Fed: Senator gives grocery site four out of 10

AAP General News (Australia)
08-07-2008
Fed: Senator gives grocery site four out of 10

CANBERRA, Aug 7 AAP - A coalition senator who created her own grocery price watch website
has given the Rudd government's version "four out of 10".

Queensland Liberal senator Sue Boyce's ShopSmart website, launched last month, also
has an added feature - a comparative unit pricing calculator.

Both websites source grocery prices from a monthly survey of supermarkets.

"I've had people already tell me that they're not finding the (GROCERYchoice) website
terribly useful," Senator Boyce told AAP.

"I think it would be fantastic if we've got a national website that does help people,
but I'm not sure that this is it."

Although the ShopSmart website was set up specifically for Queensland, it was set up
for "almost no cost at all", she said.

The government version, administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission,
is reported to have cost $13 million.

There were problems with the GROCERYchoice average pricing model, she said.

"If you look at it, you get an average price for all of Brisbane, which is not a terribly
useful thing if you've got hundreds of supermarkets to choose from in that area.

"And again, you get prices from an average price from Longreach to Gladstone which
doesn't help people either."

Senator Boyce rated GROCERYchoice a "four out of 10 for a good idea".

"They certainly need to do a lot more work to make it properly useful and relevant
to people who are going to the supermarket, desperate to save some dollars," she said.

AAP srj/rl/it/jlw

KEYWORD: GROCERY BOYCE

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