How CheapGroceries Works
CheapGroceries.au is an independent Australian grocery price intelligence platform. We are not affiliated with Coles, Woolworths, ALDI or IGA.
Where prices come from
We collect publicly accessible pricing data from supermarket websites through scheduled data collection jobs. Each retailer has a separate, replaceable provider module so we can adapt when websites change.
Price freshness
Every product page shows when prices were last checked. Popular products are updated daily; lower-priority items every 3–7 days. If data is more than 3 days old, we flag it as stale rather than presenting it as current.
Price history
We only record a new price observation when the price actually changes — not on every collection run. This gives you a meaningful history of real price movements, not thousands of duplicate entries.
Deal Score
Our Deal Score (0–100) is calculated independently from retailer marketing. It considers current price vs historical averages (30-day, 90-day, 12-month), the 12-month low, competitor prices, unit price, and promotion status.
- 90–100: Excellent deal
- 75–89: Very good deal
- 60–74: Good deal
- 40–59: Fair price
- 0–39: Poor deal
We do not fabricate statistics. If there is insufficient history, we tell you honestly rather than guessing.
Product matching
We match equivalent products across supermarkets using barcode, brand + name + size, and fuzzy matching. Uncertain matches are flagged for review — we never merge products when confidence is low.
Limitations
Prices can vary by store (especially IGA). Our data represents observed prices at collection time and may not reflect in-store differences, member pricing, or regional variations. Always verify prices at checkout.