Curated, Edition 1, March 2023

Curated

Joint Planning success with Colgate-Palmolive

Introducing our First Nations Winter Range Range Review 101 Quarterly magazine for our Trade Partners

How Lello Pasta built their unique brand

Welcome to our refreshed Trade Partner magazine, Curated!

Curated with articles and interviews, we’ll keep you updated on what’s new in our business, industry updates and insights from our Trade Partner network.

In this edition, we dive into our Range Review process (pg. 6) for partners wanting to understand more about the process.

We also look at an example of Excellence in Joint Business Planning from Colgate-Palmolive (pg. 12) and explore our Multicultural Store offerings (pg. 23).

Scan the QR code to share your feedback, and let us know what you’d like to see in future editions.

Happy reading,

Rebecca Boustead General Manager Supplier Engagement and Capability

Trade Partner

Charter

We are always Customer 1st

We behave like business partners

We do what we say

We balance business sustainability & market competitiveness

We inspire and challenge each other to do better

We drive our business through the Merchandise Manager and Joint Business Plans

We make it right when we fall short

A message from Paul Harker

Dear Trade Partners,

As we continue to tailor our offer for our customers across our supermarkets, we are always looking to see how we can diversify our range of products to suit our customers’ needs.

Woolworths’ love of Australian-made, sustainable and unique products is also shared by our customers which is why we are proud to support Seedlab.

Seedlab Australia is a national incubator and accelerator program for small Australian businesses to become retail

ready, fully supported by Woolworths, but run independently. Seedlab gets suppliers pitch and retail ready by undertaking a 6-week boot camp, followed by a 4-month Accelerator Cultivate program.

Our Commercial team’s constant curiosity about what’s coming down the pipeline through Seedlab saw us host our second Seedlab Expo at our support office in Sydney. This was a tremendous opportunity for 17 selected Seedlab participants to showcase and sample their range to the entire Woolworths support team and meet with our Category Managers.

Meeting the people behind the products, hearing their stories and listening to their aspirations reinforced to me the passion that drives this industry, and also displayed the exciting potential.

Thank you to Dr Hazel MacTavish-West, co-founder and CEO of Seedlab for her constant support and passion for small businesses who dream of supplying a national retailer.

We look forward to uncovering more wonderful products through this partnership.

Regards,

Paul Harker Chief Commercial OfficerSupermarkets and Metro

If you would like to find out more about the Seedlab Australia program or know someone who would like to participate, please visit their website.

Range Review 101 Part

1

The needs of our customers are always changing. While many have favourite brands and products, their purchases also change with the seasons, and are inspired by new products and trends. As retailers we need to constantly evolve, balancing our range to meet and exceed customer expectations.

We asked our Head of Category Development, Kane Rennie, to explain how we do this and how our Trade Partners can get involved. This is part 1 of a series, so we’ll start with the basics.

How do we manage to review every product?

We range more than 35,000 products across our Supermarkets. Like many retailers, we use a methodical approach that focuses on each category, or a related group of categories.

We call this a Range Review.

It’s a check-in process to ensure the range is aligned with how customers want to shop, as well as our overarching category strategy.

We review both the product range and the space allocated to each product. Our decisions are made based on customer data and insights.

What are the different ways we conduct Range Reviews?

Each Range Review is classified by how large the change will be:

Range Curation Strategic

Major Review Strategic

Minor Review Tactical

This is a holistic review of the category and the aisle, often resulting in significant change. We review multiple categories that resonate with a customer's occasion. We take into account the look and feel of the category, aisle changes and merchandising.

Here, we review singular subcategories in isolation. The majority of our range reviews are done this way.

This is when we add a small number of new lines or make deletions in a specific subcategory.

How do I find out when a Range Review is scheduled?

If you already have a product ranged in Woolworths, you can login to our Partner Hub to view the Range Review Calendar.

The Range Review Calendar shows you information about the timing for each category review, detailing the process from beginning to end. If you’d like to get a product ranged for the first time, you can access the Range Review Calendar at Partner Hub here.

How long does a Range Review take?

Generally, the process takes 20 weeks. We follow key Grocery Code milestones to ensure fair and reasonable conduct for our Trade Partners. That means we provide a larger notice period for:

• Acceptance of new products

• Potential and final delisting of products

• Any meaningful distribution changes

Category-specific timings

Annually

Annually for some categories

Do you delete products from the range?

Unfortunately, shelf space is a finite resource. Every spot matters to the customer, which means that low performing products are sometimes deleted to make way for new ones. These decisions are led by data, aligned to our category strategy based on criteria shared by the Category Manager.

How can Trade Partners get involved?

In the early stages, Partners can submit proposals to their Category Manager. We then have conversations that are in line with the review schedule.

If you have any questions about the process, your Category Manager will be happy to chat. We encourage you to get in touch.

Introducing our First Nations Winter Range with Bobbi Lockyer

Our 2023 Woolworths Winter Warmers Range will deliver an exciting new range of First Nations-designed Homewares and Manchester, inspired by a wonderful new partnership with Bobbi Lockyer.

Bobbi Lockyer is a colour-obsessed, queer, Aboriginal woman and established artist working in multiple art forms, including painting, photography and fashion. Her work is influenced by the stories of the past, the country's colours, and the ocean's waves. Her art refuses to be defined by conventional means - instead, it provides an insight into her creative heart and soul through an array of different mediums.

As a proud Ngarluma, Kariyarra, Nyulnyul and Yawuru woman, Bobbi feels a deep affinity for country and community, and uses her art to raise awareness of social justice issues. Bobbi was also announced as the 2021 NAIDOC Artist of the Year, with her art spanning an array of different mediums, including Aboriginal art, fine art paintings, photography, illustration and digital design. She believes that creativity and community go hand in hand and one would not exist without the other, so she loves being able to use her art as a force for good in the world.

This year, Bobbi’s beautiful designs will be seen across a great range of Winter Range products, such as:

Quilt Cover Sets

(Double Bed & Queen Bed)

Cushions

Throws Drink Bottles, Mugs and Photo Frames

We sat down with Bobbi to find out more about this range and how she feels to be featured in Woolworths!

Talk us through this design you have created for our Winter Range - what inspired you here and why did you choose this colour palette?

My artwork is inspired by beautiful bright colours and the ocean. I love the colours of the coral and the way the waves form patterns and all of that sort of comes together in my artwork.

I grew up in Port Hedland along the coast, so I spent all of my childhood at the beach and so this shines through my work.

The pieces included in this Woolworths collaboration are ocean-themed, with the pink design being about a journey of collecting seashells and all the little patterns in the seashells. The other one is a design of Yawuru country which is up near Broome and the beautiful saltwater up there.

How do you feel about seeing your designs on shelves?

I am super excited to see my products on the shelves, and I actually can’t wait to take my kids in and let them choose their water bottles for school. I know my children are really proud of me, and it will be really cool for them to see our stuff in Woolies because we’re at Woolies basically every other day anyway!

What would be your favourite piece in the range?

My favourite of the range would be the bed cover, I think these have turned out amazing, and I also really like the mug because I’m a bit of a mug collector myself, so I’m definitely going to be adding a couple to my collection!

We also asked Iain Dunn, Buyer for Manchester, about bringing this range to life in Woolworths.

It's been amazing working with Bobbi to see these ranges come from designs on a page, to the exciting physical range we have about to arrive. It's really exciting to land this range and its the result of a fantastic collaboration between Bobbi, the Sourcing and Designs teams in our Hong Kong Office, and the Buying team of Christiane Seeger, Dan Mannell, Lina Terlikar and myself. Not long to go now!

The Bobbi Lockyer First Nations will be available in stores from mid-April

Excellence in Joint Planning: Colgate Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive (Colgate) has been a key Trade Partner in the Household & Personal Care portfolio, partaking in the JCP (Joint Category Plan) process for the past five years. This year the collective decision was made to move to a JBP (Joint Business Plan). There was a mutual opportunity that was identified for better health outcomes for customers and building a more sustainable future together. The opportunity stretched across the entire Household & Personal Care portfolio and working in partnership allowed Colgate and Woolworths to unlock growth potential.

We sat down with Tim Sewell and George Moschou from Colgate-Palmolive, and Woolworths Category Manager for Oral Care, Hayden Sansom, to discuss their success with their JBP.

George explains, “One of our biggest

“One of our biggest opportunities is understanding both business's strengths and leveraging those strengths to achieve greatness.”

George Moschou Colgate-Palmolive

opportunities is understanding both business's strengths, and leveraging those strengths to achieve greatness. We’ve started to understand each other’s strengths to know how to amplify and impact the business's. Woolworths has significant reach in the Australian marketplace, from store locations to distribution points, which is a great strength to help us enable some of the outcomes we want to achieve from a Colgate business, primarily around health”.

Joint Planning is a key driver in building great relationships with our Trade Partners. There are three types of plans. Joint Business

A plan with all categories where a Trade Partner is ranged.

For example, Household and Personal Care.

A plan within a specific category or sub-category.

For example, Oral Care.

A lighter, less intensive plan that helps Trade Partners understand the role within their category, how they can grow and meet customers needs.

Reflecting on other opportunity areas within JBPs, Tim says, “If both our businesses are in sync with what's going on in the category, we are able to focus on growing that category through shared strategies and growth opportunities. This will then result in customer satisfaction, and help deliver stronger business outcomes.”

Woolworths Category Manager Hayden

Sansom explains that moving from a JCP to a JBP is a big opportunity for brands to expand beyond their categories. “It's the greater visibility to where total Colgate wants to head into the future, not only just for Oral Care but the other categories too.”

“The JBP process has opened up better sharing between the two businesses. Hayden is very open with sharing how he plans to grow the category from his side, which then feeds into our JBP. It's definitely become more collaborative, allowing for richer discussions and ultimately creating our category plans to be more impactful. The new approach has seen the Oral Care category grow faster than what it has over the last 10 years.”

Joint Business Planning is another way

Woolworths is making sure we are behaving like business partners, and ensuring that we are setting our Trade Partners up with success for the future. Tim reflects on this by saying, “The JBP process has opened up better sharing between the two businesses. Hayden is very open with sharing how he plans to grow the category from his side, which then feeds into our JBP. It's definitely become more collaborative, allowing for richer discussions and ultimately creating our category plans to be more impactful. The new approach has seen the Oral Care category grow faster than what it has over the last 10 years.”

When asked what success looks like for their JBP, Hayden says, “Executing what we said we’d execute and delivering on what we said we’d deliver on is what guarantees success and having fun while doing so”. Tim and George discuss how they have already noticed their success, saying “We’re seeing success when it is developed through joint partnership, future-focused category initiatives and when it is tracked frequently. We have also found great value in being action-oriented in our check-ins to put in place contingencies to achieve our shared goals.”

Colgate identified an opportunity to educate customers on how often they should change their toothbrushes. During the JBP monthly discussions with Hayden, Colgate presented a category initiative. In collaboration, both teams developed an omnichannel activation that stretched across merchandising,

“When partnering together, great things happen. It’s about breaking new ground and finding the ‘YES’.”

communicating on shelves, online and participating in the Bricks collectibles campaign.

Tim and George explain their JBP with Woolworths in one statement saying, “When partnering together, great things happen. It’s about breaking new ground and finding the ‘YES’.”

If you have any further questions about joint planning, please email the team at

jointcategoryplanning@woolworths.com.au

Responsible Sourcing training on our WFC Academy

Did you know that WFC Academy now has courses relating to Human Rights and Responsible Sourcing requirements?

Through our Responsible Sourcing Program, we seek to uphold respect for the human rights of all people connected with our business and operations, wherever they are in the supply chain. We expect our Trade Partners to do the same, and we know that isn’t always easy.

As part of our commitment to partnering on this journey we’re taking together, we’ve developed the following courses:

• An Introduction to Human Rights

• Labour Hire - What you need to know (Australia specific)

• Coming soon! - Grievance and Remedy

To log in or sign up for WFC Academy, please click here.

Additional guidance is available here.

Better Together - The Responsible Sourcing Asia Workshop

Thanks to all of those who attended our Asia Responsible Sourcing Workshops, including focus sessions with Sedex and BSCI. It was really great to have such a strong turnout and hear comments and feedback. We covered a number of topics including:

• An update of our program and strategy, including progress on our goals.

• Updates to the Human Rights section of the Woolworths Group website, including a new one page program overview.

• Practical remediation guidance, and a discussion on scheme specific issues such as which auditors are approved for Sedex audits.

• Woolworths Group's new Child Labour Prevention and Remediation protocol, including steps to ensure young workers' rights are respected.

It was wonderful to be able to showcase some of the great practices that we are seeing at some of our Asian Trade Partners sites, including the in-depth worker engagement program at Great Giant Pineapple. Thank you for sharing and inspiring us all with these impactful actions for workers, children and their communities.

We look forward to seeing you again soon. In the meantime please don’t hesitate to contact the team if you would like to receive a copy of the slide deck, or if you have any questions or comments related to the Responsible Sourcing program.

Asia:

responsiblesourcingasia@woolworths.com.au

Rest of world:

responsiblesourcing@woolworths.com.au

The Perfect Match

How

Lello Pasta built their unique brand with the support of Woolworths

When we became a Trade Partner at the start, it was so overwhelming - however, my partner Leo and I trusted each other to make this work. So, he makes the pasta, and I work on getting it out there, and here we are - that's the business plan! (laughs).”

Linda Gelsomino, Lello Pasta

Meet our 2022 Small Supplier of the Year:

Lello Pasta

Lello Pasta is a Melbourne-based pasta and pasta sauce supplier that won our 2022 Small Supplier of the Year award. After closing their restaurant due to COVID-19, their grit to continue delivering their unique pasta to customers nationwide was successful when Woolworths asked to stock their product on shelves. However, as a small Trade Partner who has had to learn and adapt to grow their business, it’s been a learning curve unlike no other. We spoke to founder Linda Gelsomino about how she and her partner Leo built Lello Pasta.

“When the restaurant closed, we asked ourselves, ‘What are we going to do?’ Leo was determined to carry the business on somehow, and I felt like we had to just try. When you lose a lot, the fear of trying something new is gone as you’ve already felt what loss is - you’re not as afraid. We had three months to leave our restaurant - during this time, Leo was making pasta which we were selling through an online store and boutique shops, and then one day, the phone call from Woolworths came that changed everything.”

This phone call was with Alex Simmonds, Category Manager for International Foods, and Serena Anson-Cope, our now Merchandise Manager for UP!. Originally

Woolworths just wanted to buy Lello’s pasta, but Linda and Leo knew that Lello Pasta had to be sold with their sauce.

“When you open our sauce, you just know this is good. We are consistent, and if it’s not perfect, we don’t package it. Alex took a chance on me and ranged my pasta sauces as well as our pasta, and now our sauces outperform our pasta! This wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t listened to me and believed in my product.”

We asked Linda about what it was like to begin as a Trade Partner from scratch.

“When we started this, I knew nothing about warehouse setup or Partner Hub, but I just learnt. I taught myself everythingbarcodes, packaging design, social media, accounts…you name it. Leo stayed focused on making the pasta, and I built our business by staying out of the weeds and continuing to build the brand.”

Lello Pasta has been growing from strength to strength, with every Woolworths store secured by Lello Pasta having a significant impact on how they can grow their business.

“We started at one store, then to five and then to ten…I was so grateful for every store as the more stores we signed, the more money we could save to invest back into the business and go to that next level.”

Linda also reflected on how Woolworths taught her how to be a strong and reliable Trade Partner, with a visit from a certain Woolworths senior leader leaving her with some very valuable direction.

“Paul Harker (Chief Commercial OfficerWoolworths and Metro) came to our new warehouse six months into working with

Founder, Leo Gelsomino

“Paul Harker (Chief Commercial Officer - Woolworths and Metro) came to our new warehouse six months into working with Woolworths. Knowing our potential, Paul gave me advice that I will never forget; ‘Make sure you can replenish’.”

This became my motto.

Woolworths. Knowing our potential, Paul gave me advice that I will never forget; ‘Make sure you can replenish’.”

This became my motto.

That next week I secured another 25 stores with Woolworths, allowing me to afford new pallet racking and larger pallet purchases of ingredients and new equipment so I could always keep up with customer demand.”

Lello Pasta continues to adapt and grow,

with their determined and hardworking attitude ensuring their continued success.

“We are Melbourne-made, Australian-made. Lello Pasta is a build from our restaurant offer that continues to provide our loyal customers with the premium pasta and pasta sauce they know and love. As well as this, now thanks to our range being exclusively stocked at Woolworths, we’re now able to introduce a whole new customer base nationwide to our unique offering."

This is a business that didn’t know where it was going to go, and I don't have a business degree, but I learnt. And there is nothing you can’t learn.”

You can learn more about Lello Pasta and their story here.

Understanding Multicultural Stores

Woolworths now has 392 Multicultural stores in some form, whether that may be Asian, Middle Eastern, South Asian, Kosher…the list goes on. It’s a fascinating space that has been expanding since 2019, and with Harmony Day in March, we thought we’d celebrate this fantastic work that aims to suit the needs of our diverse customer base. We sat down with Sahra O’Bryan, Multicultural Operations Lead to find out more.

Tell us about your work as our Multicultural Operations Lead!

My work is all-encompassing. Currently, I'm building the strategic roadmap for our Multicultural stores to understand what our Multicultural offering at Woolworths will look like in three to five years' time. We are doing this by looking at the population and density changes that have taken place in Australia. We’re leveraging various data points from the Category Development teams, the refreshed Australian census data, customer insights, and data from partners such as wiq and Quantium to inform our planning.

We want to stay ahead of the curve on this work, and we want to be sure we are bringing exciting ranges to our customers that are going to suit their needs.

How did the concept of Multicultural Stores start at Woolworths?

Concept stores started to be tested in 2019, with a great example being our Cabramatta, NSW store which started selling certain products to cater to their 60 to 70 per cent Asian and Vietnamese customer demographic. With fantastic results stemming from this, the program has continued to evolve over time.

How do you choose and expand on our multicultural ranges?

We work with the Category Development and Range Curation teams, as well as complete profiling and competitor gap analysis to see what’s out there in the marketplace, and observe what some specialists have that we don’t have.

In regards to our competitor gap analysis, it’s difficult to compete against an Asian supermarket due to the sheer size of their range. However, the opportunity here is making sure we are stocking the articles that matter most to these certain customers, so we can be a one-stop shop for them. Now we’re in the process of refining what products we have on shelves to be sure that whatever articles we have stocked in our aisles are the best and right ones.

How do we know what our customers need?

We gain such rich data from our sales through our Voice of Customer feedback, our listening sessions with customers, and our Multicultural Council here at Woolworths! We’ve also held multicultural listening sessions with our own diverse team members to help us inform our ambition of wanting to cater to as many customers as possible.

Tell us about the results gained from our Multicultural Store rollouts?

Stores that have rolled out a more authentic offer have fantastic results. We also see huge results through events, with the year-on-year growth around Lunar New Year, Ramadan and the Moon Festival growing exponentially, which is really exciting. This is certainly because of the expanded range we’re putting into stores, as well as our customers growing knowledge of these events and cuisines.

What is in the pipeline for our multicultural offer?

We are seeing that authentic Asian products have become quite mainstream among our customers, but it’s less so with some other demographics. In our work, we also want to broaden this scope and encourage our customers to try new things as well.

Our next focus is expanding our South Asian range because this demographic has overtaken our Chinese demographic from a population perspective, and we want to help cater to this. We are also focusing on expanding our Middle Eastern and Halal range to match our changing Australian population. Happy

Harmony Day

21 March, 2023

To celebrate Harmony Week, we hosted a World Food Sampling Expo at our support office in Sydney, featuring 12 of our multicultural Trade Partners. This was a chance to show products to team members who might not be living in an area that receives our authentic range. It was a brilliant opportunity to also celebrate the fantastic multicultural offering we provide to our customers in store.

Budgeting the basket

Around the world, consumers are changing their shopping behaviours to manage the cost of living, and value is a top priority. With 15 items in the average grocery basket, it’s never been more important for brands to stand out.

Value matters

With 68 per cent of customers saying they are spending more carefully compared to six months ago1, the importance of value has risen2. A recent survey of grocery buyers saw 43 per cent of customers claiming to buy products on special in response to rising food costs, and stocking up when products went on promotion3.

Strategic shopping saves

Cartology’s Nancy Veart says customers are also going online to help their budgets go further. “Online offers customers the opportunity to research and compare brands, products and prices before completing their purchase or shopping in-store.”

It’s about more than dollars and cents though, Nancy says. “While price perception is undeniably important, two thirds of value perception still comes from other factors such as freshness, health and sustainability.”

Customers are seeking value so brands must turn up to land a place in the basket"

Nancy Veart, General Manager, Cartology Client Partnerships and Sales.

Rewards and loyalty - they’re personal

Engagement with rewards programs brings even more value into the shopping experience. Customers are looking for personalised offers they can use now while earning rewards for later, with 30 per cent increasing their engagement with loyalty and rewards programs as a result of rising prices4.

Be seen on the customer journey

Walking with customers as they browse, discover and purchase is increasingly important in a downturn. It’s the brands that stand out from the crowd that will be top of mind and added to the basket.

Essity, Kimberly Clark, Kenvue, for getting behind our March us to address period poverty.

Caring for the community with Share the Dignity

We’re proud to partner with Share the Dignity to help care for the community and address period poverty.

Share

the Dignity is a women's charity working to make a real difference when people are doing it tough. When someone is homeless, fleeing domestic violence or financially insecure the last thing on their mind should be access to period products.

During our Dignity Drives each March and August, we invite our customers to purchase and donate period care products for Share the Dignity. The period care products collected in our stores are redistributed to 3,000 community groups all around Australia, including women’s refuges, charities, community centres and schools. Our collections help those in need to access period products regardless of their circumstances.

Woolworths also donates 5c from every period product sold during a Dignity Drive, and since 2019 we have donated more than $2.3 million to Share the Dignity for their community impact work.

To support the March Dignity Drive, Cartology collaborated with key period and continence brands to create a powerful omnichannel media campaign. Through media touchpoints across the full shopper journey, the Cartology campaign spoke to customers about this important social issue, and inspired them to make a difference by donating.

A life-changing moment

How a $500,000 grant will support Fat Goose Fruits

We’re partnering with conventional and organic fruit and vegetable growers to help grow or start a journey to organic farming.

Through the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund, we’re offering interestfree loans and grants, on top of contracted purchase volumes, to eligible Australian farmers.

Mostrecently Fat Goose Fruits, owned and operated by the Howie family, became a successful recipient of a $500,000 grant as part of the Woolworth Organic Growth Fund program. The grant will provide a kickstart towards the Howie’s plans to construct a new fruit packing shed and equip it with state-of-the-art grading equipment.

“Our packing shed has been a major bottleneck to our business and in recent years has been holding us back. It suited our needs 20 years ago but as we have expanded, diversified our crops and converted more of the property to organic, it just can’t keep up.

Located at Renmark, South Australia, Humphrey and Michelle, together with their son Laurence, produce an assortment of organically grown citrus fruit, as well as other fruit and nut varieties.

With an increasingly diverse mix of fruit crops, the Howie’s will invest their funds to build and fit out a new packing facility so they can keep up with current demand and allow future expansion according to Laurence Howie.

“We are so appreciative of the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund. It has given us confidence that there is demand for our organic produce and to keep investing in our farm and working towards more organically produced fruit,” Laurence said.

To fill out an expression of interest form for the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund, please click here.

You can also learn more about the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund and read about other family farms who have benefited from this program here.

Humphrey Howie and Michelle Medhurst, son Laurence Howie, grandson Charlie Howie and daughter in law Elise Howie.

Nuffield Scholarship applications now open

Nuffield Australia is the country’s leading agricultural scholarship organisation. It is a unique program that awards primary producers with a life-changing scholarship to travel and study an agricultural topic of choice.

For over 70 years, Nuffield has built capacity for individual producers, their businesses, and the wider agricultural industry. Scholars are committed and passionate about farming. They are at the leading edge of technology adoption and are potential future industry leaders.

Woolworths supports Nuffield by sponsoring a scholarship and encourages all Trade Partners to share the opportunity with their network to identify interested individuals seeking to progress their understanding of agriculture and while contributing to the profitability and sustainability of their industry.

Plain English Allergen Labelling

On the 25th February 2024, Plain English Allergen Labelling (otherwise known as ‘PEAL') will come into force under the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code.

The new requirements for allergen labelling will help people find allergen information on food labels more quickly and easily, allowing them to make safe food choices. The new requirements for allergen labelling include:

• the mandatory declaration of the presence of 13 substances in food which can cause severe allergic and other reactions,

• allergen information is to be declared in a specific format and location on food labels, and

• allergen information is declared using simple, Plain English Allergen Labelling (‘PEAL’) terms in bold font

There is just under one year left for businesses to transition to the new regulation, with the transition period ending on 25 February 2024.

A post-transition period of 2 years will commence on the 26 February 2024 for foods that are packaged and labelled before 25 February 2024 (i.e. up until 25 February 2026).

Further information and resources on the regulation change can be found on FSANZ website.

Stone Fruit Season

A favourite for both our Customers and Team alike, stone fruit is one of the key summer fruit heroes and Iconic summer fruit.

Stone

Fruit season is a favourite for both our Customers and Team alike, with the fruit being one of the key summer fruit heroes and iconic summer fruit.

Stone Fruit had a tough start this season; due to adverse weather conditions in all growing regions – rainy weather and cold nights delayed fruit maturity and flavour, but once the weather improved in December, it changed the season’s direction.

Stone fruits were in abundance during January and February this year, and this was showcased in stores with large and exciting displays of Peaches and Nectarines nationwide. The abundance of fruit underpinned a great quality offering for Customers with a competitive value offer during an inflationary period.

Due to this abundance, we then partnered with our marketing team to further highlight these great offers to our customers.

Records were broken!

During January, we saw an uplift on stone fruits of 2.6% vs LY. The strong result continued throughout February, where sales were up 13.8% vs LY.

This is a huge result that could only be achieved by working end-to-end with our Suppliers, Teams and Partnerships across the ecosystem.

To cap it off, the results were reflected in the January Market Share result; 31.5% +240bps vs LY and customer penetration in January was up 5.3% vs PP. This was overall a great stone fruit season despite a bumpy start!

Keep an eye out in stores in the coming weeks for great quality Plums which will be available until May.

+13.8% vs LY

February

Great stone fruit season despite a bumpy start!

Sustainability update

15c plastic bag phase out

This March, we phased out our 15-cent reusable plastic shopping bags from checkouts in Queensland & ACT, in a move that will see more than 1,600 tonnes of plastic removed from circulation annually across both locations.

The bags were previously phased out in South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia last year and will be removed in all remaining states in the coming months, with online bags to follow later in 2023.

We are also refreshing our range of stylish and affordable reusable bags to support customers who bring their own bags, and will continue to offer our paper bags as the convenience choice for customers who forgot their bags.

8 in 10 customers are already bringing their own bags when they shop.

Soft plastics recycling update

In early March, the Soft Plastics Taskforce released a Roadmap to Restart, outlining the steps to launch a new in-store soft plastic collection scheme. From late 2023, the Taskforce will take a staged approach to the recommencement of collection by geographic area, aligning collection volumes with viable local reprocessing capacity.

Woolworths Group is considering any potential impact of the current unavailability of the instore soft plastics recycling program on our sustainability goals. Our ambition remains to make our own brand packaging widely recyclable, reusable or compostable, and we are working through soft plastics recycling solutions.

Bega Launches rPET Packaging for Bottles

Fromlate March at the Wetherill Park manufacturing site in Sydney Bega Drinks will be moving away from HDPE to rPET packaging (bottles) for all Bega drinks less than 999ml including Dare and Big M.

The purpose of the change in bottles towards rPET bottles is to move towards a more sustainable way of doing business (and it looks great!). PET is the most recycled plastic in the world.

Bega will be rolling out rPET for all our <999ml Flav Milk articles nationally by the middle of the year with Wetherill Park being the first manufacturing site going live in late March.

PARTNER HUB

Recent Supplier Experience Improvements

Changes have been made to the landing page with clear call to actions so you can navigate quickly to your intended destination in Partner Hub.

Filter function has been improved and anchor links have been introduced from case hover.

The product submission process has been enhanced by allowing more product information to be inputted.

Instore Sampling Update

Instore Sampling Returns

Instore sampling has seen a huge return, with customers excited to sample all the great products available in our Woolworths stores. See below for a few important updates from the Instore sampling team:

Nut Policy Update

There’s been an update on the current Nut Policy. For any products that contain peanuts, unfortunately sampling is not permitted. For any products that contain tree nuts and/or sesame seeds, a PIF (Product Information Form) must be provided for sampling approval prior to the commencement of any sampling in stores.

Reach out to the Instore Sampling Team with any questions, at instoresampling@woolworths.com.au.

Roaming Sampling Returns

We’re excited to announce that roaming sampling is now back! Roaming sampling is the perfect way to sample and educate customers about your products in a quick and easy way.

Partner with the Woolworths Instore Sampling team

We’re here to make your instore sampling experience easier and enjoyable. To learn more on how the Instore Sampling team can help our Trade Partners, check out the video.

Updated Woolworths Group Supply Standards

Our Woolworths Group Supply Standards have been updated to better align with Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) in relation to industry standards and to include BIG W requirements. The updated document has been rebranded to Primary Connect branding and provides more comprehensive information for our Trade Partners, helping to ensure that we receive the highest quality products.

AFGC Industry Collaboration

To access our most up-to-date version visit woolworths.my/supplystandards

In partnership with the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), Woolworths are continuing to work on how we can better align with our Trade Partners on industry supply standards. This is to ensure that we are providing increased ease of delivery for all partners whilst maintaining a high level of delivery compliance and efficiency.

The AFGC are working on a series of Quick Reference Guides and support material to increase the awareness of Supply Standards across our industry.

Tuesday, 4 April 2023 | 10.30am - 11.45am AEST

VIRTUAL EVENT

Last chance to register to our Supplier Sustainability Council Showcase Register now ›

We invite all Trade Partners to attend our second Supplier Sustainability Council Showcase to share ideas, inspire best practice and celebrate success among our suppliers.

This session will help you learn how you can make an impact in the key sustainability ares of Packaging & Recycling and Healthier Choices.

Join us to:

• Understand our shared priority ares for Packaging & Recycling and Healthier Choices

• Hear customer insights aligned to these areas

• See real-life case studies from our suppliers who are making changes in these areas

Summer Trade Show

Our Trade Show will be back again this year to focus on the key selling events Christmas and Summer.

Investing in this event provides you with a unique opportunity. By engaging our Store Managers with a great product experience and information on how to help them sell more this Summer you will be setting your brand up for success during this key selling period.

All Store Managers and the Store Operations Team will be in attendance, plus live streaming to Store Department Managers.

10 & 11 October 2023

Sydney Showgrounds

Set your brand up for great Summer selling!

Dates to remember Share

Tuesday 4 April

Supplier Sustainability Council Showcase

Wednesday 10 May 9:00am–12:00pm

Grocery Food Trade Partner Update

1:30–3:00pm

Everyday Needs Trade Partner Update

Tuesday 16 May 9:00 am–10:30am

Chilled, Bakery and Deli Trade Partner Update

12:30pm–3:30pm

Meat, Seafood and Poultry Trade Partner Update

Tuesday 27 June

Mid-Year Trade Partner Update

Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 October

Summer Trade Show

We hope you enjoyed the first edition of Curated and encourage you to let us know what you’d like to see in future editions.

Woolworths values any feedback

Should you have any concerns in your day-to-day dealings with our Commercial team please reach out to us.

Trade Relations traderelations@woolworths.com.au

Paul Harker pharker@woolworths.com.au

Natalie Davis ndavis@woolworths.com.au

Code Arbiter Helen McKenzie codearbiter@wwgrocerycode.com.au