Shoppers are saving up to 40 per cent on groceries by signing up to price comparison apps, imperfect produce delivery services and online food co-operatives in response to supermarket price increases.

Food prices have risen about 4 per cent each year since the pandemic hit, compounding the cost-of-living crisis and leading more Australians to shop around for savings, according to the ongoing ACCC inquiry into supermarket pricing.

Australians are increasingly going online to find innovative ways to save. Joanne Bianchi, a 63-year-old customer service representative from Bayswater, Victoria, signed up to receive fortnightly supplies of imperfect (and cheaper) fresh produce from delivery service Farmers Pick after seeing a post on Facebook.

She says she was sick of “scrounging for bargains” at her local supermarket, and now saves up to $45 a week on produce.

She’s not alone. Farmers Pick subscriber numbers have nearly doubled since January. “We’re seeing a momentum shift,” says founder Josh Ball. “Families are just looking for something different because the status quo isn’t cutting the mustard.”

Melbourne-based not-for-profit social enterprise The Community Grocer has seen customer numbers double at their weekly produce markets over the past year, and now serves more than 300 households each week.

The Community Grocer works closely with farmers to obtain fresh fruit and vegetables at low prices, selling produce for around 35 per cent less than surrounding shops and produce boxes from $20 through Open Food Network - an open-source software platform enabling community groups and farmers to cut out the middle man, and sell directly to consumers.

Anyone is welcome to shop at The Community Grocer, and general manager Georgia Savage says many are feeling the increasing financial pressure.

“People who visit our markets or order a box are often surprised by the quantity of fruit and veg they’re able to purchase with $20, and we can see the relief on their faces,” she says.

More than 12,000 people in NSW have joined Box Divvy, an online food co-operative where neighbourhood groups (“hubs”) band together through an app to buy produce at wholesale prices. Many of their 250 hubs are now at capacity.

Box Divvy’s prices have always been between 30 and 40 per cent lower than supermarkets, says Anton van den Berg, a former supermarket analyst who founded Box Divvy with Jayne Travers-Drapes in 2019. “But people are feeling it more now because their paychecks don’t go as far.”

The pair will open a new Sydney warehouse next week, expanding their range of products from 300 to 1500, and plan to eventually open in Victoria and Queensland.

“We want to become a major player in the grocery arena, and give Coles and Woolies a run for their money,” van den Berg says.

In 2023, another imperfect produce subscription service, Oddprod, launched in Sydney. And in March, Danish app Too Good to Go announced it planned to expand into Australia, connecting users with cheap surplus food from restaurants and stores.

Struggling to afford groceries as a single dad, Melbourne-based Adrian Liu used to spend hours poring over supermarket catalogues and websites to find the best prices. In 2018, he created an app to automate the process.

WiseList now saves its 220,000 active users an average of between $20 and $34 each shop, he says.

“When the supermarket inquiry began earlier this year, we saw a 35 per cent increase in our user base, and it just continues to grow,” Liu says.

Groceries became the fastest-growing category on Australian price comparison website BuyWisely in January, says founder Andrew Yang.

“We’ve noticed a significant uptick in user engagement … with half of our price alert subscriptions focusing on groceries, highlighting consumer sensitivity to price changes in this area,” he says.

Here are four ways to use technology to cut your shopping bill.

Compare prices

Price comparison apps take your grocery list and scan supermarket websites to deliver up-to-date product information, revealing where to shop to save between 10 and 30 per cent.

Tech start-up UpUp has created an app that reveals whether Coles or Woolworths offers a better price on users’ groceries that day.

UpUp developers Trevor Lu and Laurent Tu say most users prefer to split their shop between the big two supermarkets to maximise savings.

For a greater selection, Australian website BuyWisely tracks more than 3 million products across 10 million e-commerce websites, from supermarkets to major retailers such as Amazon and eBay. It shows pricing history for each product, allowing users to determine the best time to buy, and set alarms for price drops.

• UpUp, apps.apple.com/au; play.google.com/store/apps
• WiseList, wiselist.app
• BuyWisely, buywisely.com.au

Embrace ‘ugly’ produce

Supermarkets reject about 2.4 billion kilograms of produce a year for failing to meet cosmetic standards. Subscription services such as Farmers Pick, Good & Fugly and Oddprod work with farmers to divert that “ugly” produce from landfill to produce boxes, delivered weekly, fortnightly, or on a one-off basis.

Subscribers can save up to 30 per cent on fresh produce. The larger the box, the greater the value, as it can better absorb the cost of delivery.

In the US, UK, Europe and Canada, popular apps reduce food waste by providing a platform for restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets to resell surplus food at discounted prices. In Australia, WA app Foody Bag has saved more than 135,000 food items from landfill, and Queensland app Gander highlights clearance items for sale at supermarkets.

• Farmers Pick, farmerspick.com.au
• Oddprod, oddprod.com.au
• Good & Fugly, goodandfugly.com.au

Cut out the middleman

Buy directly from local farmers and community food enterprises using the Open Food Network. The open-source software, now in its 12th year, hosts virtual farm gates selling everything from bunya nuts (at Cazuarius Produce in Otford, NSW) to pine mushrooms (at Somerset Farm in Seymour, Victoria); as well as food cooperatives with cheaper bulk goods.

Not-for-profit group The Community Grocer in Melbourne aims to combat food security – an issue faced by 3.7 million Australian households – by selling produce boxes from as little as $20.

“We’re about community food resilience by [facilitating] shorter supply chains,” says food systems programs manager Prue Rothwell. “It supports less reliance on one dominant food system.”

• Open Food Network, openfoodnetwork.org.au

Band together

Online food co-operatives allow members to buy goods at wholesale prices, with few overheads and savings of between 30 and 40 per cent.

Box Divvy operates 250 food hubs across NSW and the ACT. Membership is free, and orders are made through a shopping app, where prices are listed against the cost paid to farmers.

At membership-based online store Wholesome Market, customers pay a $59.95 annual fee to access sustainable pantry items for close to wholesale prices. Each fee buys a second membership for someone in need, and donates five meals to food rescue charity OzHarvest.

Perth-based co-founders Alene Sullivan and Jerry Li estimate they’ve saved customers $1.5 million since launching in late 2020.

• Box Divvy, boxdivvy.com
• Wholesome Market, wholesomemarket.com.au