Thomas Jewellers are closing all of its remaining seven stores across regional Victoria, including the new concept store at Warrnambool which only opened earlier this month with Miss Universe Australia winner Olivia Rogers in attendance. It is not known whether the business will trade online only from now on.
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Iâm normally not a fan of Woolies but I will say that their newest store concept (in which several have been rolled out in quick succession here in Perth) is a lot better than what Coles are doing at the moment. Also finding more and more branded products that Woolies are stocking but Coles isnât, indicating that maybe theyâve dialed back a bit on pushing the private label stuff.
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One thing that Iâm frustrated about is that Wooliesâ offering in its meat and bakery departments, especially in smaller its stores, is very lacking compared to Coles. At Coles youâll find a huge variety of meat and bread products in most of their stores, yet at Woolies I find that they generally stick with very bland stuff like cuts of meat or maybe chicken schnitzels.
On another topic, Iâve noticed that, for example, energy rating labels for appliances are mandatory in New Zealand, yet the labels themselves appear to be identical to the Australian ones and direct consumers to an Australian Government website. How prevalent is this âpiggybackingâ off of Australian standards/packaging where very little/nothing is customised for NZ, in New Zealand retail?
They are Australian / New Zealand standards, as the energy rating label shows AS/NZS. I donât think there is any piggy backing, as they are the same standards. From NZ website:
https://www.energywise.govt.nz/energy-labels/energy-rating-labels/
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Yes, but itâs primarily an Australian government initiative, and consumers are directed to an Australian government website.
My random theory as to why they use Australian standards: it would be more that international suppliers and manufacturers wouldnât bother importing products into a small market such as New Zealand if they had to do all sorts of certifications. NZ is only 4 million people so it could very easily be ignored if there were greater overheads to importing. If they can import to NZ using the same standards as Australia, thatâs an incentive for a supplier to increase the potential market by 20%. So itâs a win-win for NZ.
Australia has strong consumer laws as does New Zealand so thereâs nothing NZ has to worry about either.
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Big day for Myer tomorrow.
2 things need to happen at Myer. Firstly Solomon needs to divest his shareholding because Iâm sick of reading about his grudges with the management and the board, simply put if your not happy after a number of years get rid of the stocks! Richard Umbers needs to go also.
Myer needs a complete board and management overhaul.
Weird, I find the exact opposite. Surrounded by crap quality Coles but top notch Woolies scattered around. My local ones all have a butcher servery, sushi, bakery, fish etc Inner/ mid Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Get out.
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This morning Myer drastically slashed its long-term sales targets after falling short of goals set out in its turnaround plan just two years ago. The department store revealed sales in the 13 weeks to October 28 dropped to $699 million, down 2.8 per cent from the same period last year. Myer CEO Richard Umbers said the retailer would seek to lure shoppers with âexperientialâ retail offerings such as food outlets, barber shops and beauty services, launch a new online platform called The Myer Market, and could close up to 19 more stores.
Sydney institution Gouldâs Book Arcade in Newtown will close in three months unless the owners can find a cheaper place to rent. Founder Bob Gould died six years ago, and it is currently run by his daughter and first wife.
Retail swap.
An Aussie success story overseas selling Flat Whites to Americans.
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A nice analysis piece:
While taxes & costs arenât unimportant, customers are the most important thing for any business; business goes where customers are, especially but not just for retail & service businesses.
Personal tax cuts may be more effective
Damn right; more money in customersâ pockets means more sales.
Oh, oh.
A lot of shopping centre re-developments at the moment are banking on the supposed popularity of these overseas fast fashion retailers to fill tenancies.
The next few years are going to be very interesting.
Costcoâs Melbourne stores will open its stores to non-members on November 28 for one day only shopping spree. The event is from 10am to 8.30pm.
The District shopping precinct at Melbourneâs Docklands (formerly Waterfront City) was relaunched this weekend with the opening of a H&M store. Hopefully it will bring more people to the area.
I thought Retravision died off around 2013, at least here in NSW.
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