Live in a Save Zone, take years off your home loan.
A Save Zone is anywhere within 5km of a PAK'nSAVE — close enough that it's realistically your local. Here's the whole working, from the map to the mortgage, using the same live shelf prices the comparison tool runs on.
1 Draw the Save Zones
There are 57 PAK'nSAVE stores in New Zealand. A Save Zone is a circle of radius 5km around each one. We didn't pluck 5km out of the air — it comes from how far apart the stores actually sit:
| PAK'nSAVE stores | 57 |
| Median distance from one PAK'nSAVE to the next | 10.8 km |
| Half that spacing (the natural catchment edge) | 5.4 km |
The midpoint between two neighbouring stores is where one stops being closer than the other, so a radius of about half the typical spacing tiles the country into catchments that meet without much overlap. That lands almost exactly on 5km. It's also a realistic "this is my local" drive — and 93% of PAK'nSAVE stores (53 of 57) have a competing supermarket inside that same 5km, so a Save Zone is a place where you have a real choice of where to shop.
2 Work out the average saving
The saving is measured, not assumed. We take a basket of 46 everyday staples, price every item at PAK'nSAVE, New World and Woolworths from their own public shelf prices, and only count items stocked at all three so it's genuinely like-for-like. PAK'nSAVE prices per store; New World and Woolworths price per island. We run that across all 45 PAK'nSAVE price zones and average the result.
A worked example — a real basket in Lower Hutt (46 matched items):
| Store | Basket total | You save at PAK'nSAVE |
|---|---|---|
| PAK'nSAVE | $269.24 | — |
| New World | $315.22 | $45.98 |
| Woolworths | $271.94 | $2.70 |
Show the full representative basket — every item, all three prices ★ = cheapest
| Item | PAK'nSAVE | New World | Woolworths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mother Earth Apple & Raspberry Fruit Sticks | $2.99 | $3.89 | $2.90 ★ |
| Fortune Aromatic Basmati Rice | $3.89 | $4.19 | $2.99 ★ |
| Watties Baked Beans 50% Less Added Sugar | $3.15 | $2.99 | $1.99 ★ |
| Edmonds Baking Powder | $5.49 | $5.09 ★ | $5.09 ★ |
| Cadbury Biscoff Chocolate Block | $6.09 | $6.99 | $5.50 ★ |
| Flora Buttery Spread | $4.59 | $4.99 | $3.90 ★ |
| Griffins Toffee Pops Caramelised White Chocolate Biscuits | $2.99 ★ | $5.99 | $3.49 |
| Dairyworks Cheddar Cheese Slices | $5.49 | $5.60 | $5.00 ★ |
| Own-Brand Chicken Thighs | $10.99 | $12.79 | $8.47 ★ |
| Sealord Chunky Style Tuna In Spring Water | $9.19 | $9.29 | $8.99 ★ |
| Watties Classic Hash Browns | $11.99 | $10.99 | $9.90 ★ |
| Robert Harris Colombian Blend Medium 3 Freeze Dried Instant Coffee | $11.39 ★ | $11.49 | $11.49 |
| Tip Top Crave Cookies & Cream Ice Cream | $7.79 ★ | $11.19 | $9.40 |
| Pics Crunchy No Salt Peanut Butter | $6.49 | $7.79 | $5.90 ★ |
| Watties Crushed & Sieved Tomatoes | $1.79 ★ | $1.99 | $1.79 ★ |
| Twinings English Breakfast Loose Leaf Tea | $8.89 ★ | $8.99 | $8.99 |
| Edmonds High Grade Flour | $9.49 ★ | $11.39 | $10.00 |
| Active Lemon Automatic Dishwasher Powder | $10.99 | $15.99 | $10.00 ★ |
| Best Foods Lite Mayonnaise | $7.15 ★ | $7.99 | $7.25 |
| Maggi Mediterranean Meatballs Recipe Base Sachet | $1.69 ★ | $1.89 | $1.89 |
| Indomie Mi Goreng Instant Cup Noodles | $1.99 ★ | $2.59 | $2.20 |
| Palmolive Naturals Milk & Honey Body Wash | $8.49 | $11.99 | $7.99 ★ |
| Chelsea Organic Raw Sugar | $4.79 | $4.59 ★ | $4.59 ★ |
| Harraways Organic Rolled Oats | $7.99 ★ | $8.89 | $8.90 |
| Ceres Organics Organic Tamari Soy Sauce | $5.59 ★ | $7.39 | $7.29 |
| Continental Original Cream Of Mushroom Cup a Soup | $1.79 ★ | $2.99 | $1.80 |
| Vogels Original Mixed Grain Toast Bread | $4.99 ★ | $5.56 | $5.56 |
| Arnotts Shapes Originals Pizza Crackers | $3.35 | $3.99 | $3.00 ★ |
| Mccoy Pineapple Premium Fruit Juice | $3.39 ★ | $4.19 | $3.50 |
| Delmaine Pomodoro Pasta Sauce | $5.49 | $5.99 | $5.40 ★ |
| Own-Brand Prime Beef Mince | $20.69 ★ | $26.99 | $22.53 |
| Own-Brand Pure Butter | $8.55 | $8.39 ★ | $8.39 ★ |
| Chelsea Raw Caster Sugar | $4.29 ★ | $4.39 | $4.39 |
| Fresh N Fruity Rhubarb 'n Custard Yoghurt | $6.19 ★ | $6.89 | $6.50 |
| Edmonds Self Raising Flour | $4.29 ★ | $4.29 ★ | $4.30 |
| Pepsi Max Soft Drink | $3.49 ★ | $4.79 | $4.79 |
| Pringles Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips | $2.99 ★ | $4.89 | $4.89 |
| Watties Spaghetti In Tomato Sauce | $2.49 | $2.79 | $1.99 ★ |
| Own-Brand Standard Milk | $4.99 | $4.92 | $4.91 ★ |
| Anathoth Farm Strawberry Jam | $4.79 ★ | $6.89 | $4.90 |
| Mexicano Tasty Cheese Corn Chips | $2.29 ★ | $3.39 | $2.50 |
| Watties Tomato Sauce | $4.55 ★ | $5.49 | $5.50 |
| Meadow Fresh Traditional Sour Cream | $3.99 ★ | $4.69 | $4.69 |
| Meadow Fresh Vanilla Custard | $7.99 | $7.99 | $7.75 ★ |
| Natures Fresh White Sandwich Bread | $3.79 ★ | $4.26 | $4.26 |
| Watties Wok Creations Sweet Chilli & Lime Stir-Fry Sauce | $3.49 ★ | $4.49 | $4.49 |
| Basket total (46 items) | $269.24 | $315.22 | $271.94 |
Averaged over every zone, here's the headline saving on the weekly shop:
| Compared with… | Average PAK'nSAVE saving |
|---|---|
| New World | 14.6% |
| The average of the two big rivals | 8.3% |
| Woolworths | 1.0% |
3 Multiply it out over time
Take a household spending $400 a week on groceries and apply the saving. This is just the weekly saving carried forward — no compounding, no cleverness.
| Over… | vs New World (~14.6%) | Typical (~8.3%) |
|---|---|---|
| A week | $58.30 | $33.23 |
| A year | $3,031 | $1,728 |
| 10 years | $30,314 | $17,281 |
| 30 years | $90,943 | $51,843 |
4 Put it on the mortgage
Now the part that changes the number from "nice" to "life-changing". Redirect that weekly grocery saving straight into extra mortgage repayments and it attacks the interest, not just the balance.
On a $600,000 home loan at 6.5% over 30 years:
$147,076 savedin interest — and the loan is paid off 4.8 years earlier — by tipping in the New-World-level saving each week. On the typical ~8.3% saving it's still $92,579 in interest and 3.0 years off the loan.
Assumptions, stated plainly: $400/week grocery spend, saving redirected in full to principal every week, $600,000 loan at a flat 6.5% over 30 years. Real mortgages move; this is the shape of it, not financial advice.
Why you can trust the number
- Real prices, not a survey. Every figure comes from the retailers' own public shelf prices, refreshed overnight — the same data the comparison tool runs on.
- Like-for-like only. Identical products, matched on brand and exact pack size, counted only where all three chains stock them. Full method on the how-it-works page.
- Honest about the gap. We show the New World, Woolworths and average figures side by side rather than quoting only the biggest one.
- Independent. No retailer pays us. This isn't a PAK'nSAVE page — it's a factual comparison that happens to favour the cheaper shop.
Figures on this page are computed from the price bundle dated 2026-07-13 and refresh with each nightly run.
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