Price Disclaimer
KAI-ching is a free, independent New Zealand grocery price-comparison tool at kaiching.co.nz. This page explains where our prices come from, their limits, and how our price-history features work, so you know exactly how much to trust the numbers.
- Prices come from each supermarket's own website, not in-store, and can be out of date.
- Woolworths prices are checked every day; Pak'nSave & New World weekly (usually Tuesday), for the town you choose. The app shows when each was last checked.
- Price-history labels (like "Lowest we've recorded since 24 Jun") only appear once we've recorded at least 4 weeks of real price checks, and each store is judged against its own recorded prices, so many products won't show one yet.
- Always check the price at checkout before you buy, it's the only number that's guaranteed accurate.
Where our prices come from
We check Woolworths prices every day, and Pak'nSave & New World prices for each town weekly (usually Tuesday), just after their weekly specials change, all from the supermarkets' own websites. We don't have any special relationship with these supermarkets, we're simply reading the same prices they publish online. That means our prices can lag behind manager's specials, regional pricing differences, and in-store-only promotions, and may not always match what you see at the checkout.
Pick your town for New World & Pak'nSave prices. Pak'nSave and New World stores are individually owned and each set their own prices, so for the town you choose (use the town selector at the top of the page) we show the prices from the New World and Pak'nSave stores we check for each town. We cover the main NZ centres and are adding more; if your town isn't listed yet we default to Auckland. Woolworths prices are its standard online prices (largely national).
Which stores we check
Pak'nSave and New World stores are individually owned and price per store, so for each town we check one New World and one Pak'nSave near the town centre (a full-size store, not a small inner-city one). The default view, price history and price index use the Auckland stores.
- Auckland: New World Mt Roskill · PAK'nSAVE Royal Oak
- Christchurch: New World Durham Street · PAK'nSAVE Moorhouse
- Dunedin: New World Centre City · PAK'nSAVE Dunedin
- Hamilton: New World Glenview · PAK'nSAVE Mill Street
- Invercargill: New World Elles Road · PAK'nSAVE Invercargill
- Napier: New World Onekawa · PAK'nSAVE Napier City
- Nelson: New World Nelson City · PAK'nSAVE Richmond
- New Plymouth: New World New Plymouth · PAK'nSAVE New Plymouth
- Palmerston North: New World Pioneer · PAK'nSAVE Palmerston North
- Queenstown: New World Queenstown · PAK'nSAVE Queenstown
- Rotorua: New World Westend · PAK'nSAVE Rotorua
- Tauranga: New World Brookfield · PAK'nSAVE Cameron Road
- Wellington: New World Thorndon · PAK'nSAVE Kilbirnie
- Whanganui: New World Whanganui · PAK'nSAVE Whanganui
- Whangarei: New World Regent · PAK'nSAVE Whangarei
Woolworths prices are largely national, so they're the same in every town.
All prices are from the supermarkets' own websites as at our last check (Woolworths: daily; Pak'nSave & New World: weekly, usually Tuesday), and the app shows the date of each. Between weekly checks we show the last Pak'nSave/New World price we actually recorded, so a mid-week change at those stores won't appear until the next check. Always confirm at the checkout.
Loyalty cards and multibuys
Comparisons use the standard shelf price – the price everyone pays without a loyalty card. Where a product also has a lower card price (Woolworths Everyday Rewards or New World Clubcard), we show it as a separate "w/ Rewards" or "w/ Clubcard" note on the product, but it never changes which store we call cheapest. Pak'nSave's promotions are mostly multibuys ("3 for $5"), and multibuy offers aren't compared yet. If you're a heavy loyalty-card or multibuy shopper, your real totals may differ from ours.
Price history and "buy now or wait"
Working out whether something is a good price needs prices tracked over many weeks. Because we're a new tool, we're still building that history from real price checks. History is counted in calendar weeks (Monday to Sunday), and only weeks we actually recorded a price count: checking Woolworths every day doesn't add extra weeks, and a week we missed isn't counted at all. Everything you see is built from prices we actually recorded; we don't fill gaps with estimated or simulated prices. We only show a price-history label once a product has at least 4 recorded weeks, so many products won't show one yet. We'd rather show nothing than a number we can't stand behind.
Each label judges the store that's cheapest today against that same store's own recorded weekly prices, never against a different store, so a "drop" can't come from another store simply joining our checks. If we hold fewer than 3 earlier weeks for that store, we call it stable.
- "↓ Lowest we've recorded since [date]": today's price is at or below every weekly price we've recorded for it at that store, and at least 7% below that store's average. The date is when we first recorded a price for the product.
- "Good price": at least 3% below that store's average recorded weekly price.
- "Above usual": at least 7% above that store's average recorded weekly price.
- "≈ Stable price": anything in between, or not enough of that store's own history yet.
The small trend line next to a product shows the cheapest price across the stores for the last 10 recorded weeks, for context only. Price-history labels are worked out for our default town (Auckland), so in other towns you'll see the Auckland trend line, labelled as such, rather than a verdict on your town's prices.
Deal labels on specials
When a store has a product on special, we check that special against prices we've actually recorded. These labels describe prices, not anyone's intentions: a special can be a genuine price cut at that store and still not be the cheapest option this week.
- "✓ Real deal N% off": the store's price is at least 15% below its own usual price, where "usual" is the median of the weekly prices we recorded at that store in earlier weeks. We only award it once we hold at least 4 earlier weeks for that store; N is how far below that usual price it is.
- "N% off" (no tick): the discount against the store's own "was" price, shown as the store states it, when our own recorded history doesn't settle it either way (for example, we don't yet hold enough weeks for that store).
- "Not below usual price": once we hold 8 or more earlier weeks for that store, a special that isn't at least 2% below the price we usually record there.
- A grey "[store] $X.XX regular" note: the product is on special, but another chain's regular (non-special) price for the same product, checked in the same week (Monday to Sunday), is still lower, by at least 20c and at least 5%.
If more than one applies, we show one, in this order: dearer than another chain's regular price, then not below usual price, then real deal, then the store's "was" price discount. Woolworths prices are national, so in other towns a Woolworths real deal still shows when Woolworths is the cheapest store there. Apart from the plain "N% off", which is the store's own figure, these labels come only from prices we've recorded ourselves.
Not affiliated
KAI-ching is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Woolworths, Pak'nSave, New World, or Foodstuffs. Product names, images and prices belong to their respective retailers and are shown for comparison purposes.
Contact
Spotted a price that looks wrong? Let us know: hello@kaiching.co.nz.