A new report has suggested discount supermarkets will continue to make inroads in the retail sector, while Australia’s Woolworths and Coles both made it comfortably onto the list of the world’s largest 250 retailers. As the global economy shifted in 2007 from relatively strong growth, to deceleration and on to modest recession in early 2008, consumers cut back on their spending and turned to discount retailers in ever increasing numbers, according to the report, 2009 Global Powers of... ...Read more »

UK upmarket specialist online grocer Ocado last week posted record sales figures in a sign that the online grocery sector is steadily making inroads in Britain. They saw sales rise 25 per cent above results of the year before in the four weeks to January 3 despite recessionary headwinds, including a staggering 97% rise in Christmas week sales. Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, also noted that their online grocery business had grown, delivering “very strong sales”. Ocado, which sells products... ...Read more »

There has been much made of local food products this year in westernised countries as the push toward “home grown” has stepped up in the wake of, both the concerns early this year about the future of the world’s food supply, and the economic crisis. The issue of food miles has been paramount to the debate, with arguments that the long distance freighting of food consumes too much fuel and energy. The UK has been one of the most prominent in the push toward local as some supermarkets... ...Read more »

Australians are yet to embrace the internet when it comes to shopping for food and groceries, according to a survey released today by Deloitte. The survey discovered that food and groceries were the least likely of 12 categories to be researched over the internet, with only 6% conducting research online as opposed to 94% in-store. The leader of the category, outings and entertainment, had 73% of people conducting research on-line, highlighting a major gulf between different product categories when... ...Read more »

The latest survey on the GROCERYchoice website has indicated that, on a total grocery basket, Woolworths supermarkets are the cheapest in 45 of the 61 regions surveyed. This compares with 30 of 61 regions in the previous month’s survey. Independents are again the cheapest in the Eastern Central Queensland sector, with Coles on top in the other 15 regions. The basket prices represent the average price for a retailer within a specified region, not the price for a specific individual supermarket... ...Read more »

The season of festive cheer is fast approaching - but for some Australians, this Christmas and New Year will be one of the toughest yet. Foodbank, Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation - distributing food to more than 1900 welfare agencies, is looking for donations from the food industry and consumers to create “an Australia without hunger”. According to Foodbank, two million people in Australia - over half of whom are children - rely on food relief every year. They will... ...Read more »

Australian culinary icon Margaret Fulton today launched the ‘Canola Edition’ of the Greenpeace True Food Guide, which aims to help consumers avoid buying genetically engineered (GE) food products. Ms Fulton, widely renowned for her food writing, likened the major companies pushing GM (Genetically Modified) to Adolf Hitler, according to reports. The launch, at Sydney’s Bird Cow Fish restaurant, was supported by a number of leading figures in the food industry. Prominent supermarket... ...Read more »

The Chairman of Wesfarmers, Trevor Eastwood, has told shareholders that he is excited about the platform for growth of Coles, now that the senior management team is in place. Mr Eastwood was looking to appease shareholders who have watched Wesfarmers’ share price drop to less than half of what it was a year ago and rejected proposed pay rises for the company’s directors. The proposed bonus scheme could see the salary of the company’s Managing Director, Richard Goyder, increase... ...Read more »

Any hopes of the Coles transformation being complete earlier than the five year estimate appear forlorn given the frank assessment of current Chief Executive Ian McLeod at an investor briefing held by Wesfarmers yesterday. Mr McLeod suggested the supermarket chain had suffered from “chronic underinvestment”, a “lack of cohesive strategy”, and was “fundamentally broken” when Wesfarmers took over Coles in November last year. A basic “spring clean”... ...Read more »

Coles, in the early stages of a five year turnaround being orchestrated by a management team full of new blood, is set to lose one of their stalwarts at the end of the year. Mick McMahon, the man who led Coles through its acquisition by Wesfarmers last year and represented the company during ACCC questioning as part of the Grocery Price Inquiry, is to step down at the end of the year, according to reports from Fairfax Media. Currently in the position of Chief Operating Officer of Food, Liquor and... ...Read more »