Australians could be paying a premium of as much as 40 percent buying groceries through delivery apps, as opposed to directly at supermarkets.
CHOICE Editorial Director Mark Serrels said an investigation by the consumer group revealed the cost of using apps like DoorDash, UberEats and MilkRun, when ordering from Woolworths, Aldi or Coles.
“With grocery delivery now available via apps, we decided to compare prices across a comparable list of 13 grocery products to find out how much you’re really paying for convenience,” Mr Serrels said.
“For Coles, we compared the products with what you’d pay in-store versus via UberEats and DoorDash. For Woolworths, we compared in-store prices to prices through MilkRun and UberEats, and for Aldi, we looked at in-store costs and the price when delivery was made via DoorDash.”
He said the investigation found that individual items were on average 11 percent more expensive when purchased via a third-party delivery service, but some items were as much as 42 percent more.
“Adding delivery app charges alongside the product prices increased the total order cost by up to 39 percent.”
Mr Serrels said of the 13 items compared, seven of the products from Aldi were priced higher on DoorDash when compared to the price paid in-store.
“Twelve of the 13 items were priced higher on a Woolworths MilkRun order, and for all other comparisons, the prices for each item were higher when purchased via the third-party service when compared to what you would pay if you actually went in-store.”
He said the biggest markup CHOICE discovered was for Coles Vanilla Ice Cream Cones 4-pack.
“They were just $3.70 in-store, but you’ll pay 42 percent more – $5.25 – through DoorDash or Uber Eats.”
