This is surprising but I understand there was quite a backlash following all that Australia Day kefuffle which he back tracked on - he certainly tried to push out the comms following all of that saying Woolies had listened and should focus on keeping prices low or providing value ………will be interesting to see if there has been a noticeable drop in sales
The price gauging allegations are likely to have had a big impact on his decision
He isn’t leaving until September either let’s not forget.
I think the $781 million loss had a lot to do with it. How they lost money after jacking prices and controlling the market alongside coles is crazy.
Absolutely crazy I agree
The report seems to indicate loses were due to Foodworks (or whatever it is called) in NZ, Big W, and Endeavour Group.
Woolworths (groceries) recorded a record profit if I read it correctly.
$1.5bn write down so not a loss.
Think they still made a underlying profit of $60m or something
Did he say he’s retiring forgetting he was on the record, so now has to retire?
I thought the appropriate term for his leaving would be “check out”.
I do wonder how fair and reasonable some of the commentary around Woolies / Coles price gouging actually is.
Having worked for a company that was once on the wrong side of a ‘scandal’, watching how it was reported on four corners / 7:30 etc was so far from the truth it was almost comical to me. It had all the makings of ‘truthiness’, and particularly some of the ABC reporting edited their shows in such a way (adding evil dramatic music etc) to make the company I worked for seem to be some kind of evil corporate overlord, when really it had no power at all (I won’t go into the specifics of it). I try to have a bit of a contrarian view when I watch things like this now.
For Coles / Woolies, they are successful, in part, because they have a lot of the most prime locations. It’s not the same, but McDonalds was a similar story. There are opportunities for other super market players to really invest in the Australian market (much like McDonalds fast food competitors have), but to date, only really Aldi has. The fact is, on a global perspective - we just aren’t that big or appealing. It’s not necessarily Coles / Woolies fault that other entrants aren’t coming in.
The other part is - this isn’t really an Australian issue. Globally supermarket prices are going up significantly, including in countries with far more competition than Australia.
I’m sure in some limited circumstances Coles / Woolies kept their prices marginally higher than they could have (i.e. passed on increases immediately, waited longer to pass on savings). I’m not sure they have really undertaken a strong price gouging campaign as they seem to be accused of.
I think extra competition is fantastic, and we should promote it. But blaming coles / woolies for the lack of it seems too convenient. We should be looking at government and the regulators to create the conditions in which more competition can occur.
At the moment it reeks of correlation not causation type arguments. But happy to be told I’m wrong.
Portland has a population of ~10,000 and we currently have Woolworths, Aldi and IGA with plans recently announced to build a Coles supermarket.
I’ll be interested to see if the added competition makes any difference to prices.
Nah it would’ve been his abysmal media performance last week and the senate enquiry next week.
Self check out. Presumably without the customary ‘see assistant…’ messages
Well wait until you meet the new CEO.
She is a huge advocate of closing stores and going online only from a DC in many areas. Has been pushing that barrow for a while and believes they can save a ton so will be interesting to see if she tries to implement it under her watch
Send her up to the senate enquiry
She isn’t starting until September and in any case I doubt she would be shaking in her boots over some irrelevant government pinheads asking a few questions
I think Coles, Woolies and Aldi all have standard pricing across the country (with the exception of their “Metro” mini markets in the CBD) where what it costs for an item in the Woolies in Eltham is the same in Bright or Wadonga, so it may not directly affect the prices. Probably kick the IGA directly in the teeth though.
It’s not 100% standardised pricing, I think. Pretty sure local stores have a degree of licence to compete with local independent competition, especially in shopping centres. I used to live in Box Hill. Box Hill central shopping centre is full of independent greengrocers, and the Woolies prices on fresh fruit and veg were a lot cheaper than any other Woolies in the area at any given time.
Admittedly, that was a while back now.
They lost money ($781M) due to one off impacts to its PL.
Its revenues of food / grocery grew +5.4%. Pricing (inflation on prices) probably driving bulk of this increase. Not sure how volumes went. Its profit before abnormal items grew +2.5% to ~$921M. Impairments resulted in the overall loss. Given profit few less quickly than sales, assumption is costs increases were greater than sales. Eg: Power costs to run stores, wages etc.
On top line review, I don’t believe this result actually supports a narrative of excess price quashing. Anyhow, the review will determine this as there’s much more to it than can be gleaned in the financial result.
Yeah, pretty sure fresh produce is excepted, but packaged stuff should be standard. I read an article about it not too long ago and I was surprised when I went to the Woolies in Bright earlier this year that prices weren’t higher than back in Melbourne.
You’re right - I was out of the loop on his 4 corners interview. I’ve subsequently read about it. That’s definitely impacted his decision to leave