WE all make mistakes and perhaps the original idea was really worthwhile, but have you heard anyone from either Progs or Foodies bemoaning the fact that between them they have lost over $100 million by investing in The Warehouse shares. Those parcels of shares have halved in value since they were bought by the warring parties in the hope of grabbing the company. With the price dropping under $4, they are certainly not an attractive share right now and could collapse even further if Woollies decides to open up its Big W discounter here. Current results from the general merchandiser are less than memorable and the decision not to proceed further with food perhaps was the result that both our major players were looking for anyway. Just wondering who is going to pay the piper?
INTERESTING that ACC touches most of our lives at some stage and that the Government has started to crack down on the huge losses incurred in this accident compensation scheme. But from an employer’s point of view, the blatant cheating that has been going on for years with ridiculous claims certified by doctors may be costing the system, but it has also been a huge cost to businesses both in time off and levies. We have seen a number of incidences ourselves of people claiming injuries were caused at work when clearly they weren’t – and the levy zoomed up. Let’s stop the cheats.
IF any of our industry folk are travelling to the UK in the near future and happen to be staying in London or Manchester, stay at the Holiday Inn. The chain has a new bed warming system available for guests – a human bed warmer (true story). Ladies dressed in all in one sleeper suits are available for a five minute bed warming session before guests go to bed, a bit like having a giant hot water bottle to help people sleep.
IT’S all very well for those do-gooders to discourage the use of plastic bags in supermarkets, but spare a thought for the lady shopper who is expected to use the replacement and re-usable cotton or fabric bags. Truth is that they hold too much product and once they are loaded up, the poor old shopper (particularly older women) can’t lift them. Plastic bags are just the perfect size and can only hold a limited amount of product – before the handles tear and rip.
HERE’S a thought for supermarkets who want to get on the right side of mums and educationalists – develop a packed lunch programme. According to new research, only about 1% of packed lunches for primary school children come up to expected nutritional standards with crisps and sugary snacks winning the day. How about developing a five-day lunchbox suggestion pamphlet and stocking the promoted products in a small section instead of mums having to shop the store to get the fillers. What to do with the lower decile schools where kids go to school with nothing or a couple of dollars to buy crap, is beyond me. But we can change the mindset of caring parents with a proper programme.
AT a NARGON function the other day, the MC suggested he would call NARGON top dog Mike Kennedy, President Kennedy – but Mike quickly poured water on that idea in case someone took a potshot at him. Talking of deaths, I knew this guy who was suicidal. He was really depressed so another friend pushed him under an oncoming steam train. He was chuffed to bits.
IT’S a truism, in my opinion, that when newspapers don’t have any decent feature material, they always turn to the retail food industry to tell people how to shop better, save money, avoid a wide range of products, be healthier, not to use big trolleys, don’t go to the supermarket when you’re hungry etc, etc, etc. Well they’re at it again. The Sunday Star Times in mid-January gave a two page spread analysis of an aisle by aisle supermarket visit and what to avoid – a deal that certainly offended a number of brand owners and supermarket operators. Why pick on supermarkets constantly, after all they are the most competitive and price aware retailers in the nation?
INTERESTING to see that growing your own veges is a booming business and vegetable seed sales have zoomed by 60% over the past two years. And while there’s profit in it for the supermarkets stocking a small garden section, there are a few others who reckon encouraging people to grow their own and stopping them buying the finished product from your own store is like giving bullets to a potential suicider. But I suppose if we don’t sell the seeds, someone else will get the store traffic.
THE ongoing talk of globalisation where the proponents insist there is no alternatives to groups like Wal-Mart and giant multi-national suppliers, there is always going to be a reaction. And there is an idea springing up both here and overseas of the small-mart revolution where communities reap the benefit of going local where small businesses give more to charity, don’t have the labour fluctuations caused by overseas ebbs and flows, provide more social stability and produce more wealth for the community. So bigger isn’t always better.
THE Malaysian government has got the right idea – it has told the major chains to stock more local produce to encourage local suppliers. They have decided that the current 9% of Malaysian products instore needs to be lifted to 30% by the end of this year and that the unattractive packaging, putting consumers off, needs to be remedied.
WELL, that’s another Christmas behind us and the ads have started appearing again for the privately-owned Christmas clubs. The stories we hear of the lack of value in these “savings” programmes compared with buying straight from a supermarket, are mind blowing. But, there are people around who simply don’t have the dollars at Christmas and it’s those that our two supermarket groups should be making a play for. There is little doubt that the promoters of the private Christmas clubs are making substantial profits both from bulk buying and invested funds. And it probably is a nuisance of a programme in-store, but it is a service that’s worthwhile and worth promoting to lock in shoppers at a cost-effective level. Don’t dismiss the business too quickly.
SPARE a thought for the small convenience stores and the service station shops as the anti-smoking lobby swings into gear again. The concept of pushing cigarettes and tobacco out of sight of purchasers will play havoc with he economics of the c-store business where sales of this entirely legal product are the backbone of the store. Let smokers kill themselves if they must – they’ve had enough warnings.
