Category Archives: Supermarkets

Australia news live: NSW police officer charged with murder after disappearance of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies

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Former celebrity blogger expected to face court. Follow updates live

What will happen if there’s a storm during today’s Taylor Swift concert?

With a thunderstorm forecast at Sydney Olympic Park this evening, many are asking what this means for the Eras tour?

The show will play, rain or shine. The only exception would be severe weather, which could impact the safety of artists and patrons. Such a decision would be made by NSW Police, the event promoters and Venues NSW staff.

Please follow venue screens and staff instructions in these circumstances.

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New Woolworths boss faces tough initiation amid rising community anger over prices

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Brad Banducci will face a Greens-led Senate inquiry, but it is Amanda Bardwell who will have to rebuild the supermarket giant’s reputation

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci is stepping down from Australia’s biggest supermarket chain – but he’s going down swinging.

Against a backdrop of multiple parliamentary inquiries and a year-long pricing investigation, Banducci maintains that the grocery sector is “unbelievably competitive”.

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Shoppers sceptical of whether Coles or Woolworths specials offer actual savings, Choice survey shows

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New data from consumer group reveals four in five shoppers say it is hard to know whether markdowns represent value for money

Most shoppers don’t believe Coles or Woolworths specials or sales promotions make it clear they offer actual savings, new data from consumer group Choice shows, with four in five consumers finding it difficult to discern real discounts.

Of almost 11,000 people surveyed, 88% of respondents said they were worried about the rising costs of groceries, while 83% of respondents said they thought some of the supermarkets’ marked down items made it hard to know if they were value for money.

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UK farmers vow to mount more blockades over cheap post-Brexit imports

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Inspired by French action, British campaigners say they will continue slow tractor protests after Dover roads were blocked

Farmers say there will be further French-style blockades following a slow tractor protest at Dover against low supermarket prices and cheap food imports from post-Brexit trade deals.

Around 40 tractors and other farm vehicles blocked roads around the Kent port for several hours on Friday evening by driving slowly and carrying signs with slogans such as “No More Cheap Imports”.

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Woolworths, Coles and Aldi to roll out soft plastics collection bins in 12 Melbourne stores

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Supermarkets will ask customers to recycle scrunchable plastic food packaging for first time since REDcycle ended

Woolworths, Coles and Aldi will roll out soft plastics collection bins in 12 Melbourne stores, giving customers a place to recycle their scrunchable food packaging for the first time since the demise of REDcycle.

A spokesperson for the Soft Plastics Taskforce – made up of the three supermarkets and chaired by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water – said the trial, which begins this week, is possible because of new soft plastic recycling facilities that began operating last week.

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‘Diabolical actions’: Snoop Dogg and Master P sue Walmart in breakfast cereal spat

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Rappers entered breakfast market with Snoop Cereal in 2023, and allege conspiracy between manufacturer Post Consumer Brands and supermarket chain Walmart to ‘choke’ startup brand

Rappers Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing US supermarket chain Walmart and food manufacturer Post Consumer Brands, claiming that the two companies conspired to sabotage the success of the pair’s new breakfast cereal enterprise.

Snoop Cereal launched last summer, with Master P hailing parent company Broadus Foods as the first Black-owned cereal company in the US: “This has been going on for over 100 years, that we’ve been consumers and never owners, so we’re changing that game.” The rappers partnered with Post to produce the cereal itself.

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Groceries on special fly off Australian supermarket shelves at 70 times normal rate

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ABS data highlights shoppers’ attraction to promotions, as supermarkets giants discount unhealthy food twice as often as healthier items

Supermarket promotional items can sell at up to 70 times their normal rate, analysis shows, in a sign of the market power the grocery giants exert over Australian households that includes a preference to discount junk food.

An upcoming parliamentary inquiry designed to investigate claims of profiteering is expected to place significant focus on grocery specials, while the competition regulator has also suggested it could sue major supermarkets for deceptive promotions. The chains have defended their pricing practices.

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‘We’ve got to break them up’: farming groups say supermarkets use market power to distort prices

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Claim comes amid state and federal inquiries into Australian grocery sector and what producers say is a widening gap between wholesale and shelf prices

Farming groups have accused the major supermarkets of using their power to distort the market, leading to elevated prices for shoppers and low prices for producers.

The claim comes amid falling global prices for agricultural goods that have failed to dent grocery bills, and growing scrutiny of supermarket pricing practices through newly announced federal and state parliamentary inquiries.

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Queensland launches inquiry into grocery price gouging following premier’s meeting with major supermarkets

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Executives of Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have agreed to appear at hearings, Steven Miles said, amid concerns from farmers and consumers

Queensland’s state government will launch an inquiry into alleged grocery price gouging – despite the jurisdiction having few powers to combat the issue, the premier said.

The premier, Steven Miles, said terms of reference are being drafted and the committee will be formed in the first sitting week of parliament for the year, next month.

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Annual profit is more than $1bn for Woolworths and Coles. How do they set prices and can they justify rises?

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Farmers and consumers alike are sharing their frustration amid the cost-of-living crisis as a government inquiry into the Australian supermarket giants looms

Australian supermarkets breezed through the pandemic, increasing profits and shareholder returns even as living costs surged, all while avoiding the scrutiny faced by their overseas counterparts.

But a looming parliamentary inquiry, and a revitalised political interest in the discrepancy between prices paid to farmers and those charged by supermarkets, means the sector has been thrust into the spotlight.

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Queensland farmers call for probe into price gouging after premier writes to grocery giants

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Peak body says farmers aren’t getting ‘fair value’ as Steven Miles demands answers from supermarkets on overcharging claims

A peak body representing Queensland farmers has increased pressure for an inquiry into price gouging after the state’s premier wrote to the big supermarket chains demanding answers over a “widening gap” between the prices farmers receive and those customers pay.

The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, sent a letter to the CEOs of Coles, Woolworths, IGA and Aldi on Friday telling them about his “growing concern” about the disparity between checkout prices and the value farmers receive for their stock.

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Carrefour pulls PepsiCo products in four EU countries over price hikes

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Stores in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium will no longer stock PepsiCo drinks, Lay’s and Doritos crisps and Quaker cereals

The French supermarket chain Carrefour has said it will stop selling PepsiCo products in stores in four European countries because the global food company has put its prices up by too much.

Shelves at Carrefours in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium will from Thursday carry signs saying the store will no longer stock PepsiCo products such as fizzy drinks, Lay’s and Doritos crisps and Quaker cereals “due to unacceptable price increases”.

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UK shoppers spent £13.7bn on groceries in run-up to Christmas

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Consumers buy more items – including plenty of parsnips and sprouts – to beat last year’s spend by 7%

UK shoppers spent £13.7bn on groceries in the run-up to Christmas – 7% more than a year before – as they sought out bargains and switched to discounters to try to offset price inflation.

The number of items bought rose by 2% in December as prices climbed by 6.7%, according to analysts at Kantar, although that was down from 9.6% in November – making it the biggest monthly drop in inflation the data firm has ever recorded.

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Woolworths issues recall for Christmas mince pies over potential metal contamination

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Supermarket says there have been no complaints and the New South Wales recall is being done as a ‘precaution’

The chance of metal contamination has led to supermarket giant Woolworths issuing a recall in New South Wales for a batch of a common Christmas treat.

Woolworths said the affected product is Shortcrust Summer Berry Mince Pies, sold in six-packs, with a “best before” date of 13 June 2024.

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Sainsbury’s boss defends decision to sell customers’ Nectar card data

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Supermarket says it protects personal data ‘incredibly carefully’ and move makes ads ‘more relevant’

The chief executive of Sainsbury’s has defended its decision to sell data on the shopping habits of his customers to TV and consumer goods manufacturers looking to target their advertising.

Simon Roberts has said the supermarket group protects personal data “incredibly carefully” and that its strategy had made adverts more “relevant” for shoppers.

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UK Christmas shoppers will pay more for less this year, say economists

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Cost of festive season is up almost a quarter in three years, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research

Consumers will pay more for less this Christmas, economists have warned, getting less of a bang for their buck than the faint phutting of a puny, overpriced cracker being pulled.

Although Britons will spend more than in the belt-tightening 2022 festive season, the resultant fare won’t yet match the pre-pandemic Christmases past.

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Coles and Woolworths to face Senate scrutiny amid claims of profiteering

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Greens win support for inquiry into effect of market concentration on food prices and pattern of major chains’ pricing strategies

Australia’s big supermarkets will face fresh scrutiny with a Senate inquiry to investigate their market power and pricing decisions, amid concerns they have profiteered during an inflationary period marked by fast-rising food costs.

The Greens have secured cross-party support to set up the inquiry which will examine the effect of market concentration on food prices and the pattern of pricing strategies employed by the major chains, Coles and Woolworths.

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Co-op and Aldi champagnes beat Veuve Clicquot in Which? taste test

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Top-scoring supermarket fizz costs less than half of the price of its prestigious competitor

Money might be tight this Christmas but there is good news for champagne lovers after much cheaper supermarket own brands fared better than the prestigious French label Veuve Clicquot in a quaff test.

The Co-op’s Les Pionniers champagne received the top score of 85% in a blind taste test conducted by Which? with the £22.75-a-bottle bubbly wowing the panel with its “smoky notes” and “smooth creaminess”.

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Premature death of 80m chickens raises concerns over UK’s fast-growing breeds

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Animal welfare groups urge retailers to switch to slow-growing birds in face of record deaths last year

More than 80 million chickens died before reaching slaughter weight in the UK last year, with mortality rates the highest for at least a decade, reveal official figures.

Animal welfare organisations say the fast-growing chicken breeds that dominate production have higher mortality rates, lameness and muscle disease than slower-growing breeds. They are calling on retailers to switch to slower-growing breeds and provide more space for the birds.

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Pineapple loses its crown: Sainsbury’s sells leafless version to cut waste

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Removing leaves will mean they can be replanted or shredded for animal feed and could reduce emissions

The pineapple has been dethroned: Sainsbury’s has announced it will start selling a crownless version of the tropical fruit from Wednesday.

The spiky, green leaves that grow from the top of the plant are a unique feature of the exotic fruit. But, says the supermarket, they are typically thrown away by customers, contributing to up to 700 tonnes of food waste a year.

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