RETAIL TRADE – AUSTRALIA

Retailers start cutting Sunday penalty rates

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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

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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

DJ’s relocation triggers staff exodus

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 3-Mar-17

David Jones’s decision to relocate its headquarters from Sydney to Melbourne is expected to create up to 600 jobs in the latter city. However, the number of staff, particularly in the areas of marketing and finance, that have agreed to move from Sydney to Melbourne is said to be quite a deal less than what South African parent company Woolworths Holdings had forecast, meaning it may need to poach staff from other Melbourne-based retailers such as Myer, Cotton On and Kathmandu.

CORPORATES
DAVID JONES LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS HOLDINGS LIMITED, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, COTTON ON, KATHMANDU HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX KMD, PREMIER INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX PMV, COUNTRY ROAD LIMITED

Coles to reduce pay time for suppliers to 14 days

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Original article by Fleur Anderson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 3-Mar-17

Small Business & Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell will shortly make recommendations on sanctions for large companies that do not pay suppliers promptly. Meanwhile, Coles has committed to reducing its payment terms for many smaller suppliers from an average of 30 days to no more than 14 days. Coles MD John Durkan stresses that the new policy, which takes effect from mid-2017, is being introduced independently of Carnell’s review of payment terms.

CORPORATES
COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN SMALL BUSINESS AND FAMILY ENTERPRISE OMBUDSMAN, RED KELLY’S GOURMET FOODS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, MARKET INVOICE

Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards 2016: Australia’s most service-oriented retailers announced

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Feb-17

The winners of the 14 retail categories in the Roy Morgan 2016 Customer Satisfaction Awards include a mix of first-timers and veterans. Jeanswest (Clothing Store of the Year), Guzman y Gomez (Quick Service Restaurant of the Year) and First Choice Liquor (Liquor Store of the Year) were among the first-time winners. Meanwhile, among the repeat champions were Rebel Sport (Sports Store of the Year), ALDI (Supermarket of the Year) and The Good Guys (Furniture/Electrical Store of the Year), celebrating their third, fourth and fifth victories respectively.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, JEANSWEST CORPORATION PTY LTD, GUZMAN Y GOMEZ PTY LTD, FIRST CHOICE LIQUOR SUPERSTORE, REBEL SPORT LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, THE GOOD GUYS, SUPER CHEAP AUTO, MUFFIN BREAK, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, THE REJECT SHOP LIMITED – ASX TRS, HOME TIMBER AND HARDWARE, SOUL PATTINSON, SPENDLESS SHOES PTY LTD

Christmas sales hope after November slip

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 11-Jan-17

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that retail spending in November 2016 was 0.2 per cent higher than October in seasonally-adjusted terms. Economists had expected growth of 0.4 per cent in November, after sales rose by 0.5 per cent in October. Meanwhile, economists note that anecdotal evidence suggests that retail sales improved in December.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Festive joy for Myer, JB Hi-Fi

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Original article by Jessica Gardner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 6-Jan-17

Australian retailers recorded solid sales during Christmas. Citi analysts have found that department store Myer and electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi performed particularly well. Wesfarmers’ Target and Harvey Norman used discounting to entice shoppers to their stores. In their 2016-17 profit estimates, Citi analysts are optimistic about Myer and pessimistic about OrotonGroup and Specialty Fashion.

CORPORATES
MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOOD GUYS, CITI AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, OROTONGROUP LIMITED – ASX ORL, SPECIALTY FASHION GROUP LIMITED – ASX SFH, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Sales boom the perfect gift for Myer boss

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 21 : 20-Dec-16

Myer CEO Richard Umbers is confident sales at the group’s stores will be strong in the final week before Christmas. Personalised gift options are particularly popular among shoppers. Umbers hopes these gifts will be as popular as in 2015 when 450,000 shoppers bought personalised jars of Nutella before Christmas.

CORPORATES
MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, GPT GROUP – ASX GPT, PAYLESS SHOES PTY LTD, FERRIER HODGSON AND COMPANY

Woolworths smashes ACCC on suppliers

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 7 : 9-Dec-16

Federal Court judge David Yates agreed with Woolworths that the retailer’s "Mind the Gap" scheme was of "ordinary nature" of doing business. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission accused Woolworths of unconscionable conduct, but Justice Yates found that Woolworths did not contravene section 21 of the Australian Consumer Law. Australian Food & Grocery Council CEO Gary Dawson said the decision could lead to more companies requesting money from suppliers.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN FOOD AND GROCERY COUNCIL, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Australians yet to embrace online grocery shopping

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Dec-16

Roy Morgan Research’s latest State of the Nation Retail Spotlight report revealed that Australian grocery buyers made more than 2.5 trips per week to supermarkets in 2015-16, or 1.95 billion trips for the year. And despite the ever-increasing popularity of online retail, the vast majority of Australians continue to do their grocery shopping in-store rather than online. A Roy Morgan Single Source survey, which was carried out in the year to June 2015, found that 26% of Australians agreed that "I’d consider doing some of my grocery shopping on the Internet in the next 12 months". However, just 3% of grocery buyers did their supermarket shopping online in any given four-week period during the following 12 months. Admittedly, this is an increase on 2011 (when it was 1.4%), but it is unlikely that there will be a mass exodus to online grocery shopping any time soon.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSSIE FARMERS DIRECT, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, CATCH GROUP PTY LTD, GROCERY RUN, INDO-ASIAN GROCERY STORE