Tesco cuts price of female razors, experts call for end of 'pink tax' in Australia.

Consumer experts have urged Australian retailers to follow in the footsteps of British supermarket Tesco after the chain announced it would reduce the price of its basic women’s razors to match that of its identical men’s razors.

Britain’s biggest supermarket chain came under fire when it was revealed that it was charging twice as much for the pink version of the product.

Tesco was selling its pink disposable twin-blade razors for 20 pence (35 cents), while the blue men’s product — identical except for the colour — was only 10 pence (17 cents).

Media spokeswoman for consumer group Choice, Kate Browne, said the “pink tax” was also a problem in Australia.

“While market segmentation is a reality in the market and has been for a long time, we would certainly like to see price parity between identical products despite the market they are being aimed at,” she told the ABC.

Ms Browne said across-the-board market segmentation, which involves marketers appealing to a narrow range of consumers in order to sell multiple versions of the same product, was part of the problem.

“We see this across a range of products from personal care products, men’s deodorant versus women’s deodorant … and children’s toys where we often see a girl’s and a boy’s version of the same product,” she said.

She said this was “a clever way” to sell more of the same product as well as “training little kids to think of products as being gendered as they grow up”.

‘Female’ products 37 per cent more expensive

Tesco’s razors were singled out in a 2016 investigation by The Times, which found that products aimed at women and girls cost, on average, 37 per cent more than almost identical products for men.

Other brands named in the investigation included Levi’s, Amazon and Boots — who succumbed to pressure to cut the prices of some of their women’s products following an online campaign.

British Labour backbencher Paula Sherriff put pressure on Tesco to stop charging more for women’s products.

In a letter to Ms Sherriff, Tesco’s commercial director for packaged goods, Kari Daniels, said the price disparity was not driven by gender bias, the Guardian reported.

“The difference is driven by the fact that male razors are produced and sold in significantly higher volumes, which reduces the price we pay for them,” the letter, seen by the Guardian, read.

“However, following an internal review and discussions with our suppliers, we have acted on concerns about the difference in price of our female and male disposable twin-blade razors.

“We have aligned the prices of these products so that the male and female razors are the same price per unit.”

Consumers should be wary of marketing, Choice warns

Ms Browne said consumers in Australia should be wary of clever marketing.

“Look beyond design, and in some cases fragrance, that have been created to appeal to your gender and see what else is available,” she said.

“If you don’t mind slightly different packaging and smells you may find something similar that costs a lot less — we’ve seen up to 50 per cent mark ups on almost identical products depending on which gender it’s being set up to appeal to.

“If you are shopping in a supermarket, use unit pricing as often products will look like they are priced similarly but one will contain less product — often the one designed for women.”

This post originally appeared on ABC News.