Eli Greenblat September 3, 2014 The Age Woolworths and Coles’ decision to plough tens of millions of dollars into enhancing their online capabilities is finding fertile ground, with groceries and liquor clocking up faster growth for online sales than any other retail category. It is older Australians, aged over 65, who are doing much of the heavy lifting, especially when it comes to alcohol sales, with that age group spending more on beer, wine and spirits online than younger Australians. The latest National Australia Bank Online Retail Sales Index shows shoppers’ enthusiasm for clicking on their laptops, iPhones or tablets to buy a box of fruit or case of wine helped drive a 15.9 per cent increase in online sales for the 12 months to July. It made the groceries and liquor category the fastest-growing segment, ahead of department and variety stores, which saw online sales expand by 11.5 per…

Peter Strong 03 September 2014 SmartCompany Contrary to the views of Peter Costello, Graeme Samuel and Stephen King expressed recently, the need for an effects test in competition law is well past its due date. As Australian Competition and Consumer Commission commissioners Jill Walker and Roger Featherstone have demonstrated, the use of an effects test is commonplace around the world and it is needed in Australia. This is a view supported by Allan Fels, the first chairman of the ACCC, who in a speech earlier this year at Melbourne University also stressed the need for change and for Australia to reflect the approach of most other countries. What Samuel misses is the bigger picture. The reality is we have a productivity problem in this country and as productivity remains low then our standard of living must start to fall. One reason why that productivity is falling, and has been since…

Sarah Halzack September 3, 2014 The Washington Post A shopper uses his smartphone to compare prices at Toys R Us in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Several years ago, as online shopping grew in popularity, traditional retailers grew deeply concerned about “showrooming” –when consumers visit brick-and-mortar stores to test out products but ultimately make their purchase online from a competitor. Now, a new study from Nielsen adds to a growing body of research that shows that showrooming is not, in fact, the biggest factor upending traditional shopping patterns. Nielsen surveyed more than 30,000 consumers across 60 countries for itsreport on the state of e-commerce, which it released last week. And while 51 percent of respondents said they browse products in stores before ultimately buying them on the Web, an even larger number said they do the opposite: 60 percent of consumers said they often browse products online before ultimately purchasing…

SEPTEMBER 04, 2014 News.com.au Video Image How safe are energy drinks for teens? http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/external?url=http://content6.video.news.com.au/12N2Zobjp79I8veBHs7gSUSO2eecFoa1/promo228112001&width=650&api_key=kq7wnrk4eun47vz9c5xuj3mc AT 35 years old, Mick Clarke seemed like he had his whole life ahead of him. Even though he kept unusual hours thanks to his job, the Perth-based truck driver lived an active life, running most days and consuming a reasonable diet. But there was one major shortcoming in Mick’s seemingly healthy lifestyle — he was drinking about four energy drinks a day. And when he died suddenly on January 30 this year, that was found to be the cause. The coroner said it was caffeine toxicity that claimed his life. “He used to buy a four-pack (of energy drink), so I’d say he was drinking at least four a day, but he was also coming home and drinking coffee as well,” Mick’s mother, Shani Clarke, told the ABC. “It was only a couple of weeks…

Mick McCabe, Homescan Shopper Panel Product Leader, Nielsen 04-09-2014 Consumer A recent Nielsen shopper study on the top 50 selling grocery products revealed that bananas are the most popular household purchase with 93% of Australian households purchasing an average of 19 kg of the tropical fruit every year. Other items that dominate our shopping trolleys and baskets include: fresh fruit and vegetables, minced meat, milk, bread and sandwich fillers. Despite well-documented health warnings regarding Australia’s obesity epedemic, it’s somewhat encouraging to see that fresh fruit and vegetables made up 22 of the top 50 categories while junk food ranked lower in the list of consumers’ top purchases. Potato chips (ranked number 16) was the most popular of the unhealthy purchases, followed by confectionary bars (30), blocks of chocolate (32), flavoured snacks (37), plain sweet biscuits (38) and chocolate biscuits (39). Using Nielsen’s Homescan Shopper Panel, we tracked the most frequent…