Supermarket News Column: Wholesale inquiry continues – NZFGC continues to be a strong voice for suppliers

Read more here: MARCH 2026 - Supermarket News

Back in September 2024, the Commerce Commission announced an inquiry into wholesale supply. Since then, the NZFGC has engaged closely on behalf of suppliers. We’ve shared information, hosted webinars and roundtables, engaged with decision makers to ensure the complexity of the industry and the impacts of proposals are well understood.  

Fast forward to March 2026, when we received an update from the Commission at a webinar hosted by the NZFGC-where we continued this important advocacy work on behalf of suppliers. 

How did we get here?  

Concerns about limited wholesale access for small, new, and expanding retailers aren’t new. The 2023 Grocery Industry Competition Act required the Woolworths NZ, Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island to establish wholesale supply systems that intended to allow for other retailers access to products at better prices and volumes. When the Commission released its first annual Grocery Report in August 2024, it concluded these early systems weren’t delivering the improvements expected, launching the Wholesale Supply Inquiry on 4 September 2024 under section 56 of the Act.  

Where things stand now 

There’s been extensive debate and several rounds of consultation. On 5 June 2025, the Commission published its Preliminary Findings Paper outlining concerns around wholesale pricing, product range and consistency, access and transparency, and the role of promotional funding. 

In November 2025, on the eve of the NZFGC Annual Conference, the Grocery Commissioner issued an open letter setting expectations for how the wholesale regime should operate. The letter was welcomed for signalling a preference for industry‑led behaviour change as the quickest and most efficient pathway to improved wholesale access. 

The NZFGC’s position is clearly on the record. When the inquiry launched, the wholesale regime had been operating for just over a year and we did not agree the threshold had been met for triggering more interventionist regulatory measures. While we set that difference aside to pursue working constructively towards an industry‑led solution - our clear preference over regulation - we remain concerned about unintended consequences and inefficiencies in some proposed approaches. Our submissions and roundtables have highlighted suppliers’ unease about losing control of commercial levers such as rebates, discounts, and promotional spend, and we appreciate the Commission’s recognition of this risk. 

Earlier this month, the NZFGC hosted a webinar where the Commission outlined its roadmap for the next phase of the inquiry. Encouragingly, the Commission reiterated its preference for industry‑led solutions, while signalling it can regulate if sufficient progress is not made. Key upcoming milestones include: 

• Mid‑March 2026 – Draft Indicators Released: A draft set of monitoring indicators providing the benchmarks for assessing progress, centred on pricing, RDPs, and range. 

• June 2026 – Industry Roadmap & Draft Report: A consolidated roadmap outlining commitments from RGRs and targeted suppliers to improve wholesale competitiveness without further regulation, released alongside the Commission’s draft inquiry report. 

• June/July 2026 – Consultation on the draft report. 

• August 2026 – Final Report published. 

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The NZFGC will continue ensuring the sector’s realities are properly understood and that any system is intentionally shaped to deliver lasting benefits for suppliers, retailers, and consumers. Once the mid‑March indicators are released, we will rapidly gather member feedback - noting the short timeframe for roadmap development is extremely tight given the scale and duration of the inquiry to date. Our guiding principle remains that any measures must be commercially reasonable and viable for suppliers, recognising the competitive and volume‑driving role of existing investments. 

We intend to host another webinar to support this engagement and expect to welcome the Commissioner and team to our AGM and May Member Meeting as the roadmap advances. Keep an eye out for event details, and please contact me if you’d like to discuss further.