.

MonopolyWatch submitted independent evidence to the Commerce Commissions market study of the grocery sector showing that a failure to act on this could negatively affect NZ’s international credit rating.

No one in NZ voted for a 3:2 merger of supermarkets when competition law in NZ was being changed. It occurred as a result of a legal technicality. Yet here we are, without effective choice in the most fundamental of consumer decisions.

MonopolyWatch urges the Minister to break up the retail monopoly club of 2 operators who control the NZ industry, which has failed NZ consumers while stunting innovation, climate change action and price competition.

Without addressing the total imbalance of retail store configuration, where a single operator dominates large urban areas and even entire towns, NZ will not attract the billions of dollars of capital required to allow a “like for like" competition confrontation with incumbent supermarket operators.

This market structure, unique to NZ, is an international embarrassment. It would be illegal in many other OECD peer group countries.

It’s the governments job to protect consumers, and we urge the Minister to force divestment of at least 123 supermarkets to a 3rd operator and commence real competition for the benefit of consumers.

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