Aldi has won Canstar’s 2026 Most Satisfied Customers Award for supermarkets for the ninth year in a row. Aldi received high ratings across all categories, including value for money, deals and specials available, own-brand product quality and store and website layout and presentation.
Aussie households are working hard to stick to a budget in the face of ongoing cost-of-living pressure—but grocery bills are still on the rise, according to Canstar’s 2026 survey of supermarket shoppers.
The survey, which gathered insights from 2,738 shoppers, found the average weekly grocery bill for a household of four now sits at $245—a 2% increase on the 2025 average of $240.
Encouragingly, that rise is smaller than the annual inflation rate of 3.3% for food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded in June 2026, suggesting shoppers are managing to keep their bills growing slower than prices themselves.
We asked Australians to tell us the most important thing a supermarket could offer them and the answer came back loud and clear: low prices.
The majority of survey respondents (60%) said they want low prices across all products, not just specials. Meanwhile, 17% said they want convenience when they shop, with a suitable location and easy access to parking. Twelve percent of respondents said variety of products was most important to them, while 10% said rewards points, offers or collectables mattered most.
With grocery bills stretching household budgets, Aussies are getting savvier at the checkout, with Canstar’s data showing 81% have changed their grocery habits in the last 12 months to keep costs down.
Among the most popular tactics, two fifths (40%) have cut back on treats and snacks, while a quarter (25%) have swapped brand names for home brand versions. Of those who’ve made the switch to home brand, bakery (63%) and pantry items (63%) are the most popular categories, followed by dairy (59%), frozen foods (57%) and cleaning products (37%).
In addition to cutting back on treats and switching to home brand, shoppers said they also used these tactics to save at the checkout in the past 12 months:
The average weekly spend on groceries for a household of four varied across the country, with a $54 difference between the highest spenders in the ACT and the lowest spenders in Victoria. This gap could reflect a range of factors, including differences in average incomes and local pricing across states and territories.
While online shopping with click and collect or delivery offers convenience, Aussies still overwhelmingly prefer to shop in-store. Our survey found 86% of shoppers get their groceries in-store, with just 8% opting for delivery and 6% choosing click and collect.
Many shoppers are also splitting their grocery shop across multiple stores to find the best deals, with 47% completing their shop at two supermarkets, 34% sticking to just one, and 16% visiting three.
Our review compares supermarkets on customer satisfaction, so you can find out what other Aussies think about the compared brands before you go ahead with a purchase. Think of it as like asking hundreds of your closest mates which supermarkets they think is best!
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more detailed information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Walk into an Aldi and you’ll notice fewer brands, simpler layouts, and a lot more own-label products on the shelves. That’s been the model since the German-owned chain arrived in Australia in 2001, setting up its first two stores in Sydney. The bigger chains have had to adapt to Aldi’s influence over the past two decades, most notably by copying its bi-weekly “special buys” concept. Those pop-up bargain aisles, stocked with everything from garden tools to ski gear, are a big part of why people keep coming back. It’s less about browsing and more about grabbing what you need at a lower price.
Unlike the big two chains, no single company runs every IGA store. The banner itself belongs to Metcash, but each IGA is independently owned and operated by its local retailer. That’s why one IGA can feel completely different from the next, stocking local suppliers and produce that larger chains often skip. Store owners also have some flexibility over which Metcash programs and promotions they take part in, rather than following a single national playbook. The trade-off for that variety is the Black and Gold range, which covers the everyday basics shoppers expect at a lower price.
Coles has been a fixture of Australian grocery shopping for decades, competing head-to-head with Woolworths for the title of biggest supermarket. Its own-brand shelves run from entry-level basics right up to Coles Finest, aimed at shoppers after something a bit more premium. Loyalty is handled through Flybuys, a rewards program Coles co-owns with Wesfarmers via their joint venture, Loyalty Pacific. Beyond the physical stores, Coles also leans heavily on delivery and Click & Collect, so a shop doesn’t have to mean a trip to the aisles.
Woolworths built its identity around fresh produce, and the phrase “The Fresh Food People” has stuck with the brand for decades. Its shelves carry a wide spread of home-brand lines, stretching from cheap staples to the health-oriented Macro Wholefoods Market range. Shoppers collect rewards through Everyday Rewards, the loyalty scheme Woolworths Group runs across Australia and New Zealand. Between its physical footprint and options like home delivery and Direct to Boot, getting groceries shoppers don’t have to step inside a store at all.
Not all brands in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are several more brands to check out before making a purchase decision.
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This article was written by Canstar’s Consumer Writer, Jasmine Tait. Jasmine is a Consumer Writer within Canstar’s editorial team. Jasmine graduated from the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Communications. Jasmine has previously edited for a variety of publications including ScratchThat magazine and Seaglass Literary.
When Jasmine isn’t working, you can usually find her reading or spending time with her friends and family.
Grace is in the final semester of her Bachelor of Advanced Business (Honours) degree at The University of Queensland, majoring in Business Analytics and Marketing. Her studies have equipped her with strong capabilities in data analysis and consumer research. Grace began her journey with Canstar in early 2025 as a casual research assistant and has since progressed into her current role, where she oversees the consumer research ratings across a wide range of product and service categories. She is responsible for survey design and consumer data analysis, and enjoys her focus on uncovering insights that inform Canstar Blue’s ratings and awards and help support consumers to make more informed decisions.
Here are the past winners from Canstar Blue’s supermarket ratings:
Best-Rated Baby High Chairs - August 11th
Aussie households spend on average $178 per week on groceries, according to Canstar Blue’s July 2025 survey of supermarket shoppers.
– Read more
Best-Rated Breakfast Cereal - December 7th
Meat is a costly part of the weekly shop for many Australians. Weighing up cost, cut and type and choosing which supermarket to purchase from can make a real difference when it comes to quality …
– Read more
Best-Rated Chewing Gum Brand - June 3rd
Woolworths will stop selling its 15-cent reusable plastic shopping bags nationwide over the next year. It’s the first supermarket to pledge to remove all plastic shopping bags for good.
The reusable plastic shopping bags will be …
– Read more
Best-Rated Baked Beans - May 3rd
Did you know there’s a much faster way to shop and get through checkout queues at Woolworths?
The Woolies app has a little-known DIY feature − Scan&Go − that allows shoppers to scan grocery barcodes on …
Best-Rated Block Cheese - October 14th
Put those tasteless celery sticks away! We know that choosing snacks to keep hunger pangs AND that extra bulge at bay can be hard, especially if you’re short on time or just looking for a …
– Read more
