Australian supermarket chains don’t go beyond compliance with industry and regulatory standards, and a patchy collection of additional animal welfare requirements.
Cyril Caton/Flickr
Animal welfare and environmental sustainability are important ethical issues but Australian supermarkets don’t do much about them. Germany’s Aldi Süd chain could teach them a thing or two.
They all taste the same once they’re mashed.
Lucie Lang/Shutterstock.com
The battle to reduce food waste and increase access to nutritious food just got a whole lot cheaper and uglier in Australia. In early December, Woolworths launched its “odd bunch” campaign, becoming the…
The Serious Fraud Office is conducting a formal criminal investigation into accounting practices at Tesco. In contrast, the Financial Reporting Council, whose primary remit is to regulate accounting, is…
Not seeming to get much right at the moment.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
The decline in Tesco’s fortunes in recent weeks has been staggering. Falling sales and an accounting scandal have caused a slump in profits and the supermarket’s share price. Pre-tax profits fell 92% to…
Price wars are crippling for producers.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
The crisis of confidence at Tesco signals a remarkable fall from grace given that it wasn’t so long ago that Britons were spending one pound in every seven in its stores. But should we feel sorry for Tesco…
Aldi and Lidl bring with them all kinds of new competition in the supermarket wars.
PA/PA Wire
The decline of big supermarkets in the face of brutal competition from discount retailers like Aldi and Lidl has been widely discussed. But, as shoppers move away from conventional ways of shopping, little…
Root and Branch review in the offing at Tesco?
Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The well-known words of Winston Churchill are probably on the mind of Dave Lewis, the new CEO of Tesco. The company faced what many deemed to be the worst crisis…
In the balance. Tesco’s woes draw in its auditors as the shares plunge.
Andy Rain/EPA
The news that Tesco overstated its half-year profit guidance by £250m has sent the company’s share price tumbling – and poses serious questions about its auditing and corporate governance. The company…
That’s a tasty-looking risotto, but it might also contain mushroom species not yet known to science.
Chuck Olsen/Flickr
Mycologists – scientists who study fungi – estimate there are up to five million species of fungi on Earth. Of these, only about 2%, or 100,000 species, have been formally described. So where are the other…
Leaving a sour taste. Tesco struggles to find a value proposition.
StefZ
Imagine taking over the reins of a firm which only a few years ago was regarded as one of the best run companies in the UK, but now routinely posted declining market share, moribund profits, and mounting…
Tesco boss Philip Clarke has paid the price for another profit warning from the struggling – though still dominant – retailer. But while his track record is picked apart by commentators, scrutiny should…
Supermarkets like to portray themselves as healthy places to shop.
AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts
In their bids for greater market share, Australia’s two largest supermarket chains sometimes portray themselves as healthy places to shop. But Woolworths’ latest “Jamie’s Garden” sticker campaign might…
It’s hard to pin down the supply chain for prawns.
EPA/Daniel Munoz
The use of slave labour in the global chain that supplies prawns to supermarkets in the US and the UK has been highlighted by a report in The Guardian. Following a six-month investigation, it was revealed…
British supermarket Waitrose is marketing “bubbleberries” in some of its stores, describing them as resembling a small strawberry that is “beautifully fragrant, with the unmistakable taste of bubblegum…
Where brands would previously compete with no-frills brands, now they produce them as part of a new strategy.
AAP/Daniel Munoz
Only a few years ago jokes about home brand products were quite common. Having a blue and white or red and white dinner meant enjoying generic brand fare that night around the table. But the recent intensification…
Mustn’t fall for these tri - ooh half price!
Stefan Rousseau/PA
When you walk into a supermarket, you probably want to spend as little money as possible. The supermarket wants you to spend as much money as possible. Let battle commence. As you enter the store your…
On the night of 25 October 2013, Paul May, James Chan and William James were arrested for taking food out of the bins at an Iceland store in Kentish Town. Iceland denied they had called the police or sought…
What if you could save on your online shop by switching delivery times?
Blue Square Thing
Arne Strauss, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
The online grocery market has been growing in the double digits in the UK and is on the rise all over the western world. Retailers are fighting to get their share of the business and spend big on launching…
Our food environment could influence the type of food we buy.
Hopkinsii/flickr
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has introduced a Healthy Weight Action Plan aimed at curbing the number of obese people in the territory. As its name suggests, the plan seeks to create…