Willis said the RFI would help the government to determine the next regulatory and legislative changes.
The government wanted to hear what it would take to get a third player into the New Zealand grocery market, she said.
Willis also announced she was considering “structural separation” of entities in the sector.
She said she was seeking external specialist advice “on ways in which the existing supermarket duopoly could be restructured to improve competition, including advice on options for demerger of existing brands, the potential impacts of structural separation on existing entities, and concepts for how this could be achieved”.
Last month, Willis spoke at the New Zealand Economics Forum in Hamilton and spelled out findings of a 2022 Commerce Commission report showing “competition between grocery retailers is muted, profits are high, product ranges are limited and shoppers pay higher prices than people in many other countries”.
Willis also noted New Zealand supermarkets were the most expensive for kitchen staples compared with the UK, Ireland and Australia.
In February, Willis ruled out the government opening its own grocery chain and said the government could not force a third entrant to the market to break the country’s supermarket duopoly.
In September last year, Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden said supermarket margins had increased, profits remained high and the two main operators, Foodstuffs and Woolworths, remained dominant.
“We want to see more competition and sustained pressure on the major supermarkets to deliver better outcomes for consumers.”
He said in a competitive market retail margins growth would be limited, or reduce, with price competition.
