If you live in Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT you'll have seen bare supermarket shelves in your local Woolworths in recent weeks.

Staples like toilet paper, bread, cereal, frozen goods, meat and dairy have been in short supply.

While the weeks-long industrial dispute between Woolworths and the United Workers Union was resolved, it highlights Australia's existence as the land of the supermarket duopoly.

Coles and Woolworths control 65 per cent of the grocery market.

So, where does this leave consumers? And how could a shift in thinking benefit us?