Woolworths' move to put the price of 5000 products online has been cautiously welcomed by consumer advocates, and has its major rival looking at following suit.
The grocery giant yesterday took what it called "the first step in the journey" by posting the information online, but admitted it had some way to go.
Its move follows criticism led by consumer advocate Frank Zumbo of recent claims by both Woolworths and Coles that they were lowering prices, without providing hard evidence.
Both Mr Zumbo, an associate professor of business law at the University of NSW, and consumer group Choice, called for the "greater transparency" that Woolworths yesterday said it was committed to providing.
Woolworths earlier said it was permanently reducing prices of 3500 products - but provided just 16 examples - while Coles said it was committed to uniform statewide pricing.
Coles does not publish product prices on its site, but a company spokesman said the supermarket was "committed to price transparency".
"We've unveiled Australia's largest range of products on uniform state and national pricing," he said.
"Following this initiative, we're now examining all our options to provide the most comprehensive and transparent online price display."
Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said while he welcomed Woolworths' move, the grocer and others had cited the inability to provide the information earlier as a reason to scupper the GroceryChoice website.
That website was canned by the federal government last year after $10 million was put into its development.
"A year ago they said this was impossible, yet here we are," Mr Zinn said.
"If they had done something like this earlier, probably $10 million of public money wouldn't have gone down the gurgler."
Woolworths' move still meant shoppers had no easy way of comparing prices, and the conditions of use made it difficult to use the figures in a third-party website.
The grocer said it would take full responsibility for the prices, which under the Trade Practices Act need to be accurate at the time of publication. Woolworths will update the prices at 6am each Monday.
"We've asked them to put prices online, and they've certainly started that process, but we'd still like a bit more transparency," Mr Zinn said.
"And if you're transparent, you need to be flexible. I'm still keen to see the rest of their items online. Why wouldn't you put those online?"
Mr Zumbo said Woolworths had thrown down the gauntlet to Coles.
"This now puts the onus clearly on them to also put their prices online," he said.
While he welcomed Woolworths' move as a first step, he agreed the grocer should go a lot further.
"They've got 30,000 items, and this proves they could put the prices of all of those online if they wanted to," Mr Zumbo said.
While Woolworths provides information such as shelf, promotional and unit prices for products at a particular store, it does not give any more information on what products are permanently discounted.
"They also need to assure us that they didn't raise the prices of the rest of their products while dropping the prices of those 3500," Mr Zumbo said.
"Again, if they don't put that information online, we're left taking their word for it."
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