Spencer Sonn, Woolworths New Zealand Managing Director, has responded to the First Annual Grocery Report.
While the cost of living has continued to make it a tough time for Kiwi families and businesses, Woolworths New Zealand has remained focused on giving its customers more value, convenience and a fantastic shopping experience and has been committed to getting on with that.
Things in the grocery industry have changed in the last few years and have continued to evolve. Like other businesses and New Zealanders, Woolworths has felt the impact of inflation in the last couple of years, and its profits have been at their lowest levels since FY16.
In FY24, Woolworths lost 0.5 cents for every dollar spent in its stores, and its profit declined by 57 percent compared to FY23.
“We’ve been working hard to improve competition and supplier relations further and have done everything asked of us by the Commission,” said Spencer Sonn, Woolworths New Zealand Managing Director.
“We supported the introduction of unit pricing and the Grocery Supply Code. Our wholesale business, which is only two years old, already has over 40 independent retail customers and delivers to over 65 retail sites.”
Over the last year, the grocery sector has experienced a significant increase in major new regulations and initiatives, such as the Grocery Supply Code, unit pricing, and the establishment of rules around wholesale.
“We’re surprised the Commission hasn’t allowed these to settle before considering further change.”
When looking at the grocery sector more broadly, a lot has affected what has been paid for groceries at the checkout, and Sonn believed that was worth talking about. He said that the amount suppliers have charged Woolworths had a much more significant impact on shoppers' prices than anything else.
For all the analyses that have been done, the role of large, multinational suppliers has never been appropriately taken into account, and this needs to be looked at to get a complete picture.
“We’ll now read the report in detail and continue to work closely with the Grocery Commissioner and his team.”
Several positive changes have occurred at Woolworths New Zealand in the last couple of years, including electronic shelf labels in over 110 stores and other investments in upgrading older stores to improve the shopping experience.
Woolworths has also supported mandatory unit pricing and has displayed unit prices on many products for several years. Its wholesale business, New Zealand Grocery Wholesalers, has over 40 customers and has delivered to over 65 retail sites.
