Woolworths has a full a full store even though it’s a weird format at town hall in Sydney. They have opened many stores Metro in the inner city suburbs like Marrickville, Rozelle, Rosebery. My problem with the Metro stores is they don’t have the same specials and charge more for certain products.
If they had the same prices as the supermarket they would give some much needed competition to other competitors such as the local service station etc.
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If you’re referring to that one near the train station, I think it’s been there for many years. Even used a previous incarnation of “Woolworths Metro” branding IIRC.
Yes I don’t recall it ever using the Metro branding though. But stores like the one at Surry Hills and even Randwick have been open for years even before they opened the smaller Metro stores in the CBD. Those two stores seem to be using the Metro branding as of the last 2 years or so.
Thats by design - they are priced for convenience
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Coles and Woolworths basically obliterated the local corner shops due to their low pricing they achieve through scale and market power.
With the local small stores and petrol stations, you effectively pay more from the local small stores for “convenience” which helps them pay their bills, otherwise you can trek the extra however further the supermarket is in the city. The small independent retailers cannot compete with the supermarkets on product cost. The supermarkets will win every time.
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If i was running them I would not be charging extra and wherever possible I would have the same specials at the Metro stores that the main stores have. That way you are competing head on with the petrol station convenience stores hopefully lowering their prices which can be quite excessive.
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People’s expectation of pricing at ‘convenience’ locations is higher than at standard ones. Those Metro outlets are already well cheaper than IGA Express or 7-Eleven and others competing in the space.
Pricing them cheaper than their direct competitors in that space is enough - especially with the much higher overheads of the spaces they are in.
That perception needs to change. It costs Woolworths nothing in most circumstances to have the same specials. Most brands when they stock at Coles or Woolworths pay for any specials or a set amount regardless.
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Margin is still much higher for them without all the specials and they will struggle to make it work with lower basket price. Costs are fairly high for these small format stores, much more pressure on the sales front in regards to $/sq m compared to say a full line store.
Really is a grab and go setup. People will largely still buy what they intended to regardless if it was on special or not.
I do remember at the Shareholder day the other year the metro part of the business is not highly profitable, high overheads/sales mix putting pressure on the model.
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I did my pick up order at Woolies. I ordered a cabbage and ended up with a cauliflower. I was already home so will eat it anyway.
Last week I ordered 3 x butternut individual pumpkins and was charged $12 for 1. Though i came back from the car to the sevice desk and they said i could pick the other 2 up.
I let them know online that they stuffed up and then got a survey today where I mentioned it again, hopefully they don’t keep making these mistakes.
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Do they not know the difference between a cabbage and a cauliflower?
My Coles order this week was all over the shop. I got an email saying 4 items weren’t available and weren’t substituted but when I got the order, they were all there.
A few of the things ordered weren’t correct. It’s annoying but not enough to complain about.
I got the feeling that Woolworths arent quite satisfied that they’ve landed on a model that works to their liking just yet either (but were getting closer) - COVID probably hasnt helped that either.
Can’t comment for other cities, but some of their Sydney locations would be commanding some big rent dollars which would make their success even more important.
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Probably facing similar challenges as they did with Thomas Dux. They moved pretty swiftly on that business.
CBDs are probably not back until full capacity until 2023 onwards.
Each Metro store would have a different sales mix it would take a few years of tweaking the range to work what suits each store to maximize any revenue. That’s probably the biggest challenge, trying to work out what to give the customers.
I remember Tesco said in its London City metro like stores, some stores did higher trade in frozen/refrigerated foods, so they doubled the space and reduced other categories. Other stores big in drinks and junk food, so they increased the space and reduced other areas like Pet Food. They used an example of one being next to a hotel, so increased ready to go meals, travel things, and pulled back on other categories like Baby stuff.
I would dump the coffee/cafe thing they have young for starters.
Agree with this, they’d probably make more money with a $1 coffee machine ala 7/11 - but they clearly think the cafe concept makes the stores look more upmarket even if the ROI is likely poor.
I don’t think that’s a good thing. They shouldn’t be marketed as upmarket. Yes they do look a whole lot more attractive vs your Tesco Express in Paddington, however a whole run of DIY coffee machines is really apart of the ‘grab and go’ setup in other big cities. I don’t really want to wait around for 5-10 mins. DIY Machine Barista, $1-$2, and out within a few minutes.
Target tried the coffee/cafe thing, was dumped the minute the next executive started running the show.
I suspect they’re also trying to increase dwell time in-store as a way of trying to grow sales, hoping that if you’ve got to wait a few minutes for your coffee you might also pick up a few items as well.
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Coles Queens Plaza Brisbane is closing on 1 Nov.
Not surprised as it is diagonally across from a full woolworths supermarket that is always packed, whereas the coles is lucky to have 3 or 4 customers. they are also opening a coles local on albert street, about a block away
my frustration with woolies is that the one at Mcarthur Chambers in brisbane never opens all the self checkouts. the line could be down towards the back of the store and they still generally have only 1/3 to 1/2 of the checkouts open.
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That seems to have become company policy recently re: self checkouts - have noticed that at a couple stores where they refuse to open more than about half of them even if a significant queue exists. Assume it’s something to do with a required number of staff per self checkouts?
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