Michael Short February 25, 2013 The Age A fresh upstart in the food chain has become the champion of local producers. A FEW months ago, in an article published on The Age’s opinion pages and across Fairfax Media’s national sites and apps, I decried Australia’s supermarket duopoly of Coles and Woolworths as unfair, particularly to farmers and other suppliers. I also said the dominance of these two colossal supermarket chains diminishes the quality, texture and diversity of neighbourhood life in Australia. They have been allowed to become too big and too powerful. And the rise of home brands is only further squeezing competition and reducing consumers’ choice. In a response published across Fairfax media the following week, the managing director of Coles Supermarkets, Ian McLeod, accused me of writing ”an emotional diatribe”. As to the notion Coles might force undue or unfair concessions from suppliers, McLeod said: ”Lower retail prices…

Grant Cornett for The New York Times MICHAEL MOSS February 20, 2013 On the evening of April 8, 1999, a long line of Town Cars and taxis pulled up to the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury and discharged 11 men who controlled America’s largest food companies. Nestlé was in attendance, as were Kraft and Nabisco, General Mills and Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Mars. Rivals any other day, the C.E.O.’s and company presidents had come together for a rare, private meeting. On the agenda was one item: the emerging obesity epidemic and how to deal with it. While the atmosphere was cordial, the men assembled were hardly friends. Their stature was defined by their skill in fighting one another for what they called “stomach share” — the amount of digestive space that any one company’s brand can grab from the competition. James Behnke, a 55-year-old executive at Pillsbury, greeted the men…

John Rolfe February 18, 2013 News Limited Network THE ACCC’s investigation into Woolworths and Coles includes probing allegations of “cliffing”, where suppliers are given an ultimatum – agree to tougher terms or be pushed off the shelf. It’s believed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is also testing claims that space is being auctioned off, that up-front payments are being demanded for participation in supply-chain schemes of questionable benefit to manufacturers, and that supermarkets have been punishing suppliers who don’t fall into line by cancelling agreed in-store promotion at the last minute. The ACCC most recently examined the grocery sector in 2008. Then chairman Graeme Samuel found no evidence of misuse of market power. Of packaged groceries, his report said buyer power “may adversely affect individual competitors. However, the role of the ACCC is to consider competition, not individual competitors”. Two sources who have had high-level dealings with Mr Samuel…

Eli Greenblat February 19, 2013 The Age MOBILE phones and tablets have emerged as the preferred way to search online for shopping ideas, particularly over Christmas, while a new breed of consumers engaged in ”couch commerce” – shopping late at night when the kids are asleep – is also growing in popularity. This meant that shoppers were ”always on”, and only a finger-stroke away from computers at work, iPhones on the train and tablets on the couch to access retail websites, search for the best offers, check prices and store opening hours. Data collected by Google looking at online trends and behaviour over November, the peak time for online Christmas spending to ensure presents arrive in time, show for the first time a majority of shopping-related online searches were conducted away from a traditional desktop computer. ”It all boils down to the uptake in mobile and the centrality of mobile…

Larry Graham February 18, 2013 watoday.com.au Clever marketing seduces us into believing we are getting something for nothing when what we are really doing is purchasing an illusory discount at an undisclosed price. So the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is having a serious look at discount fuel dockets! In 2000, I was on a Parliamentary inquiry investigating why fuel prices were so high. Needless to say I learnt a lot about the fuel industry, gutless governments and legalised theft. Back then, the major oil companies were winkling independent retailers out of the market and the newcomer supermarkets were just starting to use their discount docket system to break into the fuel business. Angry independent retailers predicted that once the supermarkets became the major fuel suppliers, motorists would suffer higher fuel prices as competition in the retail market shrunk. It seems they were correct; the discount docket system has taken…

CSD Staff Feb 18, 2013 Pennsylvania and Utah are the only states that continue to run a monopoly on alcohol sales since Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Lt. Governor Jim Cawley announced last week that the time has come to get government out of the business of selling alcohol and put it in private hands, providing consumers with greater convenience and selection. Cawley visited the Giant Food Store in a Reading, Pa. suburb, which would be able to sell beer and wine under Governor Tom Corbett ‘s proposal to close the state stores and put liquor licenses up for auction. It is time for folks in Reading and across Pennsylvania to be able to enjoy the same convenience and selection as virtually every other American has today,” Cawley said. Pennsylvania and Utah are the only two states in the nation that continue to run a monopoly on alcohol sales since…