Woolworths New Zealand recognized total sales from food of around billion New Zealand dollars in the year ended June 2025, representing a slight rise from the previous year and a continued year-on-year increase in revenue since 2021. Woolworths New Zealand operates under the multinational Australian retail company Woolworths Group Limited, known for its operation of Woolworths Supermarkets across Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealand subsidiaries of the company include Woolworths (formerly known as Countdown), FreshChoice, and SuperValue.
Which retailers does Woolworths New Zealand compete with?
Alongside Foodstuffs New Zealand, Woolworths New Zealand is part of the country’s grocery market duopoly. Foodstuffs, which operates as two separate entities, Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island, holds the largest market share, followed by Woolworths, and The Warehouse. In the 2024 financial year, Foodstuffs North Island generated a revenue of around billion New Zealand dollars, with its South Island counterpart recording over billion New Zealand dollars in revenue that same year. Across the leading brands owned by the top three supermarkets, Four Square, a Foodstuffs brand, had the highest number of supermarket locations across the country in 2024, followed by the Woolworths chain and New World.
Consumer sentiment toward New Zealand’s grocery retailers
Nevertheless, despite their mounting financial success, these two grocery giants have come under scrutiny recently by the Grocery Commission and consumers alike due to a lack of competition within the country’s supermarket sector alongside rising food prices. In August 2024, Foodstuffs North Island was fined million New Zealand dollars by the Wellington High Court for anti-competitive land covenants. To stimulate competition within the sector, clearer grocery codes and unit pricing regulations have been established, with the aim of shifting some power to new players, retailers with smaller market shares such as The Warehouse Group, and other grocery businesses.