NZ grocery key numbers, with sources
The key numbers on NZ supermarkets in one table: market shares, supplier survey results, wholesale sales, store counts and the break-up study, each with its source and date.
What this guide covers
The three big grocery groups held 82% of the national grocery market in 2025. By store brand, Woolworths had 27%, PAK'nSAVE 25% and New World 22%. Every number on our grocery pages is listed below with its source, the page where you can find it, and its date.
How to use this table
Each row gives one number, what it measures, and where it comes from. The number in square brackets links to the source at the foot of the page.
Most market numbers come from one official source: the Commerce Commission's own reports. News figures are as reported on the date shown. Party figures are promises, not law.
Market
Market: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: 82%. What it measures: National grocery market share of the three big grocery groups (Foodstuffs North Island, Foodstuffs South Island, Woolworths), 2025. Source: [1, printed pages 19 to 20]
Number: 27%. What it measures: Woolworths share of the national grocery market by store brand, 2025. Source: [1, printed page 20]
Number: 25%. What it measures: PAK'nSAVE share by store brand, 2025. Source: [1, printed page 20]
Number: 22%. What it measures: New World share by store brand, 2025. Source: [1, printed page 20]
Number: about $430 million a year. What it measures: How much the big groups' profits would fall each year if their returns were at a normal level, in the Commission's 2022 market study. Source: [2, paragraph 3.54]
Suppliers
Suppliers: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: about $6 billion (26% of the big groups' sales revenue). What it measures: Rebates, discounts and payments between the big groups and suppliers, 2025 financial year. Source: [1, printed pages 1 and 36 to 37]
Number: 83% (74%). What it measures: Suppliers who answered the survey and reported at least one issue with the big groups (2024 in brackets). Source: [3, pages 38 to 39]
Number: 29% (22%). What it measures: Respondents reporting trouble getting data and insights (2024 in brackets). Source: [3, pages 38 and 40]
Number: 340. What it measures: Suppliers who answered the 2026 survey, out of more than 4,000 contacted. Source: [3, pages 4 and 38]
Number: over 3,500. What it measures: Product suppliers Foodstuffs says it trades with. Source: [4]
Wholesale
Wholesale: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: about $22 million. What it measures: Sales through the big groups' wholesale offers, July 2023 to August 2025. Source: [1, printed pages 15 to 16]
Number: 234. What it measures: Wholesale customers the big groups accepted, July 2023 to December 2025. Source: [1, printed pages 15 to 16]
Number: 78% / 21% / 1%. What it measures: Share of those wholesale sales: Woolworths / Foodstuffs North Island / Foodstuffs South Island. Source: [1, printed pages 15 to 16]
Law and decisions
Law and decisions: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: 26 June 2023. What it measures: Grocery Industry Competition Act 2023 received royal assent (most of it in force 10 July 2023). Source: [5]
Number: 13 July 2023 to 11 July 2028. What it measures: Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden's term. Source: [6]
Number: 1 May 2026. What it measures: Grocery Supply Code 2025 in force (replaced the first Code of 28 September 2023). Source: [7]
Number: 7 July 2026. What it measures: Commerce Commission closed its wholesale supply inquiry without recommending new rules "at this stage". Source: [8]
Number: 1 October 2024. What it measures: Commerce Commission declined clearance for the Foodstuffs North Island and South Island merger. Source: [9]
Number: February 2027. What it measures: Expected trial of the Commission's cartel case against Foodstuffs North Island and Gilmours Wholesale (both defending it). Source: [1, printed page 2]
Number: $5 million. What it measures: Claims in the grocery dispute resolution scheme must generally be under. Source: [10]
Number: 7 November 2026. What it measures: General election held; official results due 27 November 2026. Source: [11]
Foodstuffs
Foodstuffs: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: 47 / 105 / 162. What it measures: Foodstuffs North Island stores at 1 October 2025: PAK'nSAVE / New World / Four Square. Source: [1, Table 1, printed page 11]
Number: 12 / 43 / 57. What it measures: Foodstuffs South Island stores at 1 October 2025: PAK'nSAVE / New World / Four Square (plus 62 On the Spot). Source: [1, Table 1, printed page 11]
Number: 219. What it measures: Four Square stores in both co-ops at 1 October 2025 (162 + 57). Source: [1, Table 1, printed page 11]
Number: 1922. What it measures: Year Foodstuffs says it began. Source: [12]
Number: 12 weeks. What it measures: Length of Foodstuffs' Four Square Ownership Immersion Programme, on the shop floor. Source: [13]
Number: almost 500. What it measures: Foodstuffs owner-operators who signed open letters against the break-up plans. Source: [14]
Break-up study
Break-up study: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: about $2.9 billion. What it measures: Net benefit of a Foodstuffs split over 20 years, central case (Sense Partners, as reported). Source: [15]
Number: $920 million. What it measures: Net benefit if the split raises costs 2% instead of 1%. Source: [15]
Number: about $13.1 billion. What it measures: Gain to shoppers over 20 years (National quotes $12.6 billion). Source: [15]
Number: $200 to $1,320. What it measures: Household gain a year by 2035, lowest to highest. Source: [16]
Party promises
Party promises: key numbers, checked 9 November 2026
Number: $2.8 billion. What it measures: Green Party KiwiMart: buy at least 120 stores and two distribution centres ($1.3 billion) and set up the company ($1.5 billion). Source: [17]
Number: $5 million. What it measures: National: money for the Commerce Commission's six-month test of a Foodstuffs split. Source: [18]
Number: $10 million, three times the gain, or 10% of turnover. What it measures: NZ First: maximum fines. Source: [19]
Number: $100 million. What it measures: Te Pāti Māori: seed funding for Māori-owned supermarket chains, within a $3.1 billion kai package. Source: [20]
Limits
Read these before you quote a number
A national market share does not describe every town, and it does not prove anyone broke the law.
Survey figures are suppliers' own reports, from those who chose to answer.
The break-up study figures come from news reports of it. The study's authors called their work "indicative rather than definitive".
General information, not legal, financial or investment advice. Check your own situation with a lawyer, accountant or the Commerce Commission.
The steps
Find the number you need.
Open the source and the page shown.
Quote the source and its date with the number.
What share of NZ groceries do the big supermarkets sell?
The three big grocery groups held 82% of the national grocery market in 2025, according to the Commerce Commission.
Where do these numbers come from?
Mostly from the Commerce Commission's Annual Grocery Report 2025 and its Grocery Supplier Survey Report 2026, both published on 2 June 2026. Each row names its source.
Sources, checked 9 November 2026
[1] Commerce Commission, Annual Grocery Report 2025 (PDF), published 2 June 2026: https://www.comcom.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Annual-Grocery-Report-2025-2-June-2026.pdf
[2] Commerce Commission, Market study into the retail grocery sector: final report (PDF), 8 March 2022: https://www.comcom.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/278403/Market-Study-into-the-retail-grocery-sector-Final-report-8-March-2022.pdf
[3] Commerce Commission and Ipsos, Grocery Supplier Survey Report 2026 (PDF), published 2 June 2026: https://www.comcom.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Grocery-Supplier-Survey-Report-2026-2-June-2026.pdf
[4] Foodstuffs, Partnering with us, checked 9 November 2026: https://www.foodstuffs.co.nz/partnering-with-us
[5] New Zealand Legislation, Grocery Industry Competition Act 2023, assent 26 June 2023: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2023/0031/latest/whole.html
[6] New Zealand Gazette, appointment of the Grocery Commissioner, 12 July 2023: https://gazette.govt.nz/notice/id/2023-go3127
[7] Commerce Commission, Grocery Supply Code page, checked 8 November 2026: https://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/grocery/grocery-supply-code/
[8] Commerce Commission, Wholesale Supply Inquiry project page (closure 7 July 2026), checked 8 November 2026: https://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/projects/wholesale-supply-inquiry2/
[9] Commerce Commission, Commerce Commission declines clearance for the proposed Foodstuffs merger, 1 October 2024: https://comcom.govt.nz/news-and-media/media-releases/2024/commerce-commission-declines-clearance-for-the-proposed-foodstuffs-merger
[10] NZ Dispute Resolution Centre, Grocery Industry Dispute Resolution Scheme, checked 9 November 2026: https://nzdrc.co.nz/expertise/grocery-industry-dispute-resolution-scheme/
[11] RNZ, 2026 election results in full (preliminary), 8 November 2026: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/election-2026-results
[12] Foodstuffs, Our story, checked 9 November 2026: https://foodstuffs.co.nz/who-we-are/our-story
[13] Foodstuffs, Careers: Becoming an Owner, checked 9 November 2026: https://www.foodstuffs.co.nz/working-at-foodies/becoming-an-owner
[14] Fruitnet, Foodstuffs supermarket owner-operators object to break-up proposals, 22 September 2026: https://www.fruitnet.com/produce-plus/foodstuffs-supermarket-owner-operators-object-to-break-up-proposals/272759.article
[15] 1News, National to 'pursue' Pak'nSave and New World break-up, 16 September 2026: https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/09/16/national-to-pursue-paknsave-and-new-world-break-up/
[16] 1News, Foodstuffs challenges National to show receipts on supermarket split savings, 18 September 2026: https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/09/18/foodstuffs-challenges-national-to-show-receipts-on-supermarket-split-savings/
[17] Green Party, Affordable food for all of us (policy PDF), September 2026: https://www.greens.org.nz/affordable_food_full_policy
[18] interest.co.nz, Nicola Willis says National will look at breaking up Foodstuffs, 16 September 2026: https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/140274/national%E2%80%99s-nicola-willis-says-if-re-elected-government-her-party-will-look
[19] NZ First, NZ First will break up the supermarket duopoly (release via Scoop), 19 April 2026: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2604/S00094/nz-first-campaign-policy-announcement-nz-first-will-break-up-the-supermarket-duopoly-bring-food-prices-down-for-kiwis.htm
[20] RNZ, Te Pāti Māori pledges $3.1 billion plan for 'kai sovereignty' if elected, 21 September 2026: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/1494123/te-pati-maori-pledges-3-point-1-billion-plan-for-kai-sovereignty-if-elected