Every year The Australian’s John Durie asks some of the biggest names in Australian business five key questions about what’s coming in the year ahead.
Here, in his own words, is what Wooloworths’ Brad Banducci sees ahead in 2020.
You can read more from the CEO Survey across this summer.
How is your company affected by low-interest rates and what is needed to boost the economy?
We’re in the everyday needs business, so we don’t tend to see a huge impact from interest rate movements. The key thing we look for in long-term economic settings is certainty. This is critically important for consumer confidence and also gives us the confidence to invest in our business. We have an ambitious investment program. In financial year 2019, we invested $1.8bn through our store renewal program, new stores, digital transformation and supply chain network development. These were all about keeping pace with the rising expectations of our customers and transforming our business for retail in the 2020s.
What is the impact of government regulations on your company, including those applying to the financial sector?
We’re subject to a wide range of federal, state and local regulations across the group. As a national business, we’re keen to see greater regulatory harmonisation across different jurisdictions. It may seem relatively inconsequential to a state or local government to make small regulatory changes, but it can have a big flow-on impact for businesses with national systems – adding complexity and cost. We acknowledge harmonisation isn’t always easy but believe there is a major opportunity to unlock productivity and consumer benefits from doing so.
What percentage of company revenues are spent on research and development, and how is your company using technology to improve performance?
We’re not going to call out a percentage, but it’s certainly is material when you take in all the work we do testing and learning across food innovation, store format, digital experience, e-commerce, supply chain and data analytics. In our FoodCo business, we develop and launch more than one thousand new and innovative products each year to meet specific customer needs – whether they be around health, ethnicity, the desire for Australian made or meeting household budgets. In our supply chain, we’ve invested in cutting-edge automation at our Melbourne South Regional Distribution Centre, put electric trucks on the road, and are pushing into real-time transport visibility with our carrier partners through telematics. Perhaps most obviously for our customers, we continue to invest in pushing forward our store formats with our renewal program.
What are the three major policy issues facing the country and what should be done about them?
● Mental health: As Australia’s largest private employer, mental health is a huge priority for us. We’re 190,000 strong here in Australia and represent the country in virtually every area of the business. The effects of mental health challenges are very real and happening across the community. Within our business alone, we have lost 13 team members to suicide this year, which is absolutely tragic. We all need to take accountability – it’s as important as physical safety and we need to talk about it much more openly and confront it as a collective. Looking after mental wellbeing is not just the right thing, but also key to unlocking the full potential of our team – it’s good for business, good for people, and good for Australia.
● Investment in regional Australia: Prioritising investment in core, productivity enhancing, infrastructure is critical to our collective national success. On a recent tour of our regional stores, we saw tangible examples of the impact it can have at the local level. We have around 400 stores in regional Australia, and it’s vital for government and businesses to continue investing to connect regional Australia to critical supply chains.
● Water: I’ve recently come back from visiting more than a dozen of our stores in drought-stricken areas of Australia. Having seen first-hand the impact of drought on farmers and the communities in which they live, we clearly have a long way to go on water policy. The issues aren’t easy, and we all have a role to play in how we use this key national resource.
What are the major impediments to long-term growth facing your company and what can or is being done about them?
We see a world of opportunity ahead of us as we continue to transform our business, redouble our focus on everyday needs retailing, and build new platforms for growth. We’re entering a new era of retailing, which will require agility and partnerships to thrive. We believe we have the team and mindset to be successful, but we have to be relentless in our
focus on the customer and their increasing expectations of us.
If you or someone you know may be at risk of suicide, call Lifeline (131114), Kids Helpline (1800 551 800), Beyond Blue (1300 224 636)
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