Stephen Hutcheon July 23, 2015 The Age While David Jones and the ABC have announced plans to scale back and phase out their shop-front presence, not all retailers are retreating from the bricks-and-mortar experience. Six years after opening its first store in Australia, Apple will open its 22nd domestic outlet on Saturday in the southern Sydney suburb of Miranda. The company now has a network of more than 450 stores in 16 countries. Apple has never closed a retail store since it opened its first one at the Tyson’s Corner shopping centre just outside Washington, DC, in 2001. Here are 10 facts about Apple’s booming retail business: 1. Apple Stores have consistently rated among the world’s most profitable retail outlets, when measured by sales per foot of retail space. In the US, Apple Stores generated $US4798.82 in sales per square foot on an annualised basis at the end of 2014,…

JOHN DURIE THE AUSTRALIAN Wesfarmers retail guru Archie Norman calls the supermarket battles in Australia a “new era” that Coles must respond to early and that will inevitably affect the supply base. By that he means the suppliers will feel the pain, with Aldi commanding 15 per cent of the east coast market and expanding west. The Coles response will be based on its role as a “trusted value” supplier, matching Aldi but with a wider quality offering to fully satisfy shoppers. Aldi operates smaller stores with 1300 lines of mainly house brands — against the 28,000 lines in a full service supermarket — and tends to provide just part of a shopper’s weekly needs. Mr Norman spoke to The Australian — his first ever interview here — on his 56th visit to Australia since the heady days of the 2007 Wesfarmers takeover of Coles. Back then, Mr Norman was…

JULY 24, 2015 News.com.au COCA-COLA says sales of Diet Coke are still sliding as people continue gravitating toward foods they feel are fresh. SANDY Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, attributed the drink’s declining sales to the move away from diet and frozen products in recent years, with people reaching for options they consider to be fresh or natural. “It’s a good dietary change, actually, for the country. But the impact on categories, and particularly categories that are appealing to diet-oriented positions, has been pretty negative,” he said. During the second quarter, Coca-Cola said that Diet Coke’s sales volume declined seven per cent. CEO Muhtar Kent said the drink’s challenge has been “very much a US-centric one”. Douglas said he thinks the trend toward products positioned as natural will endure. But he nevertheless expressed optimism for the future of Diet Coke, which is made with the artificial sweetener aspartame. Douglas…

Sarah Danckert July 26, 2015 The Age Regulators in Australia could look to introduce graphic warning labels on packaging of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and food that is unhealthy, a senior partner from Herbert Smith Freehills warns. Representatives from the law firm, which is taking on the World Trade Organisation on behalf of British American Tobacco over plain packaging and warning labels on tobacco packaging, has told Fairfax Media that tobacco is often the “canary in the coal mine” for changes to labelling and warnings around the world. A beer bottle with a picture of a cirrhotic liver could soon grace Australia’s tables, said Benjamin Rubinstein, who was part of the legal team that successfully defended BAT in a $280 billion racketeering case in the US. “I think there have been rumbling among the public health community about what’s next: is it just tobacco? What about sugary foods? Fatty foods?…