An update on the Market Study

An update on the Commerce Commission’s Market Study

It’s been a busy few months, with the Commerce Commission’s final report published in March and then the Government announcing its response to the Commerce Commission’s recommendations in late May. As you heard from us at the time, we accept that changes are needed and we’re pleased to have a firm direction going forward. We supported the Commission’s recommendations and we’re getting on with bringing them to life - including opening up wholesale grocery supply. Across our Woolworths New Zealand business, we’re committed to playing a positive role in a competitive grocery market for Kiwis. We’ll continue to keep you as up to date as we can with how the market study recommendations are progressing and work happening across our business to address these.

Starting work on opening up wholesale grocery supply

A few weeks ago, we announced that we’re beginning work on opening up our wholesale grocery supply following the Commerce Commission’s recommendations around wholesale and the Government’s response to those recommendations. We’ve had over 50 early expressions of interest from other retailers or organisations who may be interested in buying from us and we’ve set up a separate, bespoke team to find out more about potential demand, establish new processes and systems, and start conversations around meeting the Government’s objectives for more access to wholesale goods and prices. The team is also starting important conversations with you, our suppliers, to talk about trading terms, products and volumes, and any other operational considerations that you think we need to be aware of. We’re interested in hearing your thoughts on how we can all help better service vulnerable communities. If you have any ideas, please reach out. Thank you to those we’ve already spoken to and an advance thanks to those who we’ll be speaking to soon - your engagement, ideas and support are critical to how we can make wholesale a success for everyone.