Godfreys’ 99-year-old owner plans to fight back

Original article by Simon Evans
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 6-Jul-18

Vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys Group will be delisted on 6 July, following its purchase by Arcadia Financial for just $13.5 million. Arcade Finance is controlled by John Johnston, who joined Godfreys in 1936. Johnston told Godfreys CEO John Hardy during a recent meeting that he thinks Godfreys should be making more use of social media. Godfreys had a 40 per cent share of the $3 billion vacuum cleaner market in 2006, but Hardy thinks it is now down to 18 per cent.

CORPORATES
GODFREYS GROUP LIMITED – ASX GFY, ARCADE FINANCE PTY LTD, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THE GOOD GUYS, BARBEQUES GALORE PTY LTD, SUPER A-MART PTY LTD, LE CORNU LEWIS HANCOCK

Foodland leads, Woolworths the biggest improver

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Jul-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that customer satisfaction with Foodland in the six months to May was 95.5%. It was again the top performer among the big five supermarkets, despite showing a decline of 2.3% points over the last 12 months. Aldi had a customer satisfaction rating of 91.8%, followed by Woolworths (90.0%), Coles (88.5%) and IGA (85.4%). These are the latest results from Roy Morgan’s "Retail Satisfaction Report-Supermarkets", which is based on in-depth personal interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 Australians per annum in their own home, including over 11,000 main supermarket shoppers.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, FOODLAND AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, IGA

It’s Official: More than half the dollars spent on packaged alcohol go through the Woolworths Group

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 25-Jun-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that supermarket sales account for nearly 75% of the $15.5bn alcohol market in Australia. Woolworths Group holds 50.1% of the total amount spent on packaged alcoholic beverages in an average week, with its market share rising by 1.5% in the 12 months to March 2018. Dan Murphy’s had the biggest increase in share of market for Woolworths Group, up 1.2%. Coles Group saw a small decline in share of market for alcohol retail, with small gains for Liquorland and Vintage Cellars and a drop of 1.2% in share of market at First Choice. These are the latest figures from the Roy Morgan Alcohol Retail Currency Report, which is based on in-depth personal interviews with 3,650 Australians aged 18+ who have recently bought packaged alcohol.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, DAN MURPHY’S, COLES GROUP LIMITED, LIQUORLAND (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, VINTAGE CELLARS (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, FIRST CHOICE LIQUOR SUPERSTORE

Customers win as Amazon, eBay face off

Original article by Chris Griffith
The Australian – Page: 3 : 19-Jun-18

E-commerce giant Amazon has advised that Australians who join its premium subscription service will receive free delivery on many items in just two business days. Amazon Prime will be officially launched in Australia on 19 June, and it will compete with the recently launched eBay Plus service. Australians will be able to take out a free trial subscription to both services, while Amazon and eBay are also offering a discounted annual subscription package for a limited time.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, EBAY INCORPORATED, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CHEMIST WAREHOUSE

How We Shop: Trends in Australian Shopping Behaviours

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Jun-18

Recent research by Roy Morgan found that 9.46 million Australians aged 14+ now shop online. While all demographics are recording a positive growth rate, the strongest growth is from the less affluent demographics. Australians in the FG Socio-Economic Quintile, those classified as Light Spenders, and those belonging to the Roy Morgan Value Segments of "Fairer Deal" (a 9.5ppts increase) and "Something Better" (15ppts increase) all recorded higher growth rates of internet shopping between March 2015 and March 2018 than their wealthier counterparts. The late adopters of the technology community are also now the highest growing demographic for online shopping. Analysis using Roy Morgan’s Technology Adoption Segments shows that Technology Traditionalists have recorded growth of 7ppts in online shopping, while Technophobes grew by 7.1ppts, the highest of all segments. Comparatively, the Technology Early Adopters saw growth of only 3.9ppts, and the Digital Life segment recorded growth of just 4ppts.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

eBay king of online shopping ahead of Gumtree, Amazon, Kogan & Groupon

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 19-Jun-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that nearly 14 million Australians aged 14+ (or almost 70%) now visit online shopping or auction sites in an average four weeks, although recent research revealed that around 47% of Australians actually purchase something online in an average four weeks. Meanwhile, over 9.4 million Australians visit eBay in an average four weeks, ahead of Gumtree (5.6 million visitors), Amazon (4.7 million) and Kogan.com (nearly 2.3 million). Analysis by gender shows that over 7 million women visit an online shopping or auction site in an average four weeks, compared with around 6.9 million men. eBay is easily the top online shopping site for both women and men; nearly 4.9 million men visit eBay in an average four weeks, compared to 4.5 million women.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, EBAY INCORPORATED, EBAY AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND PTY LTD, GUMTREE.COM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, KOGAN.COM LIMITED – ASX KGN

Who’s Shopping? Nearly 9.5 million Australians

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Jun-18

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 9.46 million Australians 14+ (46.8%) purchased something online in an average four-week period in the year to March 2018, This represents an increase of 590,000 in just 12 months, and an increase of 2.3 million since 2014. The survey also shows that 4.5 million people buy something from the Entertainment and Leisure category in any given four weeks, followed by Fashion (2.7 million), Food and Beverages (2.4 million) and Reading Material (2.2 million). Meanwhile, analysis using Roy Morgan’s Technology Adoption Segments reveals that 49.1% of online shoppers fall under the umbrella of either Technology Early Adopters or Professional Technology Mainstream, the two most digitally inclined segments of the population.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Stand-alone Coles to turn up dial on capex

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 8-Jun-18

Coles has indicated plans to boost capital expenditure after it is demerged from Wesfarmers, in part because the food and liquor retailer needs to refurbish stores. Coles may need to raise capital in order to finance its expenditure plans, depending on the amount of debt that Wesfarmers decides to leave it with. Coles MD John Durkan says he anticipates that the total Australian grocery market will grow by around three per cent a year.

CORPORATES
COLES GROUP LIMITED, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, WAVESTONE CAPITAL PTY LTD, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, STANDARD AND POOR’S (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED

Kogan to push into whitegoods

Original article by James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 5-Jun-18

Online retailer Kogan.com aims to begin selling whitegoods and large kitchen appliances by the end of 2018. Founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan says the logistics aspects associated with the sale of such bulky items has made the whitegoods retail sector relatively immune to the challenges posed by online retailers, but he says it is "ripe for the picking". News of Kogan.com’s foray into whitegoods saw shares in established whitegoods retailers decline on 4 June, with Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi down 2.8 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.

CORPORATES
KOGAN.COM LIMITED – ASX KGN, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, THE GOOD GUYS

Myer brings forward winter sales

Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 29-May-18

Department store chain Myer is tipped to offer discounts of up to 70 per cent in its mid-season stocktake sale, which will begin on 29 May. French Connection, Bonds and Country Road are among the brands that will be heavily discounted in the stocktake sale, which has been launched earlier than usual due to an unseasonally warm start to the winter months. Grant Saligari of Credit Suisse notes that other retailers tend to begin discounting when one does so. David Jones is also tipped to launch its mid-season sale ahead of schedule.

CORPORATES
MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, FRENCH CONNECTION, BONDS INDUSTRIES LIMITED, COUNTRY ROAD LIMITED, PIPER, WAYNE COOPER, MARCS, SPORTSCRAFT, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, DAVID JONES LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD