This whole process of corporate Australia pandering to the woke community is getting totally out of hand
Woolworths Dumps Australia Day Merchandise
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"I'm a fan of free markets until they use that freedom to do something I don't like."
Consumer backlash is a part of free markets.
Why would you think that free markets mean consumers don't get to have an opinion on stuff???
@fantombloo: They know people won't boycott Woolworths, no matter what side you back, or how much people talk about it online, it'll all pass with zero impact on their bottom line.
@Almost Banned: It is consumer opinion which has prompted Woolies to do this. People just don't buy the products, so why would they sell it? Getting angry at free enterprise for a commercial decision is just inane.
@KapitaneXtreme: I am all for companies deciding what to sell based on market sentiment.
I am not so keen for companies to force their political decisions.
There was absolutely no need for this statement from WW - and little need for the change. They could easily have scaled down their product on the basis of consumer demand.
Instead they decided to make an announcement to back up their woke support of the YES campaign.@Almost Banned: Well said. It's particularly stupid when opinions are so devided anyway. This poll is sitting at 50/50
@Almost Banned: Check this out… https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/woolworths-stores…
All those people claiming this was just about market forces… yeah right.@Almost Banned: I guess you haven't noticed - A&TSI flags are flown outside many premises.
That's right.
@jackspratt: Yes they are - and this time Woolworths was honest enough to admit that it is a deliberate part of a campaign.
I look forward to the flying of flags solving all the problems people imagine we have with race in this country.
@Almost Banned: So they are flying some perfectly legal flags outside their premises. All this shows is you have been triggered by a news organisation where the Patriarch gave up his Australian citizenship to make money in America. What is more unAustralian than that? Frankly that is a much bigger issue than what Woollies is doing. Why are you letting an overseas run company tell you what being an Australian is?
@KapitaneXtreme: Exactly, very little of it sold, that's what people don't want to recognise. The last few years, I've seen piles of it marked down the day after Australia Day.
@SimAus007: Yet they are going to sell Chinese New Year merch - I work for them and it’s sitting on the dock. We sell less than the Australia Day merch.
@Almost Banned: ALL of that garbage will end up in the landfill the next day.
Last year they don't not sell it all. This year they decided to go sustainable and not buy plastic crap so you can use it for a day and then dump.
I agree. I think Woolworths are wrong on this but it's their choice and the consumer will decide if they agree with it or not.
Look, nobody is arguing that Woolworths should be forced to sell this stuff.
However, political activists hounding companies into submission is not good, and it does undermine the principles of the 'free market'.
@trapper: Surely this is the ultimate of free market. All voices have had a say and the Supermarket has made a choice on an economic basis. They still sell food and booze so most people are covered anyway. They just aren’t selling throw away tat. Besides you can buy the rubbish elsewhere if you like.
Surely this is the ultimate of free market. All voices have had a say and the Supermarket has made a choice on an economic basis.
Not true, different voices have different powers.
Consider that a non-english speaking refugee doesn't have the same ability to influence institutional policy as a corporate lobbyist.
@Amp2k: Yeah an observation that a multi-billion corporation can somehow be bullied by everyday consumers. Did they reduce their profit margin last week because I totally missed that.
@Amp2k: woke means standing up to injustice.
Woolworth decided not to sell plastic crap that is made in China and made badly only to be dumped within 24 hours.
@AS2035: Woke most certainly does not mean 'standing up to injustice' - not even remotely.
Woke means letting feelings override facts. It means pushing compassion at the cost of reality. It means adopting a victim/oppressor mentality.@Almost Banned: Absolute tosh. Go back to the original meaning before the rightwingers polluted it. This is why we have to hold the rightwingers to account. They try to change history.
@try2bhelpful: You don't like those definitions?
How about this one:
Woke is thinking that a person who exposes their genitalia to strangers in public should not feel any shame for their actions if they claim it is part of their sexuality, but that white people should feel shame just for their skin color.
@trapper: What free market? Oh you mean the "free duopoly" that most Australians are forced to swallow?
Activism from Woolies or Coles is… a bloody joke! Might as well ask Rupert Murdoch or Gerry Harvey for their opinion.
Nothing further here to waste time on…just keep shuffling along folks….
croc out.
The cookers calling people woke have finally become what they hate lol
Do you buy Australia day items from supermarkets?
They're removing said products from Big W as well.
@Gehirn: Yeah I miss the days Big W was a one stop shop for me guns-n-ciggies Australia Day celebration. Woke madness!
@Roddi: BIG W was not open when guns were sold in Australia.. ..
woke means standing up to injustice
piggies you can still get from woolies and Coles and tobacconists.
@Gehirn: Woke means standing up to injustice.
all the plastic crap will end up in the land fill. NO RECYCLABLE.
Which bit… the history that happened or the entitlement to celebrate the boats full of convicts?
the entitlement to celebrate the boats full of convicts?
Restudy history.
Captain Cook didn't bring convicts.
Convicts were brought (forcefully) by the Poms after the Poms decided it was an empty land (Terra nullius).Hate the Poms if you need to.
Don't hate Australia nor Australia Day.Restudy history. Captain Cook didn't bring convicts.
Happy to have a read.
Just point me to the bit of history that says Australia Day has something to do with Captain Cook and I'll get right on it.
No, that's fine, you take all the time you need, I'll wait
@LFO: Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove in New South Wales.
Sentimental bleeds once a month.
Sorry for pissing on you but a lot of people dont give a shit about Australia day, nor what your feelings are.Woolworths is a for profit business working in the best interest of it's share holders. If you honestly think they're not stocking this garbage for any reason other than being sick of flogging it off at a heavy discount post Australia Day you're an f'ing moron
Look beyond the outrage and see some gronk using our flag as a cape.
Is the sentiment "Nobody can make me buy something I don't want to buy, and nobody can force a private business to sell something they don't want to sell"?
"People who enjoy waving flags, don't deserve to have one"
- BanksyThe guy is an over-hyped graffiti artist. What makes him an expert on flags, or anything else?
This is just a distraction from the government inquiry into the supermarkets jacking up prices and their record profits .
Not surprising as every other corporate scumbag company and landlord in this country is doing the same thing ,
just like fuel/gas/power and food ,
all the essentials you can’t avoid .Sorry, but most of you guys have no bloody idea what you're talking about.
This has nothing to do with "woke" or political activism. You really think Woolworths (literally a money printing machine, owned by shareholders who just want to make money) gives two craps about what some minority group of political activists think? Don't be silly, you've just been brainwashed into thinking the whole world is against you for a political cause.
I've previously worked as a category manager at a large retail chain - the reality is that this is completely a business decision. This sort of "special merchandise" is almost always loss-making. You have to do all of the sourcing / buying, logistics, supply chain, re-do planograms, store layouts…etc. all costing significant labour costs without them ever selling a lot.
Put it this way, you're ordering specific goods that you don't ever really order (requiring labour costs), putting them through your supply chain which is already highly optimised (requiring labour costs), you have to put them through your distribution centres which will require a special place for them (requiring labour costs), then you have to send them out to stores, require staff to set up the displays (requiring labour costs), move stuff around to accomodate (more labour costs), and then pack it all up and get rid of all of the crap tonne of merchandise that doesn't sell.
All of this for low margin novelty junk that doesn't bring anyone into the store and is not aligned with Woolies' core business. Not to mention that you end up writing off > 50% of the inventory because nobody actually buys it and you can't keep it on the shelves after Australia Day.
It's not profitable for them to sell Australia Day merchandise, it's not a loss leader, it has no broader business benefits. They decided to axe the category. Plenty of other categories Woolies have decided to axe in the past for similar reasons.
I'm sure there are plenty of other places you can get stuff with an Australian flag on it. No need to sweat.
I support the sentiment.
That's not why they've done this though is it?
It is in a roundabout way:
- Woolies buys a ton of Australia day merch
- Customers buy less and less each year
- Woolies can't sell it
- It gets written off and thrown away
@ThithLord: Correct, and as I said, the reasoning wasn't customer demand, it was that Woolies think our national holiday is divisive, and also stated that the reason they celebrate other nations (like Diwali) is because "those holidays mostly are about food". Talk about a pathetic attempt to cover up their motives!
@dcash: I doubt your old ancestors were born in Australia… Did they come here in handcuffs like most 'Australians'?
@TEER3X: i thought australia day was about celebrating australia now, not some ancestral rights BS but i'm new here and my indian neighbour probably eats more pies than i do
@juki: Just like Christmas is about celebrating Christ/generosity/being with family, Valentine's Day is about loving a significant other, Easter about celebrating humankind being saved by Jesus' resurrection and Halloween a celebration of the lives of our loved ones who have passed?
Regardless of where people stand in the debate of January 26, Australia Day was not a thing until 1994. All the merchandise people are crying about that Woolies aren't selling - they have nothing to do with what it means to be Australian. That's just consumerism. We used to laugh at Americans for being so loud about their patriotism. Now we're all clamouring to be Murica 2.0
@Tunblor: Agreed. Sky News has taken the bait of this something chronic - you should see them all frothing at the mouth over this latest 'woke' thing. Funny how they are all for freedom of speech but only when it's something they agree with. Now they are demanding Woolworths do something - where's the free speech now??
@a6ue6hqqoq: oh really its only a thing since 1994 ?! wow
that does make it look a bit like americains waving their flags at the first occasion. Australia should have kept their early 90's tourist bureau communication koalas and cockatoos riding bikes or surfing. I suppose the intention were good about australia day but various lobbies and activists be it far right or left want to pull the blanket to themselves
@a6ue6hqqoq: Well, we got Valentines Day and Halloween from Nth America. I agree we used to laugh at the Yanks for going overboard with Patriotism…lol Why wasn't Australia Day a thing until 1994? I worked overseas a lot and celebrating Australia Day was a huge thing with Aussie workers OS.
@windyhill: To clarify the 1994 comment, although 26 January has been celebrated as the foundation day of British settlement in Australia since as early as 1808, it was not made a public holiday across all states on that specific date until 1994.
@windyhill: Halloween isn't from North America, it's origins are Britain and Ireland, just to clarify. But I get your point.
@SimAus007: Yes, you're correct about the origins of Halloween. My first Halloween was in Canada in 2008, at that time we didn't celebrate it in Oz.
@a6ue6hqqoq: 26th January has been marked as Australia Day nationwide since 1935. ¹
1994 is just when JJJ started airing the Hottest 100, we made it a holiday because too many were calling in sick to bet on #1. But before that we'd light the Barbie on weekend and invite the neighbours over. It's always been a collective holiday, when you knew the rest of Australia was taking the day off too. How much more Australian can you get than that?
https://www.australiaday.com.au/about/#:~:text=Did%20you%20k…
i thought australia day was about celebrating australia now
So you're cool with moving the date then
You know, because now has nothing to do with 1788
@GrueHunter: i'm cool with whatever seems fair, i can't say i know too much about it, i just found out its only been a thing since 1990's
i just feel like a kid with parents shouting at each other, can't you just agree for the sake of the kids ?!!by australia now i mean celebrate who we are today, all of us, not about ancient times as so many people from so many places ditch their own nationality to become australian.
I think that was misunderstood in my post above
It's nothing to do with customer demand
It's always about customer demand, this is business.
rather Woolies having an Alan Joyce type CEO who wasn't born in Australia, has no loyalty to Australia
Why would the CEO of Woolies have "loyalty to Australia"? The CEO of Woolies has loyalty to the board, and by extension, his shareholders. His job is to implement what the board wants, and to maximise shareholder returns for those who elected the board.
and thinks he'll make himself look good by doing the woke thing.
I can't ever take anyone who uses the term "woke" seriously. What does "woke" mean? Are you woke for being aware of other woke people being aware of non-woke people?
@p1 ama: But it wasn't about customer demand, and Woolworths admitted as much. It was about trying to gain goodwill by assuming that most people who shop at Woolworths hate Australia (and her Western history and values) as much as the Woolworths board (and Woolworths "First Nations" board) do. As with most such endeavors, all they've managed to do is to alienate a good percentage of their customer base.
@dcash: That is a rubbish comment. Frankly the retrogrades who want to buy overseas made tat will be well balanced by the people who see the bigger picture on what actually constitutes loving your county. It also means believing in the Aussie concept of a fair go. If this rubbish sold well then WW would keep selling it. ALDI said they would drop it and Coles was at pains to say they have a small range that also doubles as stuff for people to take to sporting events. Hardly a ringing endorsement of your stance.
The retrogrades like to make a big noise however, they don't represent the average Australian. This is why parties like One Nation have, always, been a very small percentage and are getting smaller all the time.
But it wasn't about customer demand, and Woolworths admitted as much.
So you're saying that selling Australia Day merchandise is a profitable enterprise, and that Woolworths is forgoing a profitable category?
Why are you here complaining about it, you should write to the board of directors and Woolies shareholders to let them know that management is doing a terrible job of running the business and leaving huge amounts of money on the table.
It was about trying to gain goodwill
Oh, so you are saying that it is a business decision now. You're saying that not selling Australia Day products leads to Woolies getting goodwill with certain demographics, and hence increasing customer demand?
You can't have it both ways buddy, you can't say that this is not driven by a revenue agenda, then turn around to say that it is driven by a revenue agenda.
assuming that most people who shop at Woolworths hate Australia
Who exactly "hates" Australia? Every person I've met is bloody proud to be Australian. Our immigration queues are so long, you literally have people from around the globe wanting to come and live in Australia.
(and her Western history and values)
My man, what are you on about? Western history and values? Australia was settled by a bunch of criminals who were so bad they couldn't even keep them in the British prisons.
Like sure, be proud of Australian values as they are today - the idea of mateship, being fair dinkum, having a fair go…etc., but you're seriously delusional if you think we were like the bloody Roman empire or something.
as much as the Woolworths board (and Woolworths "First Nations" board) do.
Yes, a bunch of 9 white people who have been incredibly successful in the current system supposedly hate the current system?
As with most such endeavors, all they've managed to do is to alienate a good percentage of their customer base.
Yeah look buddy, you ain't gonna do shit. Next time there's a sale at Woolies, you'll flock right back and spread your buttcheeks for another round. At the end of the day, there's no shame - it's just business, right?
Yes, it is.
There is always tonnes of the cheap plastic garbage left over through late Jan to early Feb which just goes to landfill, costing the company money.Are they actually losing money though?
@CommuterPolluter: They'd buy cheap chinese made lump of plastic for 10c, sell it at a markup of $4.
I'm sure they aren't losing money on it.@lechuck123: The money isn’t just manufacturing. There is a whole lot of money around selection and testing of products to meet Australian standards. Then you have to ship it, display it and dispose of it. They probably aren’t making enough money to make it worthwhile.
@lechuck123: Even if they are making profit, there are still factors that they need to consider.
Would they make more money from having those same shelves filled with regular products or specials? Setting shelf space aside for Christmas, Easter and Halloween is a no-brainer, but I'd be surprised if they can't make more profit with other items than Australia day merch.
And if they are making less profit, the next question would be "Is Australia Day merch also driving customers to buy other items?" I would imagine that most people purchasing Australia day flags were already in store purchasing other items. Not that many would go to the supermarket specifically for that. Big W on the other hand could be, although more likely the $2 shops/
Are they actually losing money though?
Yes - as a previous category manager for a large retail chain, I'm absolutely sure. I don't have any first-hand experience with Australia Day merchandise, but every category of celebratory merchandise I've seen is loss making, except for Christmas (and maybe Easter).
@p1 ama: Thanks, but why stock it for any of the holidays it then? Doesn’t that just lead us back to the primary reason for this particular decision not being financial, given it seems to be soecific to Australia Day. Woolworths isn’t exactly hurting for money either.
Thanks, but why stock it for any of the holidays it then?
We don't - we've moved towards extremely standardised planograms and range over time and the only special merch that stores tend to carry these days are for Christmas and Easter.
We already practically hardly see any merch for ANZAC Day (aside from maybe a small display where you can buy a pin / badge at the counter), similarly for Remembrance Day, Red Nose Day, Melbourne Cup Day, AFL Grand Final Day or any other specific holidays.
We used to have special ranges for basically all of the above holidays (and major sporting events), but not anymore as we've moved to stricter ranges, planograms, and more integrated supply chains.
Woolworths isn’t exactly hurting for money either.
Sure, but Woolworths is not a charity. If a certain range is not profitable, it will no longer stock that range.
It's not that difficult, every retailer will have an entire category management and buying team who deals with these sorts of things. It's an objective decision based on what the data says.
I feel like people are throwing around 'Chinese made' as an insult, maybe that's not what you intended but that is how it's perceived. It should be noted that they are making it because there is a demand for it.
Our Capitalistic-hell engine demands the cheapest, crappiest items to be made, by the lowest bidder. All for the sake of squeezing every last cent for the value of 'The Shareholder".
The pure trash and waste everyone is pumping out is a massive problem. The less everyone has access to these single use throw away novelty items that cheaply celebrate one of the dozen random holidays we have the better.
I agree, China can make quality products, it’s the designer cutting cost “family owned business, designed in Australia”, China manufactures based on instructions. Huawei has some top quality products so the western world got scared and got anti competitive.
Me typing on my iPhone.. made in China
it’s the designer cutting cost
It is the buyer cutting cost.
Thinking of Bunnings. Why do they buy crap to sell as good???@LFO: True, but it’s also a choice not to buy garbage. Also it’s a choice to stock garbage. Bunnings are also a retailer and they are trying to make $1 out of 50c. In the end of the day customers are doing the swiping. If the crap sells, they will stock crap.
If the crap sells, they will stock crap.
Same with Australia Day paraphernalia.
They stop stocking because someone decided to get offend by the date.
True. If only people concentrated on quality and usage rather than short term hits that end up as landfill.
@kyle: That is indeed the problem. We need to look at the total cost of product from getting the raw material through to the issues of disposal. That is where quality wins.
If you haven’t already read it I recommend Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
Huawei has some top quality products so the western world got scared and got anti competitive.
Lol, no.
It's because:
- Huawei is yet another state-sponsored, vertically-integrated Chinese technology company with extremely close links to the CCP that was founded by an ex-PLA officer.
- Their technology helps facilitate China's domestic mass surveillance and internment of Uyghurs.
- Many of Huawei's staff have military or military intelligence backgrounds.
- Huawei has been repeatedly sued over theft of IP from Western technology companies like Cisco and Motorola.
- The company is compelled by Chinese laws to share data gathered through its ICT hardware with Chinese intelligence with backdoors having been discovered in their carrier-grade equipment like cellular base stations, antennas and switching gear along with their devices having been proven to covertly send data back to Chinese servers despite no consent being given by users and no means of disabling such data-mining being available to users.
- 20 something nations around the world having banned Huawei from being involved in their national cellular network infrastructure and/or their products from selling in their markets, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, India and Vietnam.
All of these Chinese tech multinationals are cut from the same cloth, whether it's Huawei, Hikvision, Dahua, Tencent or Xiaomi; none of them could achieve the scale, success or global reach they have without extensive support from, infiltration by and cooperation with the CCP.
they only make crap because we want to buy crap
Less Australian branded Chinese made crap in landfill. Not exactly a bad thing.