Financial year 2024 is coming to an end – and what a year it’s been! We officially launched Woolworths New Zealand into the market; introduced That Fresh Food Feeling, brought Everyday Rewards to life and continue to refresh and rebrand our stores across the nation.
As we wrap up F24 and usher in F25, I’m looking forward to what this new year brings for us all.
With a new year nearly here, we’re excited to bring back the Lowdown as a means of communicating directly with you, our incredible suppliers. In this issue we’ll be reflecting on the year, profiling one of our growers; highlighting the amazing work of Cartology and Primary Connect +; sharing some of the community work we’ve undertaken and looking ahead to what the F25 will bring. We’ve got a packed issue for you, hopefully you’ll enjoy getting a look at the comings and goings of Woolworths New Zealand. If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to get in touch with the team.
I’d also like to extend a huge thank you to all our supply partners for their support over the last few months. It’s a tough time for households and businesses across the country and we appreciate your continued partnership.
Ngā mihi nui,
Pieter De Wet
Commercial Director, Woolworths New Zealand
Going koo-koo for Kumara!
Founded in 1970, Kaipara Kūmara Ltd has grown from a small startup to one of Northland’s premier kūmara packhouses. Kaipara Kūmara initially focused on mushroom cultivation but later transitioned to growing and supplying kūmara.
In the 1990s, the company set up the first commercial kūmara washing, grading, and packing plant in New Zealand.
Kaipara Kūmara’s growers were hit hard when Cyclone Gabrielle ravaged through the farms. The seasonal nature of kūmara - with only one crop per calendar year - made it even more challenging to meet customer demands. Kaipara Kūmara and its growers lost around 73% of the crop, and combined incurred losses of $7 million. Woolworths were quick to act and stepped in with the Grower Fund to help rebuild.
This year’s kūmara crop is thankfully a return to norm. It’s tasty, fresh and plentiful! Kaipara Kūmara works with Woolworths on a smooth chain of
distribution and we’re able to ensure the produce stays fresher for longer thanks to our temperature controlled distribution centres.
Our relationships with growers like Kaipara Kūmara are so important. Their passion and love for their crops can be tasted in every kūmara. We look forward to a continued relationship with them and to sharing their delicious kūmara with Kiwis.
We take great pride in the produce we bring to our stores and it’s through strong relationships with each grower that we are able to ensure a positive experience for our customers.
Christchurch Fresh Distribution Centre
In a landmark move, Woolworths New Zealand has unveiled a state-of-the-art Christchurch Fresh Distribution Centre in Rolleston, signalling a $99 million investment in enhancing our supply chain infrastructure. Spanning 11,000 square metres, the facility services all Woolworths and Woolworths stores across the South Island, employing 65 Kiwis.
Woolworths’ commitment to delivering the freshest, highest quality produce to customers across Aotearoa is the driving force behind this development. The facility incorporates advanced technologies to maintain optimal temperatures throughout the supply chain process, ensuring
that produce reaches stores exactly as growers intended.
The Distribution Centre also showcases our commitment to sustainability, with rainwater harvesting, low water and energy-use cooling towers, and a design that meets Green Star standards. This
investment is not just about delivering fresher produce but also about protecting the planet.
Primary Connect+ is our commercial logistics operation, providing services to suppliers and other logistics customers in NZ and Australia. While our entire supply chain has been rebranded as “Primary Connect,” the “+” refers to the additional solutions and services we offer our commercial customers, creating added value and unlocking incremental benefits.
Historically our focus has been on domestic packaged goods freight, but we have grown the breadth of our services, and can now offer solutions for produce, storage, and international
services inbound and outbound to ports around the world, along with our domestic coastal offering between Auckland and Lyttelton ports.
One of the real strengths of the PC+ team is our diverse background across FMCG, retail, manufacturing, transport, supply chain and operations. This means that we can connect with customers, and different teams internally and externally, to deeply understand their business.
Primary Connect has been working with the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) on reducing emissions, which has underscored how 4PL providers (like PC+) enable emissions reductions. 4PLs not only increase truck utilisation, filling more trucks both ways, but also enable mode shift from road, to rail, and to coastal freight.
Coastal shipping has three times less emissions than road transport, but this comes with its own challenges - successful coastal shipping requires volume consolidation to achieve sufficient scale. This involves working with all stakeholders to align schedules, something PC+ has become expert at.
Look for the SBC report on “Enabling Mode Shift” which will be available incoming months.
Reach out to one of our team today info@primaryconnect.co.nz pccs@primaryconnect.co.nz
Growing for Good: Empowering Young Environmentalists
Woolworths New Zealand’s Growing for Good grant programme is back for its sixth year, inviting young environmentalists in Aotearoa to share their innovative ideas for caring for the environment.
With a grant pool of $50,000, the programme aims to empower young change-makers to turn their passion for the environment into action. Each winning project will receive up to $10,000 to bring their ideas to life.
In the past year, the programme has seen incredible projects come to fruition. One of last year’s winners, Nelson Intermediate School, used their grant to install rainwater tanks to water their gardens, fruit trees, and native trees.
Sarah Johns, STEAM Leader at Nelson Intermediate School, said that the tanks have made a significant difference to the school’s sustainability efforts. “We now have a sustainable
source of water for our crops, even during the summer and school holidays,” she said.
Student Millie Moketapu added: “We now have access to water when it’s limited, which means our native plants and vegetable gardens can grow food for our community all year round.”
Another successful school, Mount Albert Grammar School, used their grant to build a vertical garden project so students could supply produce grown to its food technology classes.
Community work
Mini Woolies
The Mini Woolies programme, developed by Woolworths Group and Fujitsu, has arrived in Aotearoa at Sommerville School and Central Auckland Specialist School. This initiative creates a supermarket environment within an educational setting, offering disabled students hands-on learning experiences. Students can engage in various retail activities such as operating checkouts, restocking shelves, and preparing food, using “play” money and registers set up for scanning and processing grocery items.
The programme’s focus on practical learning aims to equip students with essential skills, boost their selfconfidence, and provide them with a sense of achievement. Sommerville School, which caters to students with special educational needs, is thrilled to introduce this initiative to its students, believing it will have a life-changing impact on their development and future opportunities.
Repairing fences and smashing targets
The fundraising target was smashed (as were a few bodies!) when the Parliamentary rugby and netball teams took on Federated Farmers Gisborne/Wairoa in a Woolworthssponsored fundraising event in Gisborne on 25 May.
The Feds were hoping to raise $150,000 to repair fences but well over twice that was raised on the day, aided by $50,000 from Woolworths customers - part of $250,000 in customer funds donated for Cyclone Gabrielle recovery causes.
Nearly 20 MPs and Cabinet Ministers turned up for rugby and netball, playing teams recruited from the
local community in Tairāwhiti. The netball team was captained by Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston, while the rugby team was co-led by Climate Change Minister Simon Watts and Labour’s Defence spokesperson Peeni Henare, who put in some big hits on defence and attack.
The Feds team were comfortable winners of the netball but the Parliamentary world champion rugby team smashed its way to an occasionally fiery 17-12 triumph.
Food Rescue
Did you know - around a third of food in New Zealand gets thrown in the bin, yet many Kiwis are going hungry. In 2020 Woolworths set a goal of having all its food waste diverted from landfill by 2025. We’re making great progress within our stores –read more here.
And check out the new TV series Food Rescue Kitchen on Three Now, it shines a light on the amazing work being done across Aotearoa to tackle food waste.
If you’re inspired and keen to collaborate across the food system to reduce food waste consider joining us in becoming a member of Kai Commitment.
That Fresh Food Feeling
Woolworths’ journey in New Zealand reached a significant milestone with the launch of “That Fresh Food Feeling.” This symbolises our commitment to providing the best supermarket experience daily.
Reinforcing this promise, we have renewed our Fresh or Free guarantee. Shoppers unhappy with the quality of a fresh product can return it for a full refund and replacement. With this commitment, we want to emphasise the significance of providing value and quality fresh products, especially during the rising cost of living.
That Fresh Food Feeling reflects our brand’s values: offering fresh, healthy food for families, supporting communities, and providing convenient shopping options. With the launch of Woolworths in New Zealand, customers can expect a renewed focus on quality, freshness, and a shopping experience tailored to their needs.
Through national surveys via the Woolworths Group Gather Panel, Cartology is diving deep into purchase drivers, shopping behaviours, retail media interactions and customer expectations of brands.
So what have they told us?
1. The supermarket isn’t just a place to shop; it’s a playground for education and discovery.
2. Retail media plays a vital role in the customer shopping journey.
3. Shoppers are switching brands across categories.
These insights highlight the evolving dynamics of the shopping environment, and Cartology are here to help brands make the most of it. Cartology is uniquely positioned to bring brands closer to customers, leveraging the power of Everyday Rewards and through their deep understanding of shopper behaviour.
Explore the Category Collection at www.cartology-category-collection. co.nz
Woolworths’ Low Price Program Offers Winter Warmers at Stable Prices
Woolworths New Zealand has expanded our Low Price program to include a range of household favourites for the winter season. The Low Price program ensures that certain seasonal products will stay at the same price for weeks, providing customers with certainty and affordability.
The winter additions to the Low Price program include hearty meats, soups, vegetables, and fruit, such as pork shoulder roast, frozen bone-in lamb leg, free-farmed pork mince, brown onions, potatoes, simply red apples, Harraways rolled oats, and Wattie’s Very Special soup range. These items join the over 2,000 products already available in the Low Price program.
In addition to the winter additions, other household favorites are being kept on Low Price for the winter season. These include mixed grade barn eggs, Golden crumpets, mild, colby, and edam
cheese blocks, The Good Taste soup range, and everyday cheese.
Woolworths is also introducing new value stands to the front of many of its stores. These stands will highlight the best offers in-store, including specials, member prices, and Low Price products. The stands will be rolled out to 130 Woolworths stores in the coming weeks and will be updated weekly to reflect the latest deals.
Woolworths’ Low Price program, introduced in September 2023,
complements the thousands of weekly specials and The Odd Bunch, which offers slightly odd-looking but greattasting fruit and vegetables at a 20% discount.
Woolworths Transforms 50th Store in New Zealand
Woolworths New Zealand has transformed our 50th store, Woolworths Hāwera, into Woolworths Hāwera. This milestone marks our commitment to delivering exceptional quality, service, and value to its customers.
Woolworths Hāwera Store Manager, Sharmayne Byrne, is excited about the transformation. She says, “This rebrand represents a new era for our store and for the community we serve. Woolworths is a well-respected brand with a strong commitment to providing customers with quality products and excellent service.”
The Hāwera store has been an important landmark in the community for five years and employs over 89 people. The store is also proud to work with local food rescue partners, The Salvation Army and Hāwera Foodbank, delivering essential resources to those in need.
Supporting the transition to more sustainable packaging
Questions about any of our sustainability work?
Reach out to the team at sustainability@ Woolworths.co.nz
Woolworths New Zealand is continuing to evolve our packaging to improve circularity as part of our 2025 Sustainability commitments. As part of these commitments, we are committed to supporting our Trade Partners to improve the sustainability of their packaging, and prepare for future regulatory requirements, by phasing out the most problematic and difficult-to-recycle materials from their packaging.
We have recently updated our Primary (Consumer) Packaging Preferred Materials listing, available together with other guidance on the Packaging Guidance page on Partner Hub. This version separates the items that should be the highest priority for removal into a new ‘black’ section and updates the other sections to reflect the latest regulations (Standard Materials for Kerbside Collections Notice 2023)
We strongly encourage you to review these preferred materials guidelines and identify any non-preferred materials used in your existing packaging specifications. We appreciate that review and redesign of packaging specifications take time, however these actions will help meet
Your key Merchandise and Replenishment team contacts.
Pieter De Wet
Commercial Director WWNZ
EA: Chris Appleton chris.appleton@woolworths.co.nz
James Miles
Head of Fresh – Strategic Execution
E: james.miles@woolworths.co.nz
M: 027 355 8527
Angela Deehan
General Manager of Everyday Needs
E: angela.deehan@woolworths.co.nz
M: 027 444 077
Please reach out to your category or merchandise manager as your first port of call but if you need to get in touch with one of the merchandise leadership team, you can find their details below.
MarkBell
HeadofQualityandFoodSafety
E:mark.bell@woolworths.co.nz
M:0272434315
NikhilSawant
GeneralManagerofMeat,Seafood, DeliandPerishables
E:nikhil.sawant@woolworths.co.nz
M:0273338383
Greta Taylor
General Manager of Grocery Food and Liquor
E: greta.taylor@woolworths.co.nz
M: 021 702 756
AndreVisser
GeneralManagerofFoodCoNZ
E:andre.visser@woolworths.co.nz
M:0223529983
RyanMcMullen
GeneralManagerofFruitand Vegetables
E:ryan.mcmullen@woolworths.co.nz
M:0274442032
Tash Toswill
General Manager of Replenishment and Store Planning
