Business matters

Excess use of free ‘Work trials’ doesn’t add up

Two shop assistants were subjected to an unwarranted number of work trials by a NSW retail business, a Fair Work Ombudsman investigation has found. Mario and Mirna Tamer, the former owners of Fancy Fruits retail shop at Thirroul, in the Illawarra region, have admitted they often used unpaid trials as part of their recruitment process.The […]

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Caltex completes restructure, reports solid c store, fuel sales

Caltex Australia welcomed new shareholders to its AGM last week, following the successful sell down by Chevron of its 50% shareholding in the company in March, while reporting solid sales in convenience stores and across Vortex fuels. Caltex recorded an after tax profit for the 2014 full year of $493 million on a replacement cost

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Coles refunds almost $10 million to suppliers

Coles supermarkets has refunded close to $10 million to suppliers as part of a dispute resolution process. The refunds follow a Federal Court finding in December 2014 that Coles demanded payments from suppliers to which it was not entitled by threatening harm to the suppliers that did not comply with the demand and withheld money

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Convenience industry continues to outpace the majors

Australian convenience stores have done it again. For the third year running, the convenience channel outpaced the growth of the grocery channel over the course of 2014, recording sales growth of 4.5% compared to the 2.6% recorded by the country’s major grocers. The figures were unveiled today with the launch of the annual State of

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Woolworths cuts 400 more staff, seeks savings of $500 million plus

Woolworths will cut a further 400 non-customer facing roles as it seeks to maintain and improve its position as Australia’s leading retailer. While Woolworths says its value position at its most competitive level since January 2014, its three year growth strategy outlined earlier this week, is based on a new ‘Lean Retail’ operating model which

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Coles receives $2.5 million fine over misleading bread promotion

Coles Supermarkets has been slapped with $2.5 million in penalties by the Federal Court over its 2014 promotion of par bake bread as being freshly baked in-store and baked today. But independent groups Master Grocers Australia and the Baking Association of Australia described the fine as “nothing” to Coles and a “drop in the ocean”.

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Food safety, convenience and good value matter most to consumers

A Roy Morgan Research survey of Australia’s main grocery buyers aged 14+ found that 55.8% of grocery buyers nominated ‘High standards of food safety’ as one of the factors that mattered most to them when supermarket-shopping, closely followed by a location close to home at 55.5%. While the survey of 15,944 main grocery buyers 14+

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Competition Policy Review: retailer groups question ‘effects’ test

The Federal Government’s Competition Policy Review Panel has made recommendations such as removing regulations governing retail trading hours and parallel imports, and that an ‘effects test’ in Section 46 of the competition law, “should direct the court to weigh the pro-competitive and anti-competitive impact of the conduct.” However, Coles and Woolworths lined up against a

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Bli Bli IGA wins IGA state Retailer of the Year award

Store owners Michael and Roz White of White’s Supa IGA Bli Bli were thrilled to receive the prestigious Independent Grocers of Australia state Retailer of the Year Award at the IGA Queensland and Northern NSW state conference last month in Waikiki, Hawaii. With over 200 competing stores, the Bli Bli Super IGA also won awards

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