Thanks to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, two of our biggest supermarkets are facing fines that could stretch into the hundreds of millions of dollars due to allegedly engaging in dodgy practices at the expense of us, their consumers.

In case you missed it, this week, the ACCC announced it is taking legal action against Woolworths and Coles, claiming the supermarket giants manipulated prices on over 500 products, including everyday pantry staples such as cereals, coffee, biscuits and toothpaste, to boost their bottom line.

Next time you’re in the supermarket, take a look at the men’s and women’s razors or deodorant, and you’ll quickly see a glaring disparity.Credit: Getty Images

Using a practice known as deceptive pricing, the ACCC says the supermarkets raised the cost of an item for a period of time before then marking them down or bundling them into a deal, (two for the price of one; three for $15).

Once the sale or deal period was over, you’d assume the product would return to its standard price, right? Well, according to the ACCC, the “standard” price these products were reset to was actually higher – in some instances by as much as 29 per cent – than its original pre-special price.

Oreos, for example, were priced at $3.50 for almost two years straight before suddenly rising to $5 in November 2022. Just one month later, the biscuits were “on sale” at $4.50, with the non-promotional full price marked as $5.

As the ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said in bringing forward their case: “For many years, each of........

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