Coles

In the shopping future of my dreams I’d have a fancy little application that sent an instant message from my empty pantry and refrigerator to the fully stocked shelves of my local grocery store.

It would calculate the products I needed before delivering it straight to my door at a convenient time. Ideally this would happen via some kind of accessible hole in the back of the house, so I wouldn’t even have to be at home to receive it.

That’s because convenience is at the top of my list when it comes to grocery shopping. Price definitely comes a close second but if I can’t get the product I want when I want it, then even the cheapest shop is not going to help me.

Continue reading "Coles is pulling the Woolies over our eyes" »

Health lobbyists, the media and consumers are very quick to blame soft drink companies, fast food giants and snack food suppliers for their contribution to growing rates of overweight and obesity here in Australia.

But when you consider that our two major supermarkets control 60-70 per cent of all grocery sales in this country, perhaps it’s time to look a little more closely at what is going on behind their fresh food facades.

Think back to the last time you did a supermarket shop. You may have been lured to your local supermarket by the nightly television advertisments highlighting the delicious celebrity chef inspired recipes you can prepare at home. Or the promise of only the freshest of fruits and veggies.

Continue reading "What are those Tim Tams doing in your trolley?" »

Have you ever dealt with the ACCC? Have you ever had an issue that you thought the ACCC should be looking at only to find that the ACCC declined to look at it or seemed to take forever to investigate?

Just ask any supplier or farmer who has had an issue or concern with the major supermarket chains. For well over a year the ACCC has been taking the public position that there’s no evidence to justify an investigation into the alleged practices of the major supermarket chains. Then just recently the ACCC starts actively asking suppliers to come forward with their concerns.

Now there are a few issues that need to be immediately clarified. First and most importantly the ACCC doesn’t need to wait for suppliers, consumers or anyone else to come forward with a complaint in order for the ACCC to investigate. Where the ACCC suspects a possible breach of our competition and consumer laws it can investigate any matter within its jurisdiction and has the power to collect information as part of any investigation.

Continue reading "A lazy government body that needs to get moving" »

Last week Coles announced that it plans to cut the price of fruit and vegetables by up to 50 per cent. Its major competitor, Woolworths soon followed. The price war sounds like great news for Australian consumers. But while it may provide relief to hip-pockets around the country in the short-term, questions are now being asked about the true impact of bargain basement pricing.

For most Australians, grocery shopping is a chore we have to squeeze into our busy lives. We rush up and down the aisles, tossing products into our trolley while we mentally juggle the household budget and keep the kids entertained. With all that in mind, it’s not surprising that we embrace bargains, specials and sales with enthusiasm.

But how often do we stop to consider the impact our shopping habits have on the wider community? The truth is that someone always bears the cost of cheap produce, whether it be small retailer, distributor or farmer. It may be beneficial to our hip pocket today, but tomorrow that sale price may have untold social or environmental costs.

Continue reading "Coles, Woolies shoot each other, but farmers get shot" »

Forget about the 3 Rs. In schools these days it’s all about the 3Cs: Consumerism, Capitalism, and Coles.

Store managers are giving prizes to Sydney schoolkids for singing the “prices are down” jingle wearing company t-shirts, surrounded by advertising banners, at school assemblies.

What next? A scholarship to the McDonald’s University for writing a dissertation on how burgers qualify for the Heart Foundation tick?

Continue reading "Aisle be damned if I’ll cop this not so super marketing" »

Tailgating a fussy grocery shopper is a bit like watching porn. All that squeezing, rubbing and sniffing of the stone fruit and the long, fawning glances at the root vegetables.  It’s enough to make you grow your own. Or shop at midnight.

Unfortunately for those of us put off by “touch-feely shoppers”, things are about to get worse. Cue Woolworths new “try before you buy” policy on fresh produce, with Coles expected to followed suit.

Woolworths says their policy is aimed at boosting the “quality of their fresh foods”, but to the shopping weary it’s just another chapter in the “great Australian supermarket wars”. A tiresome battle between our major food suppliers with scant regard for what we actually want from our grocery chains.

Continue reading "Shelve cheap imports, Aussie shoppers want home grown" »

There is a glossy protest poster which rural conservative MPs put up in their parliamentary offices in Canberra last month. It features a bag of groceries under the words “Can you afford to pay Labor’s carbon tax?”

It’s a fair question. Oddly it’s a question being put by the same group of people who are conspiring to make sure that we all pay much more than we need to for our milk.

The National Party and country Liberal MPs have been joined by consumer advocates and competition crusaders in denouncing the conduct of supermarket giant Coles in forcing a price war not only over milk but beer, petrol, even barbecued chooks.

Continue reading "Check out the hypocrisy in the war on supermarkets" »

VB doesn’t strike you as a brand that needs protecting from being viewed as overtly cheap piss. This isn’t to bag VB, but there’s probably a reason it chose David Boon and not David Marr as a mascot.

News yesterday that Foster’s stopped supply of its beers to Coles and Woolworths for a short period this month, after it emerged the warring retail giants were planning to sell VB (and possibly other brands) for as low $28 a case. Carlton & United, Foster’s beer division, have said that they stopped supply to the supermarkets out of fear their beer brands were being undervalued; according to CUB it was done to protect “the brand equity – the image of our brands”.

Now you might be asking yourself how it’s possible to undervalue the Australian gold standard of cheap beer? Well you can, and it’s got something to do with the amount of beer we’re drinking - or more accurately, not drinking.

Continue reading "When a hard earned thirst needs a big cheap beer" »

The so-called supermarket milk price war is not the only thing heating up. The debate surrounding the future of brand name products on our supermarket shelves is also heating up.

Central to both is the growing power of Coles and Woolworths. Together the supermarket giants operate 87 per cent of full line supermarkets over 2,000 square metres. As we know, they have spread their tentacles to petrol, liquor and banking services.

Like major armies on the march, Coles and Woolworths first establish a beachhead in a particular targeted sector of the economy and then spread out to take more and more territory in that sector until they are either stopped or they march their way to “victory.” Once victorious they can impose their “way” on those they deal with, including suppliers and even consumers.

Continue reading "The death of brands is much closer than you think" »

Do consumers want cheaper prices and greater product choices? Of course they do and that’s why it is essential that more Costco supermarkets open up around Australia.

Costco is a US company that operates retail warehouses where people can become members for a yearly fee which then entitles them to shop at a massive warehouse offering products at substantial discounts to competitors.

By way of background, Costco has about 563 warehouses worldwide with around 410 operated in the US, and the remainder operated in Canada, Mexico, the UK, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Australia. We currently only have one Costco in Melbourne’s Docklands which opened on 17 August 2009.

Continue reading "People get Costco, but does the Minister?" »

With a federal election fast approaching it’s time for voters to start evaluating Mr Rudd’s performance on supermarket issues.

For Mr Rudd there is no escaping that grocery prices remain literally a bread and butter issue for all Australians.

With struggling families certainly not pleased with ever rising grocery prices and with swinging voters unlikely to be impressed with the fact that Australia still faces some of the highest levels of food inflation in the developed world, Mr Rudd certainly has some convincing to do.

Continue reading "What are you really doing about grocery prices, PM?" »

Well, well, we’ve had another couple of rounds in the battle of the supermarket PR wars. First, we saw Woolworths and Coles continue their expensive media campaigns telling us about their “single pricing policy.” Then last week came the launch of the Woolworths “price check” website.

On each occasion we were told how “good” the particular announcement was for consumers only to find that the supermarket chains had failed to give consumers the full picture. Statements were made about “price cuts,” but consumers didn’t get the full list of products affected and the price changes.

Woolworths, for example, repeatedly told us that the price of 3,500 products had been reduced and now the prices of those products were lower than a year ago. We are still to get the full list of 3,500 items and price reductions. We are also yet to be told whether there have been any price rises on any of the other 26,500 or more products typically sold at a Woolworths or Coles supermarket.

Continue reading "The supermarkets’ ongoing ‘conspiracy against the poor’" »

So how do companies like Coles and Woolworths protect themselves from competition?

Well it’s simple really. All they need to do is keep out new competitors through a variety of practices designed to lock out any potential new rivals.

For starters, Coles and Woolworths have been entering into leases with shopping centre landlords preventing the landlords from allowing other supermarkets into the shopping centre.

Continue reading "Coles and Woolies are still getting away with it" »

Should we be excited about Woolworths’ plans to expand its share of the hardware and home improvement market?

Well that depends on whether you are concerned about the level of dominance that Woolworths already has in the retail sector.

With Woolworths already dominant in the grocery, petrol and liquor market it was only a matter of time before it tried to leverage its considerable market power into other retail sectors.

Continue reading "Woolies is about to hammer the home hardware market" »

Were you so inclined, you’d have to work pretty hard to boycott Woolworths and Wesfarmers. For a start, it would be tough to eat. Woolworths and Coles (owned by Wesfarmers for the past two years) pocket 70c of every dollar spent in supermarkets in this country.

It would also be difficult to get drunk. Buying booze means handing over an average of 45c of every dollar to the big two, which own Dan Murphy’s, BWS, Liquorland and Vintage Cellars.

Picking up petrol on the way home delivers another 44c of every hard-earned to a service station owed by Coles or Wesfarmers. Think you’re safe in a department store?

Continue reading "They rule food, grog and petrol, now it’s hardware" »

Everybody loves to complain when the price of bread, milk, cheese and other household staples creep up.

Like rising interest rates and the price of petrol, increasing food prices provoke anger and frustration among many struggling Australians families.

So it is not surprising that fluctuating food prices are regularly blamed on food and grocery companies and supermarkets.

Continue reading "Don’t blame supermarkets for price rises" »