Cameron England
November 21, 2012
The Advertiser
WOOLWORTHS is aiming for $1 billion in online sales by the end of 2014 as part of a concerted push into what it calls “multi-option retailing”.
The company’s corporate social responsibility report released yesterday says the company is “aggressively” pursuing its online strategy and wants all of its turnover linked to the multi-option approach by 2020.
“We … are working towards making our entire business multi-option by 2015 with an ambitious target to reach $1 billion in online sales by 2014,” the company says. “And that’s not just through groceries.
“We have a direct wine business in Cellarmasters and we are in the process of launching Australia’s first home improvement online store as the roll-out of Masters, our brand new home improvement chain, takes place. We also have a daily deals site called Door Busters.”
The billion-dollar goal for 2014 is relatively modest in the context of Woolworths’ group turnover of $55.5 billion last financial year.
Despite the strong online push, Woolworths, which will hold its annual meeting in Adelaide today, believes there will be no net job losses.
“Some commentators have suggested the advent of multi-option retailing will have a negative impact on Australian jobs,” the company said.
“This is simply not true. Retail has always been and will always be a highly people-focused industry.
“But the nature of those retail jobs will change in some ways over time and multi-option is a major driver of that change.”
Woolworths said it employed more than 195,000 people and “the creation of new jobs and development of talent remains a critical plank”.
Woolworths shareholders will today be asked to vote on a resolution from activist group GetUp that among other things would limit the turnover of its poker machines to $120 per hour and not allow bets of more than $1.
Woolworths owns 6 per cent of the poker machines in Australia.
The company says it encourages responsible gambling and is introducing voluntary pre-commitment on its machines by 2014, two years ahead of the Federal Government’s proposed timeline.
The AGM will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, starting at 11am.
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