Stephen McMahon May 31, 2013 News Limited Network LOWER prices may be here to stay as suppliers battle to cut costs and the nation’s supermarket giants fight it out for market share. At the same time pledging to keep prices down, Coles boss Ian McLeod denied the retailer bullied suppliers and threaten their livelihoods to drive down costs. He said the promise to keep prices down for customers comes from generating greater efficiencies between the supermarket operator and the supplier and is not just a branding exercise but the key to the retailer’s revival in recent years. After decades of rocketing prices, the big supermarkets have been delivering price deflation of around 3-4 per cent in recent years. “And that is not going to go away and will only intensify with the competition,” Mr McLeod said. “Lower prices are central to what we have done in the last five years…

Tom Hunt June 1, 2013 The Age If the gory photos on cigarette packs and the threat of death weren’t enough, now an academic has come up with a grim countdown-to-death for smokers. Smokers will literally be able to see the minutes of their life expectancy drop away with each smoke, if Massey University College of Health head Professor Paul McDonald’s idea gains traction. He is proposing that each cigarette would be marked with six rings and a message saying each ring smoked past would take a minute off life expectancy. If it was adopted, New Zealand would be the first in the world to print warnings directly on cigarettes. Australia was the first in the world to introduce plain packaging last year after a lengthy legal battle with tobacco companies that challenged the legislation on constitutional grounds. The idea is still in its infancy but a preliminary survey of…

Eli Greenblat June 3, 2013 The Age Coles is considering a restructure that could save it millions of dollars. Coles is set to carve out savings worth hundreds of millions of dollars and dramatically cut Australia’s 20,000 strong army of independent grocery agents if it proceeds with a radical plan to shake up the way fees are charged to the food manufacturing sector. The supermarket group is considering wielding its market power to transform the way everyday grocery brands are placed and promoted on its shelves by sidelining independent field agents and creating its own panel of agents to deal with suppliers. This would make Coles – for the first time – the arbiter of the fees that are charged to suppliers by field agents, while also allowing it to pocket a lucrative rebate in the process. The plan being considered by Coles management has sent shocks through agent ranks,…

Darren Gray June 3, 2013 The Age The farmhand on Lindsay Anderson’s dairy farm has enough stamina to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but these days is doing only about 16 hours a day. A dedicated worker, the farmhand has never asked for a smoko, back-chatted the boss, come to work with a hangover, or called in sick. Mr Anderson’s latest hiring has in fact worked the past 18 months straight without either a holiday or a complaint. Not a single time-sheet has been filled out, and nor has a single weekly pay cheque been collected. But Mr Anderson’s new farmhand did not come cheap. The total price tag exceeded $400,000 including installation. Mr Anderson’s new worker is a robot imported from the Netherlands, able to work on this West Gippsland dairy farm without encountering the bother of a 457 visa. Lindsay Anderson says introducing the…

BLAIR SPEEDY June 03, 2013 The Australian PROPOSED changes to the Franchising Code could lead to increased operating costs and dissuade foreign retailers from entering the Australian market, a sector specialist has warned. Rebecca Bedford, head of national franchising at law firm Minter Ellison, said several changes proposed in a government review of the code could increase compliance costs and impose such heavy restrictions on how franchisors dealt with franchisees that investors would be scared off the sector. “The overall impact could lead to investors moving away from franchising to another retail model in Australia, and any increase in compliance costs is likely to be ultimately passed on to consumers,” she said. The government is considering 18 recommended changes to the code following the review, headed by lawyer and small business specialist Allan Wein. Ms Bedford said a number of the recommended changes would clarify existing ambiguities in the code…

Mary Clare Jalonick Jun 01, 2013 The Washington Post Alcoholic beverages soon might have nutritional labels like those on food packaging, but only if the producers want to put them there. The Treasury Department, which regulates alcohol, said this past week that beer, wine and spirits companies can use labels that include serving size, servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat per serving. Such package labels have never before been approved. More business news The labels are voluntary, so it will be up to beverage companies to decide whether to use them on their products. The decision is a temporary, first step while the Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau (TTB) considers final rules on alcohol labels. Rules proposed in 2007 would have made labels mandatory, but the agency never made the rules final. The labeling regulation, issued May 28, comes after a decade of lobbying by hard-liquor…