It is a very sad state of affairs when the only Australian made baked beans and spaghetti to be found in Coles and Woolworths is on the bottom shelves. Obviously the big two don’t give a rats about local product and relegated SPC to the lower depths for not playing ball with them in some way or another.
SPC I still buy your goods because you make a local superior product.
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@ozcatfish_agogo I’ve noticed the same thing . You are right about not playing ball . Companies purchase the right to have their goods displayed more prominently on the shelves of the supermarkets . He who pays the most gets the best eye level displays . Obviously SPC are being out bid for shelf placement by the overseas players . It is not just SPC but many Australian products being relegated to the lower shelves . The latest trend at Coles supermarkets around me is to put their own home brands in the most easily reached and accessible shelving positions . It’s just business to them . You are right they don’t give a rats about local producers, just profit and appeasing their share holders .
Only three countries in the world produce an abundance of food every year so they can export it . Australia , Argentina and the U.S.A. . Most experts that are studying world wide food production foresee that within 50 years Australia will be importing food . How sad it will be get to that . One of the reasons put forward . Our producers being pushed out at the point of sale . Thanks Coles . Thanks Woolworths . For nothing .
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I also only buy SPC/Ardoma products over any imported varieties (also a shareholder to show support)…
Don’t blame Coles or Woollies, blame the deregulation of the retail sector which has allowed multinationals like Aldi and Cosco to operate in Australia… .as well as the average Australian consumer that makes buying decisons based on price over quality or country of origin. Cosco and Aldi’s shelves mainly contain imported products, either blended/packaged in Australia or fully imported. The main products which aren’t Australian are fresh fruits, dairy and meat which can’t be imported due to quarantine restrictions. I am sure they would import these if it was cheaper and allowed.
Dick Smith has said some interesting things on the issue and it is worth reading/hearing what he says. He doesn’t blame Coles or Woolies but concurs with what I have outlined above.
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@phb I agree %100 .In the end it is the consumers choice and as you said they make buying decisions based on price over quality etc . I also agree with what you say about their importation of fruits , dairy food etc . I maybe should have left my post at why some products get a more prominent place on the shelves at supermarkets . I have had experience in marketing in that field . The rest of my post was more private opinion .
Aldi’s and Cosco are are not a hindrance. They give rise to competition. Both Woolies and Coles
drove competition out the market with their purchasing power and monopoly in the food business.
Look at all the Milk farmers, fruit & vegetable growers they’ve drove out of market, while China is
allowed to export their contaminated fruits and vegetables (by using contaminated water) to our
market and no one gives a stuff, especially our bureaucrats.
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from my observations you are more likely to find Adli selling Australian made products than Coles or Woolies selling Australian made house brands.
As for Dick Smith i always find it amazing how someone who made money selling cheap imported electronic goods in competition with Australian made products is now such an advocate against others doing the same
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I still look for them even they are nearly hidden. Top product
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land. Correct. Aldi sell a very high percentage of Australian grown/made fresh food and brands. I also agree with you about Dick Smith. Overall 70% of brands at Aldi are Australian and some departments, including meat, it’s 100% Australian. I have noticed that it’s the imported products (which are extremely good) that are cheap, whereas the meat and veg which are almost entirely Australian, are reasonably comparable with Coles and Woolworths. I think Aldi have been very good for Australian competition. Coles and Woolworths have had it all their way for decades and haven’t done anyone, growers/suppliers or customers, any favours.
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@iand nd @topsi4, As Choice found out in a survey in the past 12 months, around 14% of Aldi’s products are Australian whereby around 39-40% of Coles and Woollies products are Australian…that is, come from Australian farms.
Aldi is highly misleading in using the Australian flag on its products (I am surprised the ACCC has not not taken action against Aldi on this). Many of its products are imported, blended or bagged in Australia using very small quantities of Australian products (such as salt or sugar). Aldi then sticks a Australian flag on them saying that they are made in Australia (from local and imported, or fully imported materials).
Aldi also claims that most of its dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables and fresh meat are Australian products demonstrating that it support’s Australian farmers. What it doesn’t say is these products can’t be imported due to Australia’s strict quarantine controls and the other supermarkets (Woollies, Coles. IGA etc) who also sell similar fresh products can also only fill their shelves with Australian products (from Australian farms - due to the same quarantine restrictions). It is also worth noting that Aldi supports the changes to quarantine restrictions to allow import of such products (could be assume to increase profits and also capitalise on their existing supply chains from low cost countries).
In Europe, Aldi and Lidl (they target high labor and agricultural production cost countries) have devastated local manufacturing as they bulk buy from the cheapest supplier (usually from developing or low labour cost countries) and then use such products in their supermarkets. Being private labels, no one knows the country of origin of the products. In Australia they use of the Australian flag has confused many customers into thinking they are Australian (even if the products are not).
Aldi stores in Europe are quite different to those in Australia and have evolved over time. They open with a large range of products and over time the product numbers reduce to those which give the greatest margins so that they can significantly undercut competitors. This damages the competitors and often results in loss on competition (and has resulted in a loss of product variety as only the one private brand product become available).
Dick Smith is scathing of the Aldi (and Lidl) business models and believes that in long term Australia will have less product variety, no or highly limited local (Australian) product food manufacturing. We are also to have lower number of competing supermarkets (he believes that one of the major supermarkets is likely to disappear).
Not withstanding this, when one shops at a supermarket which on sells one product line in its own private label, one relies on the retailer providing a product best suited to ones dietary and health needs. With companies driven solely by cost, this is unlikely to be the case and products are likely to be those which have highest margins and highest shelf lives (namely, highly processed goods).
In relation to Dick Smith, he didn’t sell cheap imported electronic goods. This occurred after he sold the business in the 1980s. Dick Smith was originally a specialised electronic component company which sold parts not available elsewhere to allow budding enthusiasts to build or repair their own devices.
What Dick Smith says is 100% accurate and has a very high probably of occurring in Australia.
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That’s disappointing news about Aldi. I do hate to be misled!
I find that often the best value in any product is either on the very top shelf, or on the bottom shelf. Always put a can of SPC in my trolley whenever I shop, and if Dick Smith has a product that I need then that goes in the trolley as well
I buy SPC baked beans as it’s the best on the market. However, on the subject of shelf placement, our nearest (Katoomba) Coles store gives this product a couple of waist-height shelves which I believe is the best spot. I’m guessing that it’s the word of mouth selection for the many tourists who shop at this particular location.
I also only buy SPC baked beans but shop at IGA where they have this brand product front and centre.
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Like everyone else here I have found both Coles and Woolies give priority to their own product lines, which are a mix of imported and local manufacture.
This is where we should introduce honest country-of-origin labelling immediately and not wait until the government 2018 dates.
We should learn from the Milk Wars that have nearly crippled our dairy industry.
I want preference given to all Aussie products as that is our only hope for a long term industry that prospers.
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I have always preferred the SPC beans and spagetti, lately have discovered at my local IGA SPC tinned prunes, which I have in the past “gently stewed” myself with a dash of orange juice, however the SPC ones at head height on the shelf as well, are just sensational. So for anyone who likes or has to eat prunes, just try them please.
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Coles & Woolworths aren’t interested in what their customers want to buy. They simply want to get all the customers to buy anything at all that gives the two companies more profit. The basic purpose of the transaction - feeding your family - is completely lost on them both.
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I have some SPC cans and that is the only brand I buy. They are Australian and they are the best that is a no brainer.
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On lower shelves because they dont pay for higher shelves or aisle ends. Both Coles and Woolies do this.
And I buy them too as buy Australian grown every time - also buy Campbell’s Soups etc as they too Aussie and more importantly Aussie grown produce. Cant buy Heinz since moved to NZ due to FTA with China whereby they use imported Chinese veggies when own not in season or so they say - could use them 100% due to cheap so more profit and today not many care abut us the consumer. Not all our younger women do either, try to advise a young woman with baby in pram another ready to birth just about and she said dont care cheaper. Shame as our health is so important and its a fact the Chinese have contaminated land and even buy ours in preference and why buying up our farms and dairies for own consumption something I think shouldn’t be allowed. If they want it buy it for Aussie owners. If food wars do come as predicted then what happens to us? Starve or grown in backyard and guard it etc etc. Not good we need food security as much as anything else. Today only Pauline Hanson seems aware of this ad thankfully back now and this time for good as she has run a business too successfully - maybe not a big as Trump.
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It is the same with Dick Smith products. In most supermarkets, the Dick Smith Peanut Butter is way down on the lower shelf! I support Aussie products as much as I can, even if I may more for them.
Leaving out all the extremely interesting exchange of views above:
As I get more ancient I am no longer able to bend over easily and so getting things from a bottom shelf is almost impossible and I find myself too shy to ask another shopper for help. Therefore not being able to purchase an Australian produced product feels a little sad when I live in Australia, although I guess logically, something has to go on the bottom shelf.
