Pitched as a way to open up a grocery market that Labour says is dominated by two companies, Labour's Fairer Grocery Prices plan would make Woolworths and Foodstuffs run their wholesale businesses separately from their supermarkets so that smaller grocers can compete.

📋 Labour: Fairer Grocery Prices, September 2026 →

What it does

• Requires Woolworths and the two Foodstuffs cooperatives to run their wholesale supply businesses independently from their retail stores, creating Foodstuffs Wholesale and Woolworths Wholesale.
• Guarantees grocers the right to buy stock from any wholesaler on fair terms, and stops the big groups cutting off supply to smaller stores as they gain customers.
• Removes the restraint-of-trade rules that stop individual stores such as Four Squares from lowering prices, switching chains or going independent.
• Bans junk fees charged to food producers and suppliers, and makes rebate and data deals more transparent.
• Applies only to Woolworths and the two Foodstuffs cooperatives, which Labour says together control more than 80% of the grocery market, and not to dairies, cafes or independent grocers.

The debate

Labour leader Chris Hipkins and commerce and consumer affairs spokesperson Arena Williams announced the plan in Upper Hutt on 20 September 2026, saying Labour would act immediately rather than wait for another review. National's Nicola Willis called it concerningly light on detail and said a wholesale-retail separation had scored lowest of the options assessed by experts commissioned under the previous Labour government. ACT leader David Seymour said weakening the supermarkets' buying power against large multinational suppliers would leave shoppers worse off. Woolworths said it would keep engaging constructively with the Commerce Commission and the government. Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick welcomed the focus on groceries but said neither major party's plan went far enough, arguing for a government-owned supermarket chain.