Business & Finance The Great Takeover: Coles and Woolworths

[The Speaker]

They've put all their eggs in the store-branded goods basket. Their ads are all centred around $6 t-shirts and $4 coffee mugs etc.

I went into a K-Mart to get a few pairs of Explorer socks and all they had was their own brand equivalent which were of very dubious quality. Walked back out and bought them from Target. People buy products like that for a reason. I don't want 5 pairs of socks for $10, I want one pair of socks that will do the job.

Don't think Wesfarmers will be too bothered which one you buy from.

 

[Scotland]

Don't think Wesfarmers will be too bothered which one you buy from.

Exactly right.

You could mount a case that it's clever marketing from them to differentiate the two chains.

I reckon plenty have no idea how many chains Wesfarmers and Woolworths actually own. They probably protest Dan Murphy's by buying at Vintage Cellars.

 

[Simple Jack]

Exactly right.

You could mount a case that it's clever marketing from them to differentiate the two chains.

I reckon plenty have no idea how many chains Wesfarmers and Woolworths actually own. They probably protest Dan Murphy's by buying at Vintage Cellars.

Or BWS if those two aren't doing it for them.

 

[Plugger35]

Charlotte?

There was one like that there. Reminded me of K-Mart. Quite amazing but yeah at the same time I don't think I saw anything else nearby in terms of supermarkets. Obviously the South differs a lot from the Northeast so it could just be a South thing?

Speaking of K-Mart, there's a store that has gone to absolute s**t. Maybe I'm not part of their target audience but the whole store now consists of selling bland crap.

Staunton in Virginia so not far from Charlotte, might just be a South thing as I don't recall seeing massive Walmarts like that in the Northeast or in California.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I know some who tread these boards have been or are employed by these companies, what are they like as employers?

Always depends on who's your boss. Overall you get a bit more protection due to the size of the union and all but it can still be "our way of the highway"

The no holidays in december policy shits me, But alas, busiest month of the year in retail and if you want all your staff available for peak times you cant go running around taking weeks off in december either

People who badmouth working for them tend to either really struggle to work in an enviroment so controlled, or just bad workers TBO.

 

[crownie]

Always depends on who's your boss. Overall you get a bit more protection due to the size of the union and all but it can still be "our way of the highway"

spot on from my experience.

 

[kfc1]

...

 

[Scotland]

spot on from my experience.

And fair enough, really.

My job used to consist mostly of opening boxes, placing the contents onto shelves (sometimes in decorative displays) then disposing of the empty boxes. I was one worker ant of many in many stores full of worker ants.

I think people get a bit precious about why they're employed in certain situations.

 

[pekay-norwest]

Do you want to know the terrifying truth, or do you want to see me sock a few dingers?

 

[pekay-norwest]

It's all swings and roundabouts. They employ a pantload of people on one hand, the other, they kill the little guy.

My folks owned a stationery/craft shop in the 80s, very niche, but the old man worked his clacker off going to schools and tertiary institutes, making contacts, setting up accounts, they did really well. Then your Woolies/Coles branched out past just groceries and started their 'Back To School' promotions, undercutting what my parents could sell it for, purely on bulk purchases. As it was a convenience thing, all these people could see the merit of parking the car, getting all their groceries and school stuff under the one roof in one stop, the 'one stop shop' philosophy. The business hit the wall a few years later, and we lost everything we had. Was tough to see as a young bloke.

Nowadays, they'll buy the whole shopping centre and lease out to the little guys, and slowly suck the life out of them. It makes them look good to the outsider that they have a Bushs Meats, or a Bakery, or a Fishmonger outside their supermarket, but you can be sure they don't want them to prosper.

 

[DrKrieger]

Thread reminds me I've been lazy, there's a woollies 4 min from my house, a fair bit further for iga and the like. Definitely need to start going to the iga/local butcher and bakery more often.

Will avoid supermarket branded petrol unless I'm about to run out, not sure if that's a principle thing or I just care a bit too much about what goes through my engine...

 

[the_interloper]

And fair enough, really.

My job used to consist mostly of opening boxes, placing the contents onto shelves (sometimes in decorative displays) then disposing of the empty boxes. I was one worker ant of many in many stores full of worker ants.

I think people get a bit precious about why they're employed in certain situations.

I did that for a bit, lot worse ways to earn a crust, used to pay pretty good too for the after hours stuff.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Excellent thread, a very important topic.

This year I have begun buying my vegetables from the greengrocer rather than the Coles I shop at. The only thing is that I don't know who owns the grocer; I ought to make sure it isn't Coles or Woolworths. Might investigate today.

This thread has inspired me, such that next time I buy meat, I will buy it from the butcher, even if it is a little more expensive. I eat too much meat anyway so this might be a good way to cut down.

I heard recently that Aldis opened a store in West End which is a short ferry/bike ride for me. Next time I want some chocolates or other processed crap, I will make the trip over the river. The only reason I haven't been using Aldi up until this point is that there were none nearby and I don't have a car.

Once again, excellent thread, it has inspired me, GD needs more discussion like this

 

[Dory_77]

Live in Canberra so shop at Supabarn which is independent apparently (though for how much longer?) so I'm doing my bit!
There are good meat, poultry, fish and fruit/veg places next door which I use a fair bit since the quality at them is generally a lot higher than Supabarn. It is concerning though how dominant the big 2 are and how much they're expanding. In regional centres I think it'll be worst as there are few alternatives to them and even the idea of supporting your mate at the local butcher/greengrocer can be overpowered by price/convenience.

 

[MarcusP2]

I generally shop at Foodland and a local fruit and veg shop. That said, Foodland sell a lot of the same stuff as Coles/Woolies so what difference does it make in the end?

 

[Upgrayedd]

I will say that while fruit/veg tends to be alright at the chains. The meat quality has been horrific.

 

[JuddsABlue]

I generally shop at Foodland and a local fruit and veg shop. That said, Foodland sell a lot of the same stuff as Coles/Woolies so what difference does it make in the end?

Selling the same stuff is fine/good, because behind every product is a manufacturing plant and owners and admin workers that are employed. The more dollars that come from the smaller supermarkets in to these brands accounts, the less power Coles and Woolworths have over them.

In a perfectly balanced world where all of the suppliers revenue is evenly distributed amongst a number of different grocerys, a single grocer like Coles doesnt have the power to drive down their prices to an unreasonable amount, or demand a certain price like theyre currently doing. And the flow on of that is they cant begin to manipulate their own products and force the brand name suppliers out and eventually run them out of business, thus saving all those jobs I mentioned about earlier

A basic example
If you're selling 10 marbles, and 1 person buys 9 marbles for $1 each and another person buys 1 marble for $1, if the person buying the 9 marbles demands that he only pay 60c for each, you're forced to buckle to the prices otherwise you cant sell.

If you're selling 10 marbles to 10 different people, and one person demands he pays 60c for a marble, you can tell him to get stuffed.

As it currently stands, majority of brand suppliers products are all going to Coles/Woolworths where they can demand low prices. If the smaller guys start to create more revenue for them, they can stand up a little more against the giants

 

[Scotland]

Nowadays, they'll buy the whole shopping centre and lease out to the little guys, and slowly suck the life out of them. It makes them look good to the outsider that they have a Bushs Meats, or a Bakery, or a Fishmonger outside their supermarket, but you can be sure they don't want them to prosper.

The problem with this is they either own the centre and call the shots or a group like Westfield, Centro etc. do and as the dominant floor space tenant they effectively call the shots anyway.

 

[kfc1]

I avoid big box shopping centres like the plague

 

[kanye_best]

fruit/veg from markets
meat from local butchers
bread from the bakery
use coles for general things like toilet paper/shampoo etc etc as well as smaller foods like chocolates and cans of tuna.

 

[BACCS]

Scumbags they are. I work at a small supermarket franchise which I think does quite well (just hazarding a guess from my time working there. Haven't seen the books), so lately we've been trying to support them more as it's not only closer but you get far friendlier service in my opinion too.

My parents generally go to Aldi a fair bit too. Once you know what's good the products can be the same if not better than what you get at Coles or Woolies. It's a bit of a psychological thing I think. People attach negativity to Aldi and want it to taste bad when they eat it. I guess they qualify as a big company too. They also go to Coles a lot and it always costs a fortune.

Mate, Aldi are the largest supermarket chain in the world I believe, they are most definitely a big company and are exactly like Coles and Woolies (on a much larger scale). The guy who founded the company passed away recently, and he was one of the richest people in the world.

 

[Scotland]

In a perfectly balanced world where all of the suppliers revenue is evenly distributed amongst a number of different grocerys, a single grocer like Coles doesnt have the power to drive down their prices to an unreasonable amount, or demand a certain price like theyre currently doing. And the flow on of that is they cant begin to manipulate their own products and force the brand name suppliers out and eventually run them out of business, thus saving all those jobs I mentioned about earlier

People get a bit too precious about this. Supermarkets are really just a link in the chain connecting consumers with consumer goods. They are a retailer, and in the majority of cases are not value-adding. Their power is entirely dependent upon consumer behaviour.

Peaches for example are grown by a farmer, tinned at a cannery, transported to a distribution warehouse then transported again to each store where they are bought off the shelf by customers. There are economies of scale at work throughout the chain but people are very selective about which ones they attack. How many farmers per hectare is optimal? How many canneries are required? Etc.

 

[Scotland]

Mate, Aldi are the largest supermarket chain in the world I believe, they are most definitely a big company and are exactly like Coles and Woolies (on a much larger scale). The guy who founded the company passed away recently, and he was one of the richest people in the world.

People are stupid.

Aldi and Metcash, the local little guys.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

The difference being that within this market Aldi are very much the 'little guys'.

The (pressing) problem is not that Coles/Woolworths are huge, it is that we have a duopoly.

If a third entrant makes that a tripoly (?), what does it matter if that entrant is big overseas?

The more competitors within any given market, the better the competition.

Hence my support for Aldi and anybody who shops there in Australia.

 

[kfc1]

People are stupid.

Aldi and Metcash, the local little guys.

Not really. They are both little in terms of market share in Aus.