‘Can you sleep at night?’: Shopper confronts Woolworths CEO over ‘price gouging’
A fed-up shopper has confronted the CEO of Woolworths in a store in NSW, questioning how she can “sleep at night”.
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A fed-up shopper has confronted the CEO of Woolworths during an impassioned exchange in a NSW store, where she accused the supermarket giant of price gouging amid the cost-of-living crisis.
In a video shared to social media, the shopper was filmed approaching newly appointed Woolworths Chief Executive Amanda Bardwell before questioning how she “can sleep at night” during a visit in a store in Wollongong, on the NSW South Coast.
“What do you have to say to the fact that your company is profiting off price gouging during the context of the cost of living crisis?” the shopper asked in the video, which has wracked up nearly half a million views.
“Thank you for reaching out to us. We’re doing everything we can to recognise that customers are doing it tough to make sure that they’re able to get great prices,” Ms Bardwell replied.
Hitting back, the customer said she didn’t “believe that”, before claiming the supermarket giant was continuing to make money while Aussies are suffering.
“Can you sleep at night knowing that?” she asked.
“Our team are doing everything that we can to support our customers. We understand that it is an incredibly difficult time right now,” Ms Bardwell replied.
“If you understood, then maybe you would be prepared to give up the billion dollar that the company has been making,” the shopper continued.
A staff member then intervened, noting the supermarket had lowered prices across the store.
“That’s great value for our customers,” she said.
As the exchange continued, Ms Bardwell thanked the shopper for sharing her “views”.
A man behind the camera then interjected, arguing their claims are not “views” but rather “reality” – noting “millions of Australians right now are struggling”.
Attempting to wrap up the interaction, the staff member told the pair it was illegal to videotape someone without permission in New South Wales, before the group eventually walked off.
“Shame,” the man behind the camera shouted before staff were out of earshot.
Many online commented on what they thought was a “generic’” and “robotic” response from the CEO.
“‘Thank you for reaching out to us’ MADE ME SCREAM,” media personality and podcast host Abbie Chatfield commented.
“When you ask CHAT GPT for answers….,” another social media user wrote.
“Not the verbatim email IN PERSON? Wow,” said another.
“The robot response!!!! It was like auto-reply all the way through,” another commented.
Others praised the woman for standing up for Aussie shoppers and called on others to boycott the supermarket chain.
“Good on her for speaking up,” one person wrote.
“Thank you for standing up for the people not only Australia but around the world. If people can buy enough food to last a month’s and everyone stop going there. Price will drop,” said another.
“The thing is if we all just stopped supporting Woolworths and Cole’s and only shop at Aldi or IGA stores till they get the picture,” another commented.
“Families are doing it tough”
It comes after Anthony Albanese lashed major supermarkets for treating Australians “as fools” following the consumer watchdog’s decision to launch legal action against Coles and Woolworths for allegedly making misleading claims about discounts.
On Monday, the government announced it was launching a draft of a new grocery code that could slap major supermarkets with multimillion-dollar penalties for serious breaches.
The Prime Minister said consumers deserved to “get a fair go when families are doing it tough”, adding that Australians needed a “tough consumer cop on the beat”.
“These are serious allegations that the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) is bringing before the courts. If this is found to be true, it’s completely unacceptable,” Mr Albanese told reporters.
“This is not the Australian spirit. Customers don’t deserve to be treated as fools by the supermarkets. They deserve much, much better than that.”
The ACCC alleged both major supermarkets temporarily hiked prices by at least 15 per cent before slapping them with promotional discount stickers at prices higher than before the hike.
The ACCC said Woolworths did this for 266 products in its Prices Dropped promotion over a period of 20 months, while Coles did it for 245 products in its Down Down promotion across 15 months.
Mr Albanese said households were “on the hunt for discounts” when doing their weekly shops “because every dollar matters.”
“When people get to the checkout, advertised discounts need to be genuine each and every time,” he said.
The new code aims to boost protections for suppliers, introducing stronger dispute resolutions provisions and guards to prevent suppliers from supermarket retribution.
There will also be expanded protections for whistleblowers to ensure their identities are kept secret.
In a statement, Woolworths said it acknowledged the announcement by the ACCC that it has commenced legal proceedings in relation to certain products sold on the Prices Dropped program between 2021 to 2023.
“The Group will carefully review the claims made by the ACCC and will continue to engage with the ACCC on the matter,” it said in a statement.
Ms Bardwell said: “We remain committed to offering many ways for customers to save at the
checkout, including thousands of weekly specials, everyday low prices on household essentials, a great value own brand range and through our Everyday Rewards program.”
– With NCA NewsWire
Originally published as ‘Can you sleep at night?’: Shopper confronts Woolworths CEO over ‘price gouging’
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