The ACCC has ended up with a grab-bag of recommendations aimed at forcing a greater level of transparency on the supermarkets, but marginal impact on their market power.
At the heart of the final report of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s supermarket inquiry is a simple truth: the horse has bolted.
The combination of very high barriers to entry and expansion in the sector, and the inherent advantages that flow to Coles and Woolworths from controlling 77 per cent of the market, mean that “the fundamental dynamics of competition in this sector and associated outcomes appear set to continue for the foreseeable future”.
Loading...
James Thomson is senior Chanticleer columnist based in Melbourne. He was the Companies editor and editor of BRW Magazine. Connect with James on Twitter. Email James at j.thomson@afr.com
