Coles vs. Woolies: Who won the Senate battle royale?
The CEOs from Coles and Woolworths were grilled in a Senate inquiry yesterday regarding allegations of price gouging and duopolistic practices, and the real winner was anyone lucky enough to be watching along, popcorn in one hand, other hand shielding their eyes from the fallout.
Put simply: it was a car crash, and the reputational damage is likely to be immense. But who came out best? Coles or Woolworths? We ask the PR experts.
Sally Branson, crisis communications expert
Unless you’ve got a particular interest in supermarkets that extends from worrying why one paper bag filled with groceries costs over $100, the average consumer won’t be too focused on the detail of yesterday’s Senate inquiry. They’ll skim the headlines they see pop up. From that, Woolworths is the clear enemy of the people.
Many in our industry enjoyed the show…The power they wield means nobody dares complain about the bullying tactics. Understand clearly if your costs go up by 10% and you seek a 10% increase from either Coles or Woolworths ……orders will stop flowing, promotions will be cancelled, products will be threatened with delisting. They will offer you a deal to “accept your price increase” once you are marinated…. give us 5% more margin…. sure, you say but it means my price needs to move up by 15%…. The final price to the consumer is then determined by them and they generally extract another couple of points from “rounding”…. The consumer is the ultimate loser.