RETAIL TRADE – AUSTRALIA

Dutton must explain Woolies boycott: PM

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Original article by Sarah Ison
The Australian – Page: 3 : 16-Jan-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Opposition leader Peter Dutton needs to clarify his stance on Woolworths after the retail giant advised that it will not stock Australia Day-themed merchandise. Albanese says Dutton should specify whether his call to boycott Woolworths is only meant to apply until after the national holiday or should be ongoing. Albanese adds that the boycott would presumably also apply to Kmart and Aldi, and notes that the three retailers collectively employ about 200,000 people, so Dutton should explain the impact of his proposed boycott on their jobs.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD

Supermarkets warned on pricing

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Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 16-Jan-24

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb says it could potentially take legal action against a major supermarket chain in the next 12 months for breaching consumer law. Although the ACCC does not have price monitoring powers when it comes to supermarkets, it does have a role in investigating misleading and deceptive conduct. Cass-Gottlieb noted that the ACCC is concerned about the issue of ‘was, now pricing’, whereby chains offer a discount on an item, but may have engaged in deceptive behaviour by increasing the price of the item for a short time beforehand.

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The Iconic promises to issue refunds to hacked customers

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Original article by David Swan, Jessica Yun
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 10-Jan-24

The Iconic is the latest Australian company to be hit by a growing wave of cybercrime. The online retailer has advised customers to regularly change their passwords following a rise in fraudulent account login attempts. Some customers claim to have had more than $1,000 stolen from their bank accounts after The Iconic was targeted by hackers who used personal information gleaned from separate data breaches to access customers’ accounts. The Iconic says it will provide full refunds to all affected customers, and emphasised that its own website has not been compromised.

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THEICONIC.COM.AU

Black Friday sales hit record high

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 29-Nov-23

The Australian Retailers Association recently forecast that consumers will spend $6.36bn across the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. Data showing that retail sales fell by a seasonally 0.2 per cent in October suggests that many consumers had delayed their spending in order to take advantage of the increasingly popular four-day sales event. Retailers are also believed to have offered larger Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts of up to 30 per cent, compared with about 26 per cent in 2022. Meanwhile, the National Retail Association’s director Rob Godwin says Christmas sales will be a "make-or-break" period for many retailers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL RETAIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED

Fake website scams: Grim warning to Black Friday shoppers

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Original article by Chloe Whelan
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 21-Nov-23

Australian shoppers are expected to spend $6.36bn in the Black Friday sales, making it the biggest shopping event on the nation’s retail calendar. However, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s deputy chair Catriona Lowe has warned shoppers to be aware of fake websites that replicate the genuine sites of well-known brands. The products sold on these sites are often fake or simply never arrive. Lowe adds that scammers are now paying for their fake websites to appear at the top of internet search results, so consumers may not be able to trust the first listing they see. Data from the National Anti-Scam Centre shows that there have been 2,760 reports of fake online stores so far in 2023.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NATIONAL ANTI-SCAM CENTRE

Bunnings, Kmart and Samsung are Most Trusted Brands in Retail and Consumer Products for 2023

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Nov-23

Roy Morgan has presented the annul Roy Morgan Trusted Brand Awards for 2023 in the retail and consumer products industries. Hardware brand Bunnings has had a second consecutive victory as the ‘Most Trusted Retail Brand’ in Australia. The ‘Most Trusted Brand in Department & Discount Department Stores’ has been won by Kmart, also repeating its success of a year earlier. South Korea-based multinational Samsung has recorded its second straight victory in the ‘Most Trusted Consumer Products Brand’ category, while Apple is the ‘Most Trusted Technology Brand’ for a second consecutive year. Australia’s largest supermarket chain Woolworths has triumphed once again as the ‘Most Trusted Supermarket Brand’ as well as the ‘Best of the Best’ Most Trusted Brand in Australia for 2023.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Pro-Palestine business boycott condemned

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 9-Nov-23

The Stand For Palestine group has been criticised for launching a social media campaign urging Australians to boycott local retailers that have tenuous links to Israel. The companies that have been targeted include Chemist Warehouse and Spotlight Group, which were both founded by the offspring of Jewish migrants. Australian entrepreneur Paul Bassat says these businesses are being boycotted simply because they are owned by Jews, while Arnold Bloch Leibler partner Mark Leibler has described the campaign as "pure unadulterated antisemitism".

CORPORATES
CHEMIST WAREHOUSE, SPOTLIGHT GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Black Friday sales tipped to buck Christmas slowdown trend

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Nov-23

Research by the Australian Retailers Association in partnership with Roy Morgan reveals that shoppers are tipped to spend $6.36bn across the four-day Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend (November 24-27); this is up 3.0% from last year. It is expected that many Australian shoppers will use the sales extravaganza to purchase gifts for Christmas. Broader pre-Christmas spending in 2023 is tipped to edge in line with last year’s results as shoppers increasingly tighten their budgets in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis. Provisional forecasts by the ARA and Roy Morgan suggest that $66.8bn will be spent in the November to December 24 Christmas trading period – broadly in line with last year (up slightly by 0.1% or $74,000).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

Parties and pumpkins take centre stage for Halloween

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Oct-23

Once considered a children’s event, Halloween is evolving into a beloved Aussie tradition for adults. Research from the Australian Retailers Association in partnership with Roy Morgan shows that 1.3 million Australians will hold or attend Halloween parties without children in 2023. The data underscores Halloween’s multifaceted appeal as both a family-focused occasion and an event for adults. The age group most likely to host or attend Halloween parties are those aged 18-35, with 16% planning to do so. It comes as popularity for Halloween products continues to surge, seeing sales upticks of 25 per cent each year over the past five years – crowning Halloween as the fastest-growing event on the retail calendar. Home decorations remain the most popular Halloween-specific purchase, growing 14 per cent year on year, while supermarkets are set to sell more than one million kilograms of pumpkins for the Halloween rush. Australians are forecast to spend $490m on Halloween in 2023, which is 14 per cent higher than in 2022.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION

A staggering number of people believe they can justify shoplifting

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Original article by Ash Cant
The New Daily – Page: Online : 27-Sep-23

Research from Monash University shows that many Australians believe that shoplifting is acceptable due to the cost-of-living crisis. Some 28 per cent of respondents are of the view that it is fine to take an item from a store without paying for it. However, 93 per cent of consumers aged 55+ said that shoplifting is not at all justifiable, compared with just 47 per cent of those aged 18-34. Meanwhile, 30 per cent of respondents believe it is fine to change the price tags on products. Major supermarket chains have ramped up their anti-theft measures in response to a spike in shoplifting.

CORPORATES
MONASH UNIVERSITY