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The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Australian Federal Government’s fabled GroceryWatch website has been scrapped. We wrote critically about the dire accessibility of the site when it first launched. In the meantime, consumer advocacy magazine Choice had taken over the project from the government.

What happened? There are of course several sides to the story (see the herald story for details)

This quote from the Australian National Retailers Association is however telling

We have always maintained that Choice’s model was fundamentally flawed, as retailers could not provide the data Choice was demanding, Ms Osmond said in a prepared statement. “Few consumers would have benefited from historical prices for 7,500 items, including 50 types of mouthwashes and 25 types of bird treats, wormers, and vitamins.

I’d be astounded if retailers can’t provide pricing details going back over generations, and really isn’t it for consumers to decide what benefits them? But that’s beside the point – the retailers really should never have been in the loop.

Here’s a suggestion. Choice, why not provide a mechanism for consumers to provide the pricing of goods they’ve bought themselves. Then, you aren’t reliant on the retailers for the data, which seems to be the sticking point all round.

We here at Web Directions are happy to offer our advice, as valuable or otherwise as it would be, for free.

GroceryWatch is Dead. Long Live GroceryWatch!

Note to major retailers – the day is fast approaching where it won’t be the government or choice keeping tabs on you – it will be your consumers. Yes, they do it in their handfuls now. Are you ready for when they do it in their thousands?