Woolworths Supermarkets

Woolworths Limited (now Woolworths Group) was first registered on 22 September 1924 by five Australian entrepreneurs – Percy Christmas, Stanley Chatterton, Cecil Scott Waine, George Creed and Ernest Williams.^[4] The first store was opened on 5 December 1924 in Pitt Street of Sydney's Imperial Arcade, called "Woolworths Stupendous Bargain Basement".^[5][6] Following the first store there were only 29 shareholders and there was little interest to accelerate the brand's growth. However, as trading continued and shareholders brought more capital, the dividends paid by the company increased from 5% to 50% after its third year of operation. Consumer interest in the company grew after December 1924, as more branches of the store were established across Australia. Woolworths stores began selling a variety of goods, claiming the lowest prices as well as money back guarantees.^[7] At the forefront of innovation in Australia, Woolworths stores became the first variety store in the world to install receipt printing cash register machines in 1926.^[8]The second Woolworths outlet was opened on 6 August 1927, on Queen Street, Brisbane.^[9] The first Woolworths store in New Zealand was opened in 1929 (see also Woolworths New Zealand). Following the opening of the Hobart store in 1940, Woolworths had a store in every state in Australia.^[10]

 

With the company and its stores running successfully, Woolworths began to experiment with expanding their grocery range – more stores began stocking fresh fruits and vegetables and a larger range of food. The first self-service store in Beverly Hills, Sydney was opened in 1955.^[9] In 1958 the first supermarket was opened at Dee Why, followed by the first purpose-built supermarket at Warrawong Plaza in 1960.^[11]This site closed in 2012, but reopened in 2024. In 1958 Woolworths Limited acquired all 32 Brisbane Cash & Carry stores, which was a popular Brisbane grocery store chain. These were then later rebranded as Woolworths stores.^[12] As Woolworths gradually focused more on groceries, the first Big W department store was opened in 1964 at Jesmond, New South Wales.^[13]

 

In 1982, Woolworths Limited acquired two Tasmanian grocery brands: Roelf Vos and Purity, which were converted into Woolworths stores in 2000.^{[citation needed]} After the arrival of American supermarket giant Safeway in Australia in 1962, Safeway Australia was bought by Woolworths in 1985. Woolworths Limited acquired all of the Safeway stores and the naming rights in exchange for a 20% equity interest in Woolworths Limited.^[14][15] At the time of the acquisition, Safeway had 126 stores across Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.^[16] All Safeway stores in Queensland and New South Wales were rebranded as Woolworths supermarkets, but most Victorian stores continued trading as Safeway.^[17] In 2008, Woolworths announced it would rebrand Safeway stores as Woolworths, and this process was completed in June 2017.^[18]This was when Safeway Wodonga was closed and rebuilt as a Woolworths, ending the company of Safeway.

 

In 2018, Woolworths Group stopped providing single-use plastic bags during checkout at the same time as Coles Supermarkets, bringing them in line with Australia's third-biggest supermarket, Aldi.^[20] In the following three months, Australian's plastic bag use dropped by 80%, leading to 1.5 billion fewer bags going to landfill.^[21] Woolworths also committed to removing 180 tonnes of plastic packaging from their products in 2018.^[22]

In September 2021, Woolworths launched an online marketplace called Everyday Market. The marketplace allows customers to purchase products from partnered companies, including products not normally sold in the supermarket.^[23]

In May 2023, Woolworths acquired Milkrun, a fast grocery delivery startup which ceased operations the previous month and competed with the supermarket's Metro60 delivery service. Woolworths rebranded Metro60 as Milkrun.^[24][25]

In 1987, Woolworths launched the "Fresh Food People" campaign after implementing new company protocols for their fresh food departments.^[9] The slogan changed slightly in 2012 to "Australia's Fresh Food People" to promote the fact that 96% of fresh produce sold in Woolworths supermarkets is grown in Australia.^[26] In 2014 the original "The Fresh Food People" slogan returned with a new lineup of television commercials. Various other catchphrases have been used in recent advertisements, including "That's Today's Fresh Food People", and "Get Your Woolies Worth."

Loyalty schemes include a number of incentives for purchasing at their stores by subsidising petrol prices at Caltex Woolworths petrol stations and the now defunct Woolworths Plus Petrol. Discounts included 2-cent, 4-cent, 6-cent and in some regional areas 10-cent discounts on fuel, rewarded for purchases over certain amounts.

In September 2007, Woolworths began a trial in central-west New South Wales of Woolworths Rewards, a Woolworths shopping card that automatically tracks supermarket purchases and fuel discounts, thus eliminating the need for shoppers to retain paper coupons.^[27] In addition it allows Woolworths to record purchases made by customers to offer them relevant promotions and for studies in demographics and marketing,^[28] hence incentives for customers who register their details.

In February 2008, following the New South Wales trial, Woolworths announced that its Woolworths Rewards card would be rolled out nationally. The implementation began with South Australia and Northern Territory in mid-February 2008, and to other states (excluding Tasmania)^[29] by the end of May 2008.^[30] In August 2009, Woolworths announced that there were 3.8 million cards registered, of which 1.2 million were linked to a Qantas Frequent Flyer account.^[31]

 

Later, in about 2022, Woolworths rebranded its loyalty scheme to “Everyday Rewards” to further solidify its growth beyond the supermarket industry.

The Frequent Shopper Club, stylised as F$C, was a reward program for shopping in Woolworths stores in Tasmania. It was started by Purity Supermarkets in 1992, and was in use until January 2021.^[32][33] In July 2020, Woolworths announced that the program would be folded into the Everyday Rewards program.^[34]

In 2007, Woolworths announced that it was planning to launch a general purpose credit card in 2008.^[35] Woolworths offered these credit card holders reward vouchers redeemable throughout its store network.^[36] Woolworths subsequently announced that the Woolworths Everyday Money MasterCard would be launched on 26 August 2008, allowing customers to earn shopping cards redeemable at Woolworths Group retailers.^[37][38]

In 2023, Woolworths announced the credit card offering would be discontinued at the end of their 8-year partnership with Macquarie Bank.^[39]

Woolworths has a range of generic or private label brands:

• Woolworths Essentials – A budget label covering everyday household products and groceries. Products within this range typically feature a red and white Woolworths logo on the top left corner on the front side of the packaging.^[40]

• Woolworths Select – A premium range launched in 2005.^[41]

• Woolworths Bakery – A low cost in store bakery purchase option that allows for cheap bakery purchases. Products within this range typically feature a black and white Woolworths logo on the top left corner on the front side of the packaging.^[42]

• Woolworths Food Range – Woolworths' most populous own brand range, it features food lines in all categories across the store. Products in this range feature a green and white logo. Customer can become part of a food sampling group called "Bunch" in order to test foods within this range and provide feedback to make improvements.^[43]

• Gold – This own brand features premium products which are usually only available around Christmas time, and include products such as Christmas puddings, fruit mince pies and cakes.^[44]

• Macro Wholefoods Market – Macro features a range of foods that are free from artificial sweeteners, colours, flavours, added MSG and hydrogenated oils. Many products in this range are promoted as organic foods.^[45] The brand was launched in December 2019 following Woolworths' acquisition of the Macro Wholefoods organic grocery chain earlier that year.^[46]

• Delicious Nutritious – This range is a collaboration between Woolworths and Australian personal trainer Michelle Bridges. The range is exclusively chilled and frozen meals, all of which include 2–3 serves of vegetables, grains and protein, and are all under 450 calories per serve.^[47]

• The Odd Bunch – This is a fresh produce brand which features fruit and vegetables, such as carrots, lemons and apples, that are oddly shaped or are otherwise imperfect. These products are sold at a cheaper price as a compromise to this.^[48]

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  Woolworths supermarket and adjoining Woolworths Liquor in Temora, New South Wales
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  A Woolworths store in a shopping centre in Butler, Western Australia
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  Woolworths supermarket in Coolangatta, Queensland

 

• Woolworths NZ is the trading name in New Zealand. Woolworths also operated supermarket brands Foodtown and Woolworths until November 2011, which were rebranded as Countdown. On 18 July 2023, it was announced by Woolworths Group that Countdown will be rebranded Woolworths from early 2024.^[49]

 

• Woolworths Metro is a chain of small format grocery stores launched in 2013. The first store opened in Sydney, and the chain now has over 90 stores across Australia as of August 2023. Three of them are former Thomas Dux stores, while others are mostly placed within central business districts.

 

• Ampol Woolworths MetroGo was a chain of smaller Woolworths Metro convenience stores launched in March 2022, and were found exclusively in some Ampol service stations.^[50][51] These stores were owned and operated by Ampol (and previously Caltex Australia), and were first launched in November 2019 as Woolworths Metro stores.^[52] The chain had over 50 stores across Australia. On 28 August 2023, it was announced in the 2023 Half Year Results that all 50 Ampol Woolworths MetroGo stores would be rebranded to Foodary.^[53]

• Flemings was a chain of supermarkets in Sydney and the Central Coast. On 19 May 2020, the final store in Jannali closed and was replaced with a Woolworths Metro store.^[54]
• Food For Less was a discount supermarket chain located in Queensland and New South Wales. Since 2010 stores were either closed or rebranded to Woolworths, with the last store rebranded in 2018.
• Safeway was the trading name of Woolworths for most of their Victorian stores until 2017. When the last store in Wodonga, VIC rebranded to Woolworths.
• Thomas Dux was launched in 2008 in two New South Wales locations. The stores had a larger fresh food offering than traditional Woolworths stores, along with a larger delicatessen section.^[55] At its peak the chain had 11 stores. From 2014, the stores gradually closed and the chain ceased operation in late 2017. Three of the stores were retained under the "Woolworths Metro" brand; the other seven were either closed entirely or sold to other businesses. In 2021 however, the former Thomas Dux site at Black Rock, Victoria, which was retained as a "Woolworths Metro" store, was closed and is thought to be being replaced by a BWS or Dan Murphy's liquor outlet.
• Caltex Woolworths, a joint venture with Ampol (previously Caltex Australia), operated service stations across Australia. Woolworths sold the operation to the EG Group in April 2019 which has since been renamed EG Australia. Woolworths and EG entered a 15-year agreement that would maintain its fuel discount redemption across the network, and enable Woolworths Rewards points to be earned on fuel transactions across its network.^[56]The sites were rebranded to EG Ampol.
• Caltex Safeway operated service stations in Victoria until it was converted to Caltex Woolworths in 2008–2010.
• Roelf Vos and Purity were trading names used in Tasmania prior to being rebranded as Woolworths in 2000.
• Woolworths Supermarket Liquor (including former Safeway Liquor in Victoria) was a liquor division of Woolworths with stores attached to its supermarkets, until all 475 stores were rebranded as BWS in 2012–2013.^[57][58]
• Woolworths MetroGo was a convenience store based of Ampol. Formed as a smaller version of Woolworths Metro, MetroGo was more of a convenience store. They had stores in New South Wales and Victoria. It met its fate when all sites were rebranded to Foodary.

In July 2020, Woolworths were found guilty of breaching spam laws in excess of 5 million times and failing to unsubscribe customers from their mailing lists when requested to do so. The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) found Woolworths had unlawfully spammed more than a million customers between October 2018 and July 2019.^[59] The supermarket was found to have repeatedly ignored consumers who had tried to prevent receipt of marketing emails and had not attempted to improve, despite the AMCA notifying the company that they had received customer complaints. The company was fined $1,003,800.^[59]

ACMA chairman Nerida O'Loughlin said of the violation:

"The spam rules have been in place for 17 years and Woolworths is a large and sophisticated organisation. The scale and prolonged nature of the non-compliance is inexcusable."^[59]

In 2019, Woolworths admitted to having underpaid 5,700 of its employees by up to 300 million dollars from 2010 to 2019.^[60][61]

In 2024, Woolworths admitted to underpaying staff by $1.24 million in long service leave entitlements between November 2018 and January 2023. More than a thousand employees in Victoria were affected, and Wage Inspectorate Victoria fined Woolworths $1.263 million.^[62][63]

In 2023, Woolworths came under scrutiny for converting some of its full-size stores into the smaller Woolworths Metro format stores. Woolworths Metro stores typically stock a lesser range of products and have a different pricing structure than the full format stores.^[64] In August 2023, residents in Alexandria protested the planned conversion of their local Woolworths to a Woolworths Metro. A petition, promoted by local community groups, gathered over 1600 signatures, with support from the City of Sydney mayor, Clover Moore. Despite the community feedback, Woolworths pushed through with the Metro conversion.^[65][66]

On 10 January 2024, Woolworths Group announced that Woolworths supermarkets and Big W would no longer be stocking Australia Day-themed merchandise, citing declining demand and the broader discussion about the national holiday.^[67] The decision caused some controversy, with Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton calling for a boycott for its decision^{[68][69][70][71]} and vandalism to two stores in Brisbane.^[72][73][74]

Both Woolworths and Coles Supermarkets have come under scrutiny in 2023–2024 due to their alleged collaboration in price gouging. Together, the two form a duopoly in the Australian supermarket industry colloquially known as Colesworth.^[75] The supermarket chain claims this is an ongoing effect of the global 2021–2023 inflation.

CEO Brad Banducci was interviewed on the news program Four Corners in February 2024 and subsequently walked out mid interview, but later returned after being coaxed into returning to complete the interview. He subsequently announced his intention to resign from the position in September of that year with the managing director of e-commerce and loyalty, Amanda Bardwell replacing him as CEO.^[76]

In September 2024, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought legal action against Woolworths, accusing the supermarket of misleading customers on discounts through their Prices Dropped promotions.^[77] The ACCC claimed that prices under the promotion were subjected to sequential price rises of at least 15 percent for brief periods. It is also alleged that 266 products over a 20 month period were affected by the misconduct committed by the supermarket giant.^[78]

• List of supermarket chains in Oceania

• Official website