Latest news with #DownDown
West Australian
2 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
STORE WARS! Coles takes discounts fight to rival Woolworths with 12-week winter savings campaign
Coles is taking the fight for shoppers' stretched budgets back to rival Woolworths with a new winter savings campaign that looks set to escalate the supermarket store wars. The launch comes just weeks after Woolworths announced it would slash prices on hundreds of popular grocery items in a major cost-of-living move aimed at cutting into Coles' market. On May 14 it introduce a long-term campaign to lower shelf prices on almost 400 essential products both in-store and online, promising a family spending $150 on their weekly shop was likely to save about $15 each week when purchasing from the discounted range. Coles will respond to the price challenge on Monday when it will unveil plans to cut prices on 307 products under its Down Down promotion for 12 weeks across meat, bakery, dairy and pantry staples, with average savings of 19 per cent. The products includes Coles-branded lamb, pork, beef and chicken, Chobani and Danone yoghurts, Charlotte's Bakery pies, Kleenex tissues and Dove conditioner. The discounts, which the grocer says adds to more than 200 products already on Down Down prices, start from Wednesday. It will sweeten the deal to lure shoppers with its first Flybuys Activate Bonus Campaign that will give customers 10 times the points on more than 800 products in June, along with a range of cross savings promotions through its network of Liquorland stores. Coles chief commercial officer Anna Croft said the savings would help Australians find more value on their favourite products. 'This winter we're investing in bringing prices down to deliver immediate relief at the checkout to our customers,' Ms Croft said. 'Whether it's a leg of lamb roasting in the oven, a freezer full of batch-cooked meals, or a simple stir-fry to feed hungry mouths, Coles is helping households make meals they love at lowered prices.' The campaign aims to build on a continued preference for home cooking over dining out as consumers show few signs that recent interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank have given them greater confidence to loosen the purse strings. Coles will be hoping it also arrests a fall in the amount shoppers are spending on their weekly shop, a pattern experienced by both supermarket giants While delivering a 3.4 per cent jump in group-wide revenue to $10.4 billion for the March quarter in April, Coles chief executive Leah Weckert noted cash-strapped customers were cutting back on treats and buying less meat and bottled water. 'Our most popular and well-performing specials every week would be the ones that are the 40 and 50 per cent off,' she said. 'We are very aware that it's about two thirds of customers that are still battling to balance the household budget each week . . . and it's those customers that are really changing their behaviour.' Woolworths reported a similar rise in group-wide sales for the quarter but said cost-of-living pressures remained front of mind for shoppers. 'We're certainly seeing customers really resonate with those (promotions) that are deeper, so over the 40 per cent off mark is particularly popular,' chief executive Amanda Bardwell said at the time. Excluding fruit and vegetables and tobacco, average prices across its store network declined by 1.2 per cent in the first three months of 2025. But higher meat prices offset falls in the cost of long life categories such as pantry, snacking, freezer and everyday needs. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week showed inflation in the year to the end of April remained flat at 2.4 per cent but core inflation — which strips out price volatility — ticked up from 2.7 per cent to 2.8 per cent. The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages dipped in the 12 months to April to 3.1 per cent — down from 3.4 per in March — helped by a big fall in the cost of meat and seafood. Fruit and vegetable prices also dropped sharply in the month.
West Australian
23-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Coles, Woolies debate number of fake discount products
The nation's supermarket giants will barter with the competition watchdog on the number of items to be interrogated in court over allegations they misled customers with fake discounts. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched court actions against Coles and Woolworths, alleging they broke consumer law by bumping up prices on certain products for brief periods before lowering them again as part of Woolworths' "Prices Dropped" and Coles' "Down Down" promotions. Those promotional prices - including dairy, pet food, personal care, coffee, medicine, lollies, cereal and household cleaning products - were lower than during the price bump, but higher than or the same as the regular price, it alleges. A Federal Court hearing in Melbourne on Friday heard disagreements over the number of sample products from both supermarkets that would be included as evidence in the trial. Coles had agreed with 12 products - six chosen by the ACCC, three class products and three of their choosing, barrister Nicholas De Young told the court. "We submitted and believe that was a reasonable proposal, but a minute before court, we heard they want to add an additional four," he said. Mr De Young said the additional products could mean three or four more witnesses who will need to talk in detail about the price increase and promotional discussion journeys those items had. He questioned what attributes the four items have that the existing 12 don't. Woolworths had proposed six products, but barrister Ruth Higgins told the court the ACCC had submitted 20 on Thursday morning before reducing the number to 12 by that night. "What we've been doing this morning is trying to work out why those additional products are proposed and what difference those products make," Dr Higgins said. Barrister Michael Hodge said the ACCC had proposed a compromised position of 12 products for both companies, which would ensure everything could be captured. Justice Michael O'Bryan urged the parties to compromise, giving them until June 13 to finalise a list of agreed items. "If we're south of 20, or even better, south of 15, then we're in what I regard as sensible territory for conducting an efficient trial," he said. The consumer watchdog is seeking a significant penalty for the alleged breaches, which they say took place over 15 months. Coles and Woolworths, which control a combined two-thirds market share, deny the allegations and say the legal cases are misconceived.
Perth Now
23-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Coles, Woolies debate number of fake discount products
The nation's supermarket giants will barter with the competition watchdog on the number of items to be interrogated in court over allegations they misled customers with fake discounts. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched court actions against Coles and Woolworths, alleging they broke consumer law by bumping up prices on certain products for brief periods before lowering them again as part of Woolworths' "Prices Dropped" and Coles' "Down Down" promotions. Those promotional prices - including dairy, pet food, personal care, coffee, medicine, lollies, cereal and household cleaning products - were lower than during the price bump, but higher than or the same as the regular price, it alleges. A Federal Court hearing in Melbourne on Friday heard disagreements over the number of sample products from both supermarkets that would be included as evidence in the trial. Coles had agreed with 12 products - six chosen by the ACCC, three class products and three of their choosing, barrister Nicholas De Young told the court. "We submitted and believe that was a reasonable proposal, but a minute before court, we heard they want to add an additional four," he said. Mr De Young said the additional products could mean three or four more witnesses who will need to talk in detail about the price increase and promotional discussion journeys those items had. He questioned what attributes the four items have that the existing 12 don't. Woolworths had proposed six products, but barrister Ruth Higgins told the court the ACCC had submitted 20 on Thursday morning before reducing the number to 12 by that night. "What we've been doing this morning is trying to work out why those additional products are proposed and what difference those products make," Dr Higgins said. Barrister Michael Hodge said the ACCC had proposed a compromised position of 12 products for both companies, which would ensure everything could be captured. Justice Michael O'Bryan urged the parties to compromise, giving them until June 13 to finalise a list of agreed items. "If we're south of 20, or even better, south of 15, then we're in what I regard as sensible territory for conducting an efficient trial," he said. The consumer watchdog is seeking a significant penalty for the alleged breaches, which they say took place over 15 months. Coles and Woolworths, which control a combined two-thirds market share, deny the allegations and say the legal cases are misconceived.
Spectator
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
We've underestimated Francis Rossi
I have a friend who insists that had Status Quo hailed from Düsseldorf rather than Catford, they would nowadays be as critically revered as Can, Faust, Neu! and those other hallowed Teutonic pioneers of unyielding rhythm from the 1970s. Maybe so. Very probably not. Canned Heat and ZZ Top seem more reachable comparisons. But it's true that 'the Quo' have been underestimated and unjustly derided throughout their six-decade career, not least by themselves. The band has happily perpetuated their position as rock and roll neanderthals: a 2007 album is titled In Search Of The Fourth Chord. There was always a little more to it than that. Personally, I have always divined a terrible sadness at the heart of their music. Like most court jesters, Status Quo internalise great loneliness and despair. Consider the regretful pills-and-powder sentiments of songs such as 'Marguerita Time', 'Living On An Island', 'Down Down' and 'What You're Proposing', made all the more doleful by the bleached stoicism of Francis Rossi's pinched voice. Their prototypical heads-down Ur-boogie, meanwhile, is the cosmic hamster's wheel made sound, a pitch perfect aural representation of the existential treadmill. Inelegantly billed as 'An Evening of Francis Rossi's Songs from the Status Quo Songbook and More', this two-man touring show offers a corrective to the established Quo-text, though I very much doubt that is the intention. Having lost his brother in arms, Rick Parfitt, to a heart attack in 2016, Rossi is joined by second guitarist and backing vocalist Andy Brook. Supplied with nifty Fender Acoustasonic semi-acoustic guitars, the pair perch on a couple of red easy chairs, separated by a small table adorned with a green desk lamp.
