See whether the other chain followed a price move

A product sold at several chains is one product to you. When Coles puts its price up, the question is whether Woolworths does too, and how soon. Cannonball answers it for your products and rivals that it has matched across chains: by barcode where both chains publish one, otherwise by name.

On What changed and Home#

Under a price rise, cut or promo start that counts as the chain's move (see What counts as a move), What changed and Home add a line for each other chain in your plan that the product was matched at that day:

At IGA, New World and PAK'nSAVE the last two lines read "hasn't moved chain-wide yet" and "didn't move chain-wide within 14 days": only a move across the chain counts there.

With What changed narrowed to a state (such as "Changes at Coles in WA only"), each line is that state's: only moves that ran there count, on both sides. A Coles move in Victoria only doesn't answer a Woolworths move seen from WA, and "didn't move within 14 days" means didn't move in WA. A product we haven't matched at another chain has no line. See Find what changed since a day.

On the product page#

Under the Shelf price chart, Did the other chains follow? lists the product's price moves in the chart's range, newest first, each with the other chains' answers. It also lists the other chains' moves that this chain didn't answer, such as "Woolworths price cut −10%" with "Coles didn't move within 14 days". On top, one line per chain sums it up, such as "Woolworths followed 2 of Coles' 6 moves, moved first on 1 and didn't move on 3." It lists the newest 12 and says how many earlier moves there are. To see them, pick dates above the chart that end earlier.

Get an email when it happens#

1. On the product page, click Alert me. Or go to Alerts, click New alert and choose Any of your products or Any rival you watch.
2. Choose one of the two rules. On a product they read as below. On a group they read "One of them has a price move at another chain" and "Another chain follows a price move of one of them" (or "of a rival"): - "Its price moves at another chain (a rise, a cut or a promo)": the same product's rise, cut or promo start at another chain. The email says whether the product's own chain moved first, the same day, later, or not yet. - "Another chain follows its price move within 14 days": the same product at another chain moves the same way within 14 days after a move of the product's own, not on the same day.
3. Click Set alert.

A product's Alert me offers them only when the product is matched at another chain in your plan, and on a rival's product only the second. On New alert, the first is for your own products, and the second for your products or your rivals. A chain narrows them to your products at that chain (the move can be at any other chain in your plan), and a state to moves that ran there. They're emailed like your other alerts: what fires overnight comes in the 7:00 email. See Alerts.

What counts as a move#

• A move the chain made. A price change across the chain counts, and so does one at 5 or more stores of a state or price zone. A change at fewer than 5 stores doesn't. IGA, New World and PAK'nSAVE stores each set their own prices, so there only a change across the whole chain counts. A state move meets another chain's move only where both ran, or where one was national.
• The same direction. Up is a regular price rise. Down is a price cut or a promo starting: both lower the shelf price a shopper sees. A promo ending isn't a move here.
• Within 14 days, before or after. The nearest move counts, and one move at the other chain answers only one move here: the nearest.
• Each chain against its own price. The size is each chain's change on its own price before it. We never compare one chain's price with another's here, and never price per kilo or litre: a matched product is the same pack at both chains.
• The same product on that day. Products are matched across chains each night, by barcode or by name. A move counts only on days both products were matched, and only matches we're sure of count (the same barcode, or a name match we're at least 90% sure of).
• How each chain's price is read is said on the product page, such as "Coles' zone prices and Woolworths' national online price": Coles' and ALDI's are their zone prices, Woolworths' its national online price, and IGA's each store's own price.

What it can't tell you#

• Why. A chain moving after another may be following it, or both may be passing on the same supplier's new price. The line gives the timing, not the reason.
• Products we haven't matched across chains. Coles, IGA and ALDI publish no barcodes, so their matches are by name, and some products aren't matched yet.
• A product that was matched before but isn't today. We start from today's matches, then count only the days each pair was matched.