This was mentioned at a party last night, someone asked me to do so leading up to Christmas.
I've made the decision to buy from independent grocers and butchers, but also be careful & keep in mind what we'll actually need. Anyone else doing the boycott or involved?
In light of the price gouging & record profits debacle of course.
Edit - added poll based on a few opinions. Hopefully captured most?
There's no way Amazon doesn't one day figure out how to deliver fresh groceries in Australia eventually. Buying Coles would be the quickest way, but Amazon will figure it out no matter what. Too much profit to be made. If Coles are still making a profit delivering with Uber Eats then Amazon can figure it out too. Plus all that delicious data will just make their grocery operations more efficient over time.
Hope they also start selling big appliances someday.
Absolutely. I ordered a portable AC from Bunnings and it was $50 delivery. Amazon should figure out how to undercut Bunnings by $50 and include delivery in the price. Though I think Arlec is Bunning's own generic brand so they probably couldn't do it for this particular one.
Did you try getting free delivery with one pass, which has a one month free trial?
Amazon the savior of the consumer and the worker.
It is the best consumer experience across all retail. Instant comms, easy returns.
@[Deactivated]: Agree Amazon returns are good, but never had an issue returning faulty, bad stuff to Woolies or Coles.
Also Amazon are not price setters they are followers not really seen them lead in pricing and typically follow Coles/Woolie/JB etc.
Amazon have already done that with the purchase of Wholefoods market in the US and UK so it wouldn't be much of a stretch.
As for avoiding the two major supermarkets you would also need to avoid bunnings and every other major company the two own.
Bunnings not owned by Coles or Woolworths.
Woolworths pretty much just WW and BIGW now
Coles is Coles supermarkets and liquorland and 1st Choice
That's just what we need - foreign companies becoming monopolies instead! I'll take the situation we have now over Costco and Amazon taking a larger slice of the grocery market.
Too much profit to be made.
Uh what?
There is no way Amazon will come after the supermarkets in Australia, the ROI is so bad. $40+ billion dollars in revenue and Coles made like $1bn in profit. Even Wesfarmers didn't want it because the ROI on their capital investment was so low, they were better off putting that capital towards their other ventures like Bunnings, Officeworks and now API.
Not quite as odd as the petrol boycott
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I need colesworth and other price gougers (banks etc) to continually increase profits because it's good for my superannuation
Can’t think of an appropriate analogy. But the benefit to our super almost feels like “lipstick on a pig” - but slightly more useful.
As my finance professor used to tell us, the nest way to get even with a company that's ripping you off is to own a part of it.
So screw the kids? Ok.
If thats the intention, hope you are boycotting foreign entity first, eg amazon, ubereats, netflix, uber/ola in favour of local independent alternatives.
Pro tip. Calling restaurant directly for delivery is usually cheaper
Except most don't home deliver, except through Uber eats
This. Seeing people hoping amazon takes there business. If you think the current duopoly is bad then u have no clue how bad it can get if a foreign entity like amazon takes over. Jobs, profits and tax revenue all gone to overseas tax havens and price will skyrocket with even less competition
Which is why countries don't break up monopolies anymore. Because it just creates an opportunity for a foreign entity to fill the void and now you have an even worse situation where all the profits are going overseas.
I would prefer our duopoly over Amazon or Aldi. I have been with Prime for years for streaming but like to go in store to get different things at once. The various discounts Colesworth offer makes it good deal.
I only go to Aldi for their weekly specials novelty stuff. I browse their staples but it doesn’t usually fancy me. I tried many times but I prefer to buy 1/2 price of my preferred brand. Their sales are always good.
In light of the price gouging & record profits debacle of course.
Their margins are about 3-5%. What do you think is a reasonable margin for a business to make?
And "record profits" - well they open more stores every year, the populaton is growing, and inflation means money is worth less - why shouldn't their profits increase every year?
The "masive profits" whining is misplaced and makes you sound financially illiterate.
They both have dodgy practices such as the constant sales on items with no expiry, dumb "membership" schemes, etc that are more deserving of complaints.
I found an ABC article that stated Woolies profit margin was 5.9%. I worked for a manufacturing company a few years ago and the margin was 7%
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I found an ABC article that stated Woolies profit margin was 5.9%. I worked for a manufacturing company a few years ago and the margin was 7%
I sold high pressure water blasters in the 80s and 90s.. Not the Karcher toy type. Top of the range 3 Phase 3,000PSI hot water machine sold for around $6,500 and had a profit of $4,000
I think real figure is much higher. Accounting can be very creative.
They are a public listed Australian company, it isn't like international companies and subsidiaries where they can offshore profits or hide them under dodgy IP licensing deals like Apple et al.
Yep, and our iron ore mining companies currently have a profit margin in excess of 500%. Definitely good to own a slice of that!
I just back from Coles and Woolies and the queues were out the door so I don't think your little protest is having much effect.
'out the door' my ass!
You have a queue of people out of your ass?
Human centipede
I get people want to boycott Cole’s & woolies because they think they are price gauging consumers. Maybe it’s true maybe it’s not. I have no idea on their inner workings. At least they both support Aussie farmers and 90 something % of fresh food is Australian grown. They both employ at lot of Aussies and pay tax.
Compare that to Apple, Nike and many other foreign companies that use cheap foreign labour & sweatshops. They also pay little to no tax in Australia.
Better to boycott these companies
Good point with the supporting aussie farmers, workers & tax paying. I also dont know the inner workings.
I believe i'm able to still buy all local produce without colesworth, though, also supporting aussie farmers, workers and markets that (I assume) pay tax.
markets that (I assume) pay tax
🙄
At least they both support Aussie farmers and 90 something % of fresh food is Australian grown.
Do farmers actually earn good money? Specifically with dairy farmers, it seemed like it wasn't long ago that they were fighting for higher milk prices because they just weren't making enough money. And that goes back to "price gouging"; if a good wage to support our dairy farmers meant that a litre of milk had to be priced at $5 would people be happy to pay that?
Compare that to Apple, Nike and many other foreign companies that use cheap foreign labour & sweatshops.
If those companies didn't use cheap foreign labour and sweatshops it's possible that the prices of their products would be much higher than they are now. E.g. if the labour to make an iPhone wasn't cheap, Apple could end up charging two or three times as much per phone. Who would be ok with spending that much on a phone? If there's no demand they wouldn't make the product anymore either. Although Nike are definitely a lot worse when it comes to worker exploitation, and their products aren't as complex to design and manufacture compared to phones and laptops.
I wouldn't say Australia is exempt from worker exploitation either, there have been cases of backpackers being exploited as fruit pickers.
Anyway, I'm not trying to say you're wrong or anything, I'm just putting forward another perspective as food for thought. Personally I think it can all be linked back to greed.
The fuss with milk prices in stores was always a furphy. At one point there were just too many dairy farms with many small players simply being not viable without very high prices, the majority of Australian milk doesn't go to the supermarket as milk, that makes up only about a quarter of what is produced, the majority goes to cheese, milk powder and other products.
they've been screwing aussie farmers for decades.
how the hell does a single farmer have any negotiating power with a retailer the size of coles or woolies?
only now with the rise of online "direct from the farm" type producers do farmers see decent other options.
Didn't Coles screw over the dairy farmers some years ago with their milk?
They don't support Aussie farmers, they screw them. Big difference.
Good luck with that. Coles and Woolies won't even notice nor will they care.
yeah there's seriously no national alternative. Maybe you have a fancy IGA near you that you could shop at, maybe you can make the trip to Costco. But there's really no replacement to Colseworth across the whole country.
Dick Smith wants everybody to boycott Aldi.
He wrote a letter to them complaining about their chargeable carts and no free Woolie like fruits for kids. And he thinks supporting Germans was a bad idea.
He got mad not getting a reply. Aldi was unable to find out what the nickname Dick could also stand for.
His middle name is Harald!!
How is kids not getting free fruit even top 50 of the complaints you could make lol
If he was serious about the problem he would condemn the rate and pace of human breeding, period.
He did get it right that this country has already passed a sustainable population level.
I'm not so sure that Colewsorths money all stays here, any way. They probably invest back into big oil,gas and coal and American arms industries. It's as big a fault of the shareholders. They demand the returns. That's how capitalism works. Ripping off the many, to wrap the few in gold.
EDIT:
Most of the crew here are enabling the gouging by chasing rewards>
" Coles said customers were “increasingly eating and entertaining at home, seeking out loyalty points and bonus offers, and looking for more affordable alternatives as they seek more value in response to cost-of-living pressures.”
It also attributed its $9.2b sales revenue jump to the Magical Builders collectable campaign. The Harry Potter paper figurines were sold at Coles and Coles Express.
Loyalty programs across both supermarkets also saw a boost, with Flybuys increasing members by 9.9 per cent amid a 22 per cent jump in member only offers.
Woolworths made a play in August to drop prices for members which played into its 6.8 per cent growth in Everyday Rewards membership."
from>
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https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/coles-and-woolworths-profi…
this country has already passed a sustainable population level
What is that exactly? Show your working.
I mean supporting an Australian owned company has to be better than supporting a German multinational right? Most Aldi stakeholders probably are not Australian.
Aldi is privately owned, in Austria they have to call themselves Hofer!
well of course he would tell people to shop at Woolies because he pretty much sold to them
Dick was extremely lucky to find that peak. 5 years later his ex empire was eroding like an avalanche.
yep
Colesworth owns more than you think. That little butcher may be owned by them…..
But in saying that, Aussies are pretty chilled in the sense we don't go full hard out in protesting thus laws and policies are passed easily. While Aussies get mad, we don't do anything to prevent it.
Personally, I don't shop at colesworth anymore unless I need those few items such as a specific flour only Coles stock.
They will continue to be profitable in the billions.
stopped doing major shops at coles worth start of the year ….approximately $10K of our household cash the bastards wont see!
(profanity) you coles & woolies and no i dont want scan my (profanity) rewards card…(profanity) you!
Where do you shop and is it more expensive?
No one should be allowed to increase their profits nor should they be able to grow their business so that can have record profits & employ more people, disgusting obscene behaviour.
…employ more people??
as they phase out registers & operators and make us plebs scan our own crap?
There are still registers where you can stand in line and have your crap scanned by the most bored person on the planet. Me, I much prefer to do it myself and leave the manned registers to people who need it. The self scan registers have shortened the queues considerably.
There's often zero manned registers at our local Coles (usually during the first couple of hours the store is open).
@AdrianW: after about the 10th time of pleading for them to open a register for a trolley full of groceries i gave up….
coles are a lot worse than woolies for this…at least you dont have to argue with woolies staff to do their (profanity) job
now i just blitz through at aldi and never have to wait
@franco cozzo: Did you ask to talk to the manager? I’d be surprised if the manager refused to open a manned register. Our local Coles has the longer unmanned ones which makes it much easier for a big shop.
I hate the standard manned ALDI registers. I much prefer the unmanned ones.
…employ more people??
Woolworths Group employs about 200,000 people, and Coles about 120,000. How many do you employ?
Also, do you work for free or do you expect to be paid? Why the double standard?
WW just snapped up Petstock, for just over half a million!
@payless69: Wow, that's pretty cheap! If I had known they were willing to sell for $500k I would have bought it myself rather than a train which I could also afford.
Do you think the self serve registers just make and service themselves?
They seem to be employed picking peoples groceries.
Lol I hear your sarcasm, I've heard this argument being discussed, specifically the complex integration of colesworth into our economy, job creation (i know plenty of families who have been able to support their families through colesworth-related employment), grow our super, etc.
And yep it is normal business behaviour to make profit. But how does a line get drawn with pricing as to what is reasonable profit and what goes beyond, affecting consumers on such a large scale?
Dunno what do you consider a fair profit, at least Coles and Woolworths pay tax, not like this mob https://michaelwest.com.au/exxon-confirms-tax-office-in-purs…
independent grocers are more expensive than WW or Coles near me. Last I checked they all running a business.
In light of the price gouging & record profits debacle of course.
Keep in mind they owed more than grocery.
Yeah some are near me too, some are not.
Keep in mind they ow[n]ed more than grocery.
Good point.
If you can't beat them, join them, go buy some WOW or COL shares? :)
Yeah, I don't understand why going to independent ones make it cheaper. They are almost always more expensive. I just shop wherever is cheaper, be it Coles or no name stores.
100% - independent grocers & butchers are more expensive in my area.
They give the impression that they're fresher & cheaper, but if you actually look at the receipts, almost each item is more expensive.
I used to know a marketing manager from the independent store, was saying its hard to compete with Coles or WW most of the time, as they got more buying power.
Of course they have more buying power. Even working for a wholesaler, many non perishables were cheaper from colesworth/bunnings and other large chains.
If you have a Harris Farm Market near you, they have become surprisingly competitive with Colesworth price-wise and the quality of their fresh produce is so much better. Why is Aurora instant coffee cheaper at HFM than Woolworths when these guys are so much smaller?
I used to, some very good sales on seasonal stuff. Miss them.
Yes, their sale items can be incredible value, although their usual prices are generally high.
too convinient cbf
Their annual reports are publically available for all to read.
And Coles for example made 1.04 billion NPAT on 40.5 billion revenue.
What NPAT would you be happy with them making to end the boycot?
Wot? Only a billion? Can't wait to see the boycotts against the big 4 banks.
In general, companies should not be allowed to make profits. If course then there would be no investors, leaving it to the state to own these enterprises. Does anyone know what form of government that is called?
Bit tongue in cheek, but…
25th of December. One day boycott. That will show them.
Hey OP probably you should run a poll to see if Ozbargain community is ready to boycott these big companies and follow it up in three months time with another poll to see if they have really abstained shopping at coles and wollies.
To give you an example, here at Ozbargain when ever there is a Harvey Norman post, people talk about boycotting it, but you might have noticed when ever there is a sale on a product at HN most of the time product goes out of stock in no time. “Walk the Talk” really never happens here.
Good social experiment ha. Will consider poll options.
In light of the price gouging & record profits debacle of course
Please try to use a bit of judgement rather than sprouting cr*p.
The major supermarket's net profit margin is ~2.5%. Over time as the population increases and prices rise due to inflation, even if their market share is flat, their revenues will rise, hence their $ profits will rise. But lo and behold, their net profit margin fluctuates around 2-3%.
Grab a couple of past annual reports and calculate it for yourself.
Would you also boycott a grocer with much higher net profit margin or you wouldn't because their $ profits are lower?
Don't mention Aldi…..
The independants are much more expensive in my area. There was a decent butcher and deli/green grocer but prices were nearly double that of the coles/woolies just 50m down the road.
Another issue I face is that none of the independants do home delivery.
I am disabled and its not possible to do my own shopping without hiring someone to take me to the shops and help me which would be more expensive themn just ordering delivery from coles/woolies.
There are a few other cheaper independant shops around but the quality is lower then that of coles/woolies and they dont deliver.
I don't have a car, so get my groceries delivered as well. Woolworths delivery saver membership is way less expensive than taxi's and the WW driver actually brings them inside, where as taxi driver does not help at all.
If Aldi near you a good viable alternative. Generally cheaper.
stuff around with shopping at a bunch of different retailers in order to get everything that I could get delivered from a single store? Nope.. I'll just keep shopping at woolies
Can't boycott totally. Get my staples from Aldi and smaller stores. C&W for the specials can't help. But I've started to insist of staff check out. F this this, tKing away jobs and maximising profits. Then making a fuss about some items I bought in another store. Tbh the staff are really good in both. Though as a brand, I hate Coles more.
Shopping at Aldi is worse. Atleast the profits from Colesworth goes back to Australians.
I’m interested to see how this senate inquiry plays out but am mostly a supporter of the big Aussie supermarkets. The employ hundreds of thousands Australians, and profit margins are generally quite slim. This means the majority of their revenue is going to employees, suppliers, landlords, ATO and the myriad of contractors that support them.
Atleast the profits from Colesworth goes back to Australians.
Im gonna pull a JV and say… Proof?
Just because their shares are traded on the ASX doesn't mean they aren't owned by overseas investors.
There will be overseas investors but it would be very unlikely the majority of investors would be from overseas. Particularly given the size of our Superannuation funds.
Lets not forget a lot of the independents were just as guilty of this ;)