• Grocery Sector Study

  The long-running Grocery Sector Study remains at the forefront of ACCC market inquiries, with its final report informing the implementation of reforms in 2025 and the design of a second tranche of reforms addressing pricing transparency and regional supply.

• Small Business Survey

  The ACCC's Small Business Survey was updated in late 2024 and continued to inform Government policy settings last year. We expect the 2025 survey update to reveal shifting sentiment among participants. 

• Right to repair

  The ACCC has contributed to broader consumer law reform processes, including the Productivity Commission’s Right to Repair inquiry, where it supported reforms to address legal and practical barriers to repair and highlighted the impacts on consumers and small businesses.

• Digital Platforms Services Inquiry

  While digital platforms are addressed in a separate chapter, last year, the ACCC continued its Digital Platform Services Inquiry, which is likely to have some implications for the retail sector. For example, the Commission explored the competitive impact of loyalty schemes (such as ‘flybuys’ and ‘Everyday Rewards’), digital wallets, and various “buy now, pay later” services. The ACCC Chair, Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, also flagged potential future scrutiny of the gig economy’s intersection with retail, particularly in food delivery and fast fashion. 

• Consumer Data Right

  Throughout 2025, the ACCC engaged in policy discussions on extending the Consumer Data Right (CDR) to the retail sector. While no retail-specific CDR scheme was launched, the Commission expressed support for enabling consumers to share loyalty or purchase data to access better deals. 

Unfair contract terms and unfair practices 

The ACCC also continues its broader campaigns across consumer retail to tackle unfair contract terms (UCT) and misleading subscription traps under the “new” unfair contract regime. The ACCC sent notifications to operators in sectors such as gym membership, food delivery, and streaming services in late 2025, with subsequent UCT proceedings mooted. We expect to see additional publicity on the results of these efforts later this year concerning the actions taken by the ACCC and the administrative resolutions reached with targeted businesses. 

In parallel to its efforts to promote the UCT regime, the ACCC continued to advocate for a broader prohibition on “unfair trading practices” under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). This proposed reform would target manipulative conduct – sometimes referred to as ‘dark patterns’, that are currently claimed to fall outside of existing protections – though that is debatable. The proceedings against Microsoft and will shed light on the extent of current proceedings for this type of conduct and the need for further legislative reform.

Assessment against priorities 

In 2025, the ACCC made solid progress on its stated priorities for the consumer markets & retail sector, though some matters remain incomplete. It delivered meaningfully on supermarket sector competition and pricing transparency, completing the Grocery Inquiry and continued its proceedings against Australian supermarkets for misleading discount claims. The enforcement actions against The Good Guys and Webjet also demonstrated a clear focus on misleading pricing and surcharges. However, the absence of test cases under the new UCT regime marked a gap in enforcement, with the ACCC instead focusing on compliance engagement and preparatory work. Similarly, while the regulator advocated for a general prohibition on unfair trading practices, no legislative progress was made in 2025. Finally, small business survey results show that their grievances remain stubbornly unchanged, and other issues (such as the right to repair) are still not working as well as the ACCC might hope. In short, the ACCC still has a bit to do to deliver on this aspect of its overall responsibilities.

Looking forward 

In 2026, we might see:

• The ACCC continue with further industry-wide “ACL blitzes” but this year focussing on subscription traps, misleading pricing and (again) unfair contract terms with targeted actions against (for example) subscription models (food, streaming, gym services) that fail to disclose cancellation rights.
   
• New market studies, such as a follow-up grocery inquiry on regional supply and pricing floors, the publication of the final Digital Marketplaces report with reform proposals and new studies on the impact of the gig economy in other consumer market settings.
   
• The commencement of some test cases to clarify the scope of the new UCT regime, including the definition of “small business”, and targeting sectors such as gyms, streaming and online retail, to clarify the law’s application and drive compliance.
   
• Engagement in different policy and areas of potential law reform, such as further mooted changes to the ACL, looking at codified subscription rights, mandatory unfair contract terms for second-hand goods and consumer-to-business contracts.
   
• The ACCC is seeking to leverage data portability to improve competition in sectors like groceries and e-commerce – potentially with reforms like an expanded CDR right and some form of opt-in CDR consent architecture.
   
• A continued focus by the ACCC for the “right to repair” including possible action in the motor vehicle sector on this issue, as well as its expansion to farm vehicles and machinery;
   
• An ongoing focus on “cost of living”, which we understand to mean (for the most part) alleged “price gouging” by the major supermarkets.