PricePulse FAQ: how it works, which supermarkets, your data

Getting started

What is PricePulse?

A free Chrome extension for New Zealand grocery shopping. It sits quietly on the Woolworths, Pak'nSave and New World websites, shows you how today's price compares with recent history and with the other supermarkets, and lets you move your basket to whichever store works out cheapest.

What's a Chrome extension?

A small add-on for the Chrome browser, a bit like an app for your browser. You install it once from the Chrome Web Store and it runs while you shop. No technical skills needed, and you can remove it any time from Chrome's extensions menu.

How do I install it?

1. Open Google Chrome on a laptop or desktop.
2. Click "Add to Chrome" on our homepage. It takes you to the PricePulse page on the Chrome Web Store.
3. Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button, then "Add extension" in the box that pops up.
4. That's it. Open Woolworths, Pak'nSave or New World, choose your local stores when asked, and shop as usual.

Is it free?

Yes, completely. There's no paid tier and no trial period.

How do you keep it free?

We create anonymised, aggregated insights about grocery pricing and share them with partners. Those reports are built from price data and general shopping trends, never from anything that could identify you or your shopping.

Do I need an account?

No. Install the extension and start shopping. You'll be asked to choose your local store for each supermarket the first time, and that's it.

Can I use it on my phone?

Not yet. PricePulse runs in Chrome on a laptop or desktop. If you're on your phone right now, the button on our homepage will email you the install link for later. An iPhone app is in development, with a web app to follow, and Android after that.

Does it work in Firefox, Safari or Edge?

Chrome only for now. Other browsers are on the list.

Using PricePulse

Which supermarkets does it compare?

Woolworths, Pak'nSave and New World. More retailers are planned.

Can I compare more than one branch of the same supermarket?

Right now you choose one store for each chain, for example your local Pak'nSave, and PricePulse compares those three. You can change your chosen stores at any time in the extension's settings. We know prices vary between branches of the same chain, and comparing across branches is something we're looking at.

Does it cover Fresh Choice, Four Square or independent shops?

Not yet. More retailers are planned. If there's a store you'd like added, tell us through the contact form and we'll count the votes.

What do the ratings mean?

Every product gets one of four ratings based on its own price history at the stores you've chosen.

Awesome: near the lowest price we've seen for this product recently. Good time to stock up.
Good: below its usual price.
Okay: around its usual price.
Pricey: near the top of its recent range. Worth waiting, or buying elsewhere if you can.

The rating is about this product's own history, so a Pricey rating on milk doesn't mean the store is expensive overall, just that milk is dearer than it has been.

How does price history work?

We record the price of every product at every store, every day. Open the Price History chart on any product and you'll see how its price has moved at each supermarket over the past few months, including specials, so you can see whether a "special" is really special. The ratings are calculated from this history.

Can I shop on one supermarket's site and send items to another supermarket's basket?

Yes, and this is the part that saves the most time. Add items as normal, then open the PricePulse panel. It totals your basket at each supermarket, shows the cheapest mix, and sorts your items into a list for each store. Press "Send to Pak'nSave" (or Woolworths, or New World) and those products are loaded into that supermarket's basket, ready for you to check out there. No re-adding items one by one.

Does it show price per 100g?

The supermarket sites show unit pricing on their own product listings, and PricePulse compares the exact product and size you're looking at, so a 1kg bag is compared with the same 1kg bag at the other stores. We don't currently add our own per-100g comparison across different pack sizes.

Do loyalty prices count?

Yes, as long as you're logged in to your loyalty account on the supermarket site. PricePulse applies any discounts that are available and compares using the cheapest price you can get, whether that's member pricing or a multi-buy like 5 for $3.

When something isn't working

I've installed it but nothing appears.

Three things to check. First, make sure you're on the supermarket's website in Chrome, not in their app or another browser. Second, look for the PricePulse broccoli icon on the left of the page; if it's not there, click the puzzle-piece icon at the top right of Chrome and check PricePulse is enabled. Third, reload the page. If it's still not showing, use the contact form and tell us which supermarket and what you see.

The supermarket's website has changed and PricePulse stopped working.

Supermarket sites update from time to time, and occasionally a change breaks how PricePulse reads the page. When that happens we update the extension, and Chrome installs the update automatically within a day or so. If something looks broken, let us know through the contact form so we hear about it quickly.

My totals don't match the supermarket's.

PricePulse totals the products in your basket at the cheapest price available to you. It doesn't include delivery fees, bag fees, or one-off promotions applied at checkout, so the supermarket's final figure can differ by those amounts. If the product prices themselves look different, check that you're logged in to your loyalty account and that PricePulse is set to the same store you're shopping at.

The supermarket site keeps opening its app instead.

That happens on phones, where supermarket sites push you to their apps. PricePulse doesn't run on phones yet, so use it on a laptop or desktop.

Your data

Are you selling my data?

We never sell your personal data. We do create anonymised, aggregated insights (for example, general shopping trends) that may be shared with partners, but these reports never contain anything that can identify you or your shopping history.

Will you share my personal information?

No. We don't share personal data with advertisers or third parties. Any insights we provide externally are combined and anonymised, so they cannot be linked back to you.

Will you email me?

Only if you write to us first. There's no mailing list and no marketing email.

PricePulse Chrome Extension FAQ

Getting started

Using PricePulse

When something isn't working

Your data