Woolworths has fired the first shot in a $100 million cost-of-living trolley land-grab. Let the grocery discounting wars begin!

As Woolies is the supermarket perceived to be the most expensive, its chief executive, Amanda Bardwell, had little choice other than to mount a highly visible price-cutting campaign.

Woolworths desperately wants to shed the perception that it is a more expensive place to shop than Coles.

How far this plays out in reducing cost-of-living pain for Australian shoppers depends in large part on what Coles does next.

Bardwell insists that the two big supermarkets will remain “rational”, thus avoiding a price-cutting slugfest. But investors responded to Woolworths’ discounting announcement on Monday by sending the shares of both supermarkets into the red.

Shoppers certainly will be hoping for a battle, which in turn should deliver bigger and broader discounts.

Woolworths is lowering the cost of about 400 items across its network by an average of about 10 per cent – a $15 saving on a $150 shop if these products are in the........

© Brisbane Times