Australian shoppers are unknowingly overspending by thousands of dollars each year due to price complacency, according to analysis by Grocerize.

The platform’s real-time data proves that our memory is an unreliable guide in the face of dynamic pricing. Shoppers mentally ‘anchor’ the price of a regular item – like a block of cheese at $9 or a loaf of bread at $5 – and stop questioning it. However, the true daily prices fluctuate dramatically, and this complacency comes at a high cost, says Blake Bennett, founder of Grocerize.

“Our brains aren’t built to track hundreds of constantly changing prices. We rely on mental shortcuts, and that’s where we get caught out,” he said.

Grocerize’s analysis found a standard block of cheddar cheese was mentally anchored by many shoppers at around $9, while it actually ranged from $7.50 to $15 between the two major supermarkets. A popular brand of tomato sauce showed a 45% price difference, while the cost of a 1kg bag of carrots varied by over 30%.

“I was shocked when I first saw the raw data,” says Mr Bennett. “I thought I was a savvy shopper, but I realised my perception of prices was often weeks, or even months, out of date. We built this tool to be a personal ‘reality check’ against that complacency.”

Grocerize is a free AI-powered tool that is claimed to replace flawed perception with hard facts. It pulls data on the price of products at a users local supermarkets, enabling them to find the cheaper sales price. Coles and Woolworths stores are currently compared, while the site claims to also be working on ALDI data.

“The question we want every Australian to ask is not ‘What do I think this costs?’, but ‘What does this actually cost right now?’” says Mr Bennett. “The difference between those two questions can save you a fortune.”