Australia's supermarket duopoly is set to take an interesting turn as Coles and Woolworths set their different sources of supply.
While Woolworths has announced a new Local Food Sourcing Strategy with an aim to bringing more locally produced foods to their shelves, Coles has been criticised by influential industry body, the Australian Food and Grocery Council, for the decline in choice.
Research conducted by Deloitte Access Economics has found that, based on Coles own data, the number of products offered by Coles has dopped by 11% (or 7,000 products) in two years.
"These figures confirm what shoppers report anecdotally," said the CEO of the AFGC, Gary Dawson. "They often can't find their favourite products on the shelves anymore."
"The latest aggressive campaign by Coles to promote their private label products is a sign that this trend will continue.
"This is a classic Trojan Horse tactic - disguising a longer run loss of choice for consumers. And as the range of choices drops, so does competition."
Mr Dawson urged consumers to raise their concerns at the loss of their favourite products with store managers.
In the meantime, Woolworths’ new strategy will see more products from small and medium sized Australian food businesses. The companies will be identified by Local Sourcing Managers who will work with suppliers to develop plans to get products from the farm gate to the supermarket shelf.
“We recognise that supplying 890 Woolies stores can be a daunting prospect for small and medium businesses, and may simply be beyond the reach of their production capacity,” Tjerd Jeegen, Managing Director of Woolworths, said.
“We will work with these suppliers to design a plan that suits their business, whether that’s supplying 3 stores, or 300 stores,” he added.
The first range of locally sourced products that will arrive on Woolworths shelves later this month are:
- Hank’s Jam from Brookvale in Sydney will be stocked in 278 stores
- Port Macquarie Food Co. from Port Macquarie will be stocked in 43 stores
- Blue M Jam from the Blue Mountains will be stocked in 32 stores
- Hill & River Jam from the Hunter Valley will be stocked in 17 stores
- Officers’ Mess Conserves from Daylesford will be stocked in 50 stores
- Yarra Valley Gourmet from the Yarra Valley will be stocked in 76 stores
- Country Cuisine Jam from Daylesford will be stocked in 30 stores
- Rhu Bru Jam from Scottsdale, Tasmania will be stocked in 3 stores
- Tasmanian Gourmet Kitchen from Longford, Tasmania will be stocked in 3 stores.
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