Yesterday
Anzac Day shopping ban restricts choice, retailers say
Retail trade will be banned on Anzac Day in NSW, giving the state some of the nation’s most restrictive rules in a move to counter “creeping commercialism”.
- Gus McCubbing, James Hall and Lucy Slade
This Month
Payman wrong to cross the floor: AFR readers
A majority of readers surveyed by The Australian Financial Review said they did not support the Senator’s decision to ignore long-standing Labor Party convention.
- Tom McIlroy
June
Fruit and veg price transparency needed: Woolies
The supermarket giant says progress on an industry or government-led review into the prices paid to suppliers is overdue.
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Supermarket inquiry
Why this is a practical, workable supermarket code of conduct
The new code offers the best of both a mandatory and voluntary system of compliance for the supermarket giants.
- Craig Emerson
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Supermarket crackdown avoids break-up overreach
Yet what remains unexplained is how shoring up the bargaining power of incumbent suppliers will actually lower prices for families at the checkout or will have the unintended regulatory consequences of meaning higher prices.
- The AFR View
Coles, Woolies face multibillion-dollar fines under new mandatory code
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has agreed to adopt all 11 recommendations of Craig Emerson’s review into the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.
- Ronald Mizen
Why avoiding Coles and Woolies will save you 25pc
A basket of everyday groceries is $17 cheaper at Aldi, research by consumer group Choice shows, with little difference between the big two supermarket chains.
- Tom McIlroy
Consumers urged against panic-buying after Coles imposes egg limit
One supermarket giant is limiting customers to two cartons of eggs after an outbreak of bird flu in Victoria worsened.
- Gus McCubbing
May
How Kmart is now more product maker than retailer
Kmart Group’s own brand has boomed, helping it deliver record profits. Its CEO says the low-cost goods chain is now more product maker than retailer.
- Patrick Durkin
Calls for power to break up Coles and Woolies split inquiry
The ACCC should get new legal powers to prosecute supermarkets found to be engaging in price gouging, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.
- Tom McIlroy and Carrie LaFrenz
Is Bonza a goner? Woolworths’ $8b crisis; Bizarre quantum theory
This week on the Chanticleer podcast, James and Anthony delve into Bonza’s crash landing, reveal the real cost of Woolworths’ PR crisis and answer a listener’s question about Australia’s whopper venture capital investment.
April
Woolworths launches $468m selldown in Endeavour; Jarden on ticket
It’s not the first time Woolworths has offloaded Endeavour Group stock since the grocer spun it off to the ASX boards.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
How supermarket shoppers became part of a $3.8b gold rush
As supermarkets hunt for new sources of revenues in an age of rising costs and narrowing margins, they have stumbled on one of their most valuable assets: data.
- James Warrington
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Coles has a bit of a booze problem
While Coles’ supermarket sales are holding up well, a shock drop in its liquor division tells a story about the growing pain of interest rates.
- James Thomson
Coles wants suppliers’ help in cutting prices as shoppers seek deals
The supermarket chain’s sales rose 5.1 per cent in the third quarter but liquor sales fell as consumers cut spending by looking for cheaper alcohol options.
- Carrie LaFrenz
Aldi pays mega $420m dividend to offshore parent
Newly released accounts reveal the discount supermarket chain made a hefty capital return to Austrian company Hofer KG in 2023.
- Carrie LaFrenz
Woolies cuts prices in bid to catch Coles’ growth
A JPMorgan survey of private label products shows the supermarket giants are competing more aggressively on price, closing the gap with discount retailer Aldi.
- Carrie LaFrenz
Why the RBA won’t cut rates soon; Supermarket stoush; Misguided push for Australian made
This week, James and editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury discuss the data the RBA will be mulling, examine how the supermarket inquiry turned nasty, and ask whether the Made in Australia push is doomed.
Super growers take on Woolies, Coles with private equity cash
Giant pension funds from Canada, Singapore and US private equity are behind super producers who account for half the $9.1 billion fruit and vegetable market. Bigger is better, and Australia is mirroring a global trend.
- Simon Evans and Carrie LaFrenz
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Greens’ supermarket inquiry a Canberra political freak show
Does anyone think the public interest was served by the back and forth over the best metric of Woolworths’ profitability and threatening Brad Banducci with six months in prison for contempt of parliament?
- The AFR View