While the price reduction of a few key items is being hyped into overdrive, the reality is supermarket profits continue to soar.

Now a new survey shows just how skeptical we've become, while also revealing the supermarkets that are best for price, quality and service.

They claim prices are down, but is the game up for Coles and Woolworths? Is the supermarket price war nothing more than a retail red herring?

• Supermarket price lies
• Bargain shopping
• Low cost supermarkets

According to Phil McDonald, Managing Director of advertising agency George Patterson Y & R, “Australian shoppers feel that they don't have a huge loyalty to either of the brands.”

George Patterson's annual brand asset survey shows Coles and Woolies may have bolstered their corporate image and their marketing budget, but consumers are seeing through the hype.

“What our survey shows is that the people that are shopping at ALDI are more satisfied than customers who are shopping in other places,” said Rebecca Logan from Canstar Blue.

Supermarket survey results

Canstar Blue’s survey asked 2,500 people where and why they shop where they do. “At the moment, even with a lot of discounting happening in the major stores, we're still finding that ALDI are coming out on top,” Logan said.

Steve Kolmar is a market analyst with Retail Oasis, a company that advises retailers on how to improve their business at a time when there's a shift in our shopping habits.

“Once upon a time we used to do one big shop, once a fortnight, and store everything back on the kitchen. Today we tend to buy less on the big shop, and we go out regularly for top-ups, for convenience, for quality and for freshness,” Kolmar said.

And where we shop is changing too. “People who are shopping at Coles and Woolworths, while they appear to be quite happy with different parts of the stores (the range of products and the range of brands they can get), when it comes to overall satisfaction, those things didn't quite add up,” Logan explained.

For customer service, IGA stores came out on top. “This really goes with their positioning as part of the community. Unsurprisingly Woolworths and Coles came out on top for product variety, and Woolworths above everybody else when it came to the range of brands they had in the supermarket.”

On store layout ALDI was awarded five stars. Libby Hay from ALDI says “We have a very simple philosophy here at ALDI, in that we help our customers make the best and most efficient choice possible when they're choosing their products.”

But price remains the biggest factor. “ALDI has come out on top in the category, even though they don't necessarily offer specials and deals. I guess the prices that are there seem to be at a special level, so customers perceive that they are actually offering lower prices,” explained Logan.

Coles, IGA and Woolworths earned three stars for price.

“They want you in the store and they want you putting as many items as possible into your basket or your trolley, even if that means they both offer you cheap milk to do that or they both offer you cheap milk to do that,” McDonald concluded.

• Woolworths is proud to call ourselves the 'fresh food people' and deliver our customers the best service, range, convenience and prices around. We welcome feedback from our customers about how they think we can deliver more for them.
• Coles is always asking our customers what they think of our business. Every month, we speak to over 25,000 customers, through instore and online customer surveys, focus groups, and our Coles Mum’s Panel. This work lets us understand what customers like about us and what they’d like to see us improve, which in turn helps us improve the customer shopping experience.

• Canstar Blue - www.canstarblue.com.au