Consumer group goes shopping at three major retailers.

Officeworks has pipped Big W and Kmart in a pricing competition for selected back-to-school items.

Consumer group CHOICE has compared prices at the three retail chains for a basket of 17 stationery items and “back-to-school essentials”, including pencils, pens, exercise books and a water bottle.

CHOICE staff visited Big W, Kmart and Officeworks on the same day earlier this month to find which store marked items the cheapest.

And while Big W came out on top as the least expensive last year, Officeworks proved cheaper this year.

The basketful the items at Officeworks came to $26.87, while the baskets at Big W and Kmart cost $29.69 and $30, respectively.

Target, which was included in last year’s survey, wasn’t included this year because CHOICE found it didn’t have the range of products on the stationery list on offer.

In the survey, CHOICE noted prices in-store then double-checked them online.

The consumer group also commented that Officeworks came out on top in the area of customer service.

"In both Big W and Kmart we were very much on our own," CHOICE said.