RETAIL TRADE – AUSTRALIA

7-Eleven worker payouts top $110m

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Anna Patty
The Age – Page: 1 : 13-Jun-17

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven has now paid more than $A110 million to workers who were found to have been underpaid by its franchisees. Professor Allan Fels says it is of concern that fines for wage underpayment under current laws are far lower than what 7-Eleven has voluntarily paid to affected staff. Employment Minister Michaelia Cash contends that proposed changes to the Fair Work Act will help prevent future exploitation of workers, but Labor’s Brendan O’Connor says the changes are insufficient.

CORPORATES
7-ELEVEN STORES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN

Wesfarmers faces hit from Amazon

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 2-Jun-17

Morgan Stanley forecasts that Amazon’s entry to the Australian market could slash Wesfarmers’ earnings by more than $A400m a year by 2026. The firm expects the Kmart and Target discount department stores to be more vulnerable than specialist retailers such as JB Hi-Fi. Morgan Stanley has reduced its valuation for Kmart and Bunnings, while it now has a zero valuation on Target. It share price target for Wesfarmers has been downgraded from $A41 to $A36.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS

Retail decline threat to growth

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 1-Jun-17

National Australia Bank forecasts that retail sales rose by 0.3 per cent during April 2017, although chief economist Alan Oster says this figure could be optimistic. Official data will be released on 1 June, but some observers believe that retail sales fell in April. Oster says the retail sector is already in recession, and he does not anticipate an improvement in the near-term. A survey on the spending behaviour of NAB customers has highlighted the difficult trading conditions for the retail sector.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, OROTONGROUP LIMITED – ASX ORL, THE REJECT SHOP LIMITED – ASX TRS, ADAIRS LIMITED – ASX ADH, RCG CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX RCG, GODFREYS GROUP LIMITED – ASX GFY, AP EAGERS LIMITED – ASX APE, AUTOMOTIVE HOLDINGS GROUP LIMITED – ASX AHG, DAVID JONES LIMITED, TOPSHOP, HERRINGBONE PTY LTD, RHODES AND BECKETT PTY LTD, DAVID LAWRENCE, PAYLESS SHOES PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Aldi hits new high in supermarket wars

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-May-17

The latest Supermarket Currency report from Roy Morgan Research shows that Australia’s grocery buyers spent $90.3 billion at supermarkets during the 12 months to March 2017. Of that, $32.2 billion was spent at Woolworths (35.7 per cent of the market, down from 36.3 per cent in the year to September 2016) and $30.0 billion at Coles (33.2 per cent, unchanged). Aldi claimed $11.9 billion of grocery buyers’ expenditure during the year (13.2 per cent, up from 12.5 per cent), stretching its lead over IGA, which fell to $8.4 billion (9.3 per cent, down from 9.8 per cent). The combined share of other supermarkets rose from 8.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent, or $7.8 billion.

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

Amazon effect puts IPOs under a cloud

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 16-May-17

The pending arrival of Amazon in Australia, along with reduced consumer spending, has made it less likely that three proposed IPOs in the retail sector will proceed. The IPOs in question are Retail Apparel Group, Quick Service Restaurant Holdings and Officeworks, with their combined value being put at $A2.4 billion. The lead managers behind Officeworks, which is a unit of Wesfarmers, have valued its IPO at between $A1.124 billion and $A1.5 billion, but the consensus of fund managers is that $A1.2 billion is as much as they would be willing to pay.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, RETAIL APPAREL GROUP PTY LTD, QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANTS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, OFFICEWORKS SUPERSTORES PTY LTD, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, ARCHER CAPITAL PTY LTD, NAVIS CAPITAL PARTNERS LIMITED, YARRA CAPITAL GROUP PTY LTD, ARNHEM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BENNELONG AUSTRALIAN EQUITY PARTNERS PTY LTD, BINGO INDUSTRIES LIMITED – ASX BIN, ZIP INDUSTRIES AUSTRALIA, TAROCASH PTY LTD, YD PTY LTD, JOHNNY BIGG, CONNOR

Media companies next in line to feel full force of Amazon’s arrival

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 27-Apr-17

Andrew McLeod of Morgan Stanley says Australian media groups as well as retailers are likely to be affected by Amazon’s entry into the domestic market. He says retailers accounted for 20-30 per of overall advertising expenditure in 2016, and competition from Amazon may prompt local retailers to reduce their ad spend. McLeod adds that retailers are among the biggest source of ad revenue for TV networks, and the "Amazon effect" could prompt some retailers to shift more of their ad spend from traditional media to online.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, AMAZON WEB SERVICES LLC, AUDIBLE TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED

‘Fast and vast’ Amazon on its way

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 20-Apr-17

US-based e-commerce group Amazon will expand its presence in Australia over the next several years, with a focus on low prices, fast deliver times and a wide range of merchandise. A new report from Morgan Stanley notes that Amazon already boasts annual sales of $A1bn in Australia, while some retail analysts believe that local retailers’ earnings could be slashed by around 50 per cent if Amazon opts to offer a full service in Australia. Amazon has commenced the process of recruiting a local CEO, while it is also scouting potential locations for distribution warehouses.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, FLINDERS INVESTMENT PARTNERS

Kikki.k’s penalty rate secret exposed

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 13-Apr-17

The Fair Work Commission recently approved a new enterprise bargaining agreement for stationery retailer kikki.K. The EBA includes provision for a reduction in Sunday and public holiday penalty rates. However, employees say that they are not paid penalty rates at present, as they are employed as casual staff via labour hire firm Employment Innovations rather than directly by kikki.K. Some employees also say they were not involved in negotiations for the new EBA and only managerial staff were allowed to vote on it.

CORPORATES
KIKKI.K PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, EMPLOYMENT INNOVATIONS PTY LTD, HRO INITIATIVES, EI ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, TDM ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FIRST SUPER PTY LTD, DAVID JONES LIMITED

Retailers start cutting Sunday penalty rates

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Apr-17

The Fair Work Commission recently approved a new workplace agreement for kikki.K employees that includes provision for changes to Sunday and public holiday penalty rates in the retail industrial award. FWC deputy president Geoff Bull conceded that the stationery retailer’s employees could be adversely affected by this clause. However, he found that kikki.K’s commitment to increase employees’ base hourly rates by at least 5.7 per cent more than the award rate for 2015-16 meant the agreement complies with the "better off overall test".

CORPORATES
KIKKI.K PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, RETAIL AND FAST FOOD WORKERS UNION, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP

Amazon set to benefit from Australians’ love affair with online shopping

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Mar-17

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 44.2% of Australians aged +14 (just over 8.7 million people) bought one or more products via the internet in any given four-week period during the year to December 2016. This compares with 36.4%, or nearly 7 million people, in 2013. Some 3.9 million people bought items from the Entertainment and Leisure category in any given four weeks in 2016, followed by Fashion (2.3 million), Food and Beverages (2.1 million) and Reading Material (2 million). Meanwhile, analysis using Roy Morgan’s Technology Adoption Segments reveals that 51.9% of all 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 RESEARCH LIMITED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED