Choice

What Choice does

CHOICE is Australia's largest independent consumer advocacy nonprofit, founded in 1959 by WA politician Ruby Hutchison as the country's first national consumer group and headquartered in Marrickville. The organization employs 51-100 staff and serves Australian consumers through independent product testing, expert reviews, investigative journalism, and consumer-rights advocacy across categories including home appliances, electronics, food, insurance, and energy products. CHOICE operates on an explicitly ad-free, advertiser-independent model that positions its testing and recommendations as influence-free.

The organization runs in-house product testing laboratories using standardized methodologies and a proprietary CHOICE Expert Rating System, with specialized protocols for categories such as TV picture quality (SD/HD/4K upscaling panel testing) and button/coin battery safety compliance. Beyond reviews, CHOICE publishes a monthly consumer magazine, maintains an online community forum, and offers consumer decision-support tools including a Solar Estimator, Health Insurance Comparison Tool, and Home Energy Saver. Its commercial subsidiary, Test Research, sells paid testing services to industry and government clients.

CHOICE's revenue model rests on three streams: individual membership subscriptions (annual billing), member and supporter donations, and commercial testing fees from Test Research. The organization uses a multi-channel GTM approach — its website, email newsletters, social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X), the choice.community forum, and high-profile annual earned media via the Shonky Awards — to acquire and engage members. CHOICE has a documented record of regulatory influence, with its investigations linked to sunscreen recalls, the Takata airbag recall, the mortgage exit fee ban, and ongoing ACCC action against major retailers and energy companies.

Name

Choice

Legal name

CHOICE

Website

https://choice.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1959

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

CHOICE is Australia's largest independent consumer advocacy nonprofit, founded in 1959. The organization conducts in-house product testing, publishes expert reviews and a monthly magazine, and runs consumer decision-support tools, funded primarily by member subscriptions and donations serving Australian consumers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Advocacy Services

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (541380)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Testing Laboratories (Microbiological, Chemical, Allergen) (AFALAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Labeling, Nutrition Facts & Allergen Verification Services (AFALAAAH)

Keywords

• Consumer advocacy
• Product testing reviews
• Independent ratings
• Nonprofit membership
• Consumer comparison tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Marrickville

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: CHOICE operates as a nonprofit membership organization where consumers pay for membership to access expert reviews, testing results, and independent advice. Members fund the organization's independent product testing, journalism and campaigns.
2. Donations: The organization accepts donations from supporters who want to contribute to consumer advocacy efforts.
3. Testing Services (Commercial): Through their commercial arm Test Research, CHOICE offers testing services to industry and government.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

CHOICE operates world-class independent testing laboratories that buy and lab-test consumer products across home appliances, electronics, food, and other categories, publishing expert reviews and ratings on choice.com.au. The organization also runs consumer comparison tools (solar, health insurance, energy), publishes a monthly magazine, and conducts advocacy campaigns on consumer rights issues, funded primarily through member subscriptions and donations.

Product overview

CHOICE is Australia's leading nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, founded in 1959, that provides independent, ad-free product testing and expert reviews to help consumers make informed decisions. The organization operates as a membership-funded nonprofit offering lab-tested ratings across various product categories (kitchen, electronics, insurance, travel, food, and more), along with consumer tools such as the Solar Estimator, Health Insurance Comparison Tool, and Home Energy Saver. CHOICE also publishes the CHOICE Magazine and runs The Shonky Awards program to call out poor products and services. The organization conducts advocacy campaigns on consumer rights issues and provides a complaints and petitions platform for collective consumer action.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Shonky Awards: Annual awards recognizing the worst products and services, launched in 2006 to call out dodgy products and practices.

Products and services

• CHOICE Product Testing and Reviews

Quantifiable outcome

• 99% of over 7,200 respondents want country-of-origin labeling on timber products
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• RACGP, AMA, ACNP, CPMC, Choice Chemist, Choice Aged Care, and Wellness Partners FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 June 2026Coalition of Australian healthcare organizations that submitted a joint open letter to Federal and State health ministers and the Pharmacy Board of Australia, opposing proposed changes to expand pharmacist prescribing autonomy over safety concerns. The coalition warns that proposals extend beyond available evidence and could result in fragmented care.
• TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 June 2026Following CHOICE sunscreen testing that found 16 of 20 products failed to meet SPF claims, TGA confirmed ongoing investigation and proposed regulatory overhauls including new SPF testing methods and potential removal of SPF numbers from labels.
• ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 June 2026CHOICE filed a complaint with ACCC urging action against major online retailers Amazon, Temu, AliExpress, and eBay for selling banned and dangerous children's products. ACCC is suing Amazon and investigating other dangerous products.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Which?: UK consumer advocacy organization with comparable member-funded structure, independent product testing, expert reviews, and policy campaigns. Closest international analog to CHOICE in mission, governance (charitable/nonprofit), and operating model.
• Consumer Reports: US-based independent nonprofit consumer product testing organization, founded in 1936. Direct peer because it operates labs, runs an ad-free member-funded model, and offers product reviews across categories like appliances, electronics, food, and finance, mirroring CHOICE's model in a different market.
• ProductReview.com.au: Australia's largest consumer product review platform. Closest domestic peer because it aggregates consumer opinions and competes for the same Australian consumer mindshare across the same categories CHOICE tests.
• Canstar: Australian financial product and comparison research firm. Direct peer in the Australian market where overlap on insurance, energy, and financial comparison intersects with CHOICE's Health Insurance Comparison Tool and energy content.

Broad incumbents

• Bureau Veritas: French-listed global testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) player. Operates commercial testing laboratories in consumer goods categories that overlap with CHOICE's in-house testing scope.
• Intertek: Global testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) company with worldwide labs. Broad incumbent in the same testing services space where CHOICE's Test Research operates, though at vastly different scale and customer mix (B2B vs consumer).
• SGS: Swiss-based global testing and certification giant. Comparable as a broad incumbent operating commercial test labs across product categories CHOICE tests (food, cosmetics, electronics, consumer goods).
• Underwriters Laboratories (UL): Global product safety testing and certification organization. Broad incumbent in testing/certification space; CHOICE's Test Research commercial arm competes for similar safety-testing mandates though UL is much larger and enterprise/government B2B.

Emerging players

• Finder: Australian comparison and affiliate platform competing with CHOICE's comparison tools on energy, insurance, and consumer finance. Emerging player using a different (ad-supported/affiliate) commercial model that targets the same buying-decision moments.
• Labdoor: US-based independent supplement and product testing company. Emerging player in the consumer-facing testing space that pioneered a tech-enabled lab testing model targeting the same trust/verification gap that CHOICE solves, but with a narrower initial vertical focus.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/choiceaustralia
• YouTubeyoutube.com/choiceaustralia
• Facebookfacebook.com/choiceaustralia
• Instagraminstagram.com/choiceaustralia
• TikToktiktok.com/@choiceaustralia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Choice