Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

WOW - Woolworths Group

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Had my first real shopping at Woolies in ages.
For convenience of locations, we had switched to Coles a couple of years ago.
What a shock..over priced and unpleasant.
We will try again in a different store but already thinking of replacing my wow shares with Coles
 
qldfrog said:
Had my first real shopping at Woolies in ages.
For convenience of locations, we had switched to Coles a couple of years ago.
What a shock..over priced and unpleasant.
We will try again in a different store but already thinking of replacing my wow shares with Coles
Click to expand...
Long ago I used to much prefer Safeway (what Woolworths was branded as in Victoria until about 20 years ago). Then for many years there didn't seem to be much difference. I perhaps have a mild preference for Coles these days, but there's not much in it. I'm surprised to hear your perception was not just a trivial difference, but such a difference that you would be in shock! What differences bothered you?

I'll be visiting Australia next week and I'm sure either one will shock me after the inflation while I've been away. For health reasons I've been planning to do a three day fast and I figured I'd time that to coincide with my Australia visit!
 
Sdajii said:
Long ago I used to much prefer Safeway (what Woolworths was branded as in Victoria until about 20 years ago). Then for many years there didn't seem to be much difference. I perhaps have a mild preference for Coles these days, but there's not much in it. I'm surprised to hear your perception was not just a trivial difference, but such a difference that you would be in shock! What differences bothered you?

I'll be visiting Australia next week and I'm sure either one will shock me after the inflation while I've been away. For health reasons I've been planning to do a three day fast and I figured I'd time that to coincide with my Australia visit!
Click to expand...
i hold both WOW and COL ( with no cash risk in either )

have visited a few different WOW stores ( in QLD and not always in the greater Brisbane area ) COL just seems to be better on most things , aisles not clogged up as much with special promotions , the trolleys less inclined to do hard U-turns maybe it is just the time i visit but less congestion in the aisles

and if WOW goes the way of cashless checkouts ( like they did with the last BIG W i visited ) well there are other grocers to visit ( even if i don't hold shares in them )

i could go on a whole rant about one store ( always been a very large suburban store ) i grew up near but that seems to be more disorganized than others i have visited
 
divs4ever said:
i hold both WOW and COL ( with no cash risk in either )

have visited a few different WOW stores ( in QLD and not always in the greater Brisbane area ) COL just seems to be better on most things , aisles not clogged up as much with special promotions , the trolleys less inclined to do hard U-turns maybe it is just the time i visit but less congestion in the aisles

and if WOW goes the way of cashless checkouts ( like they did with the last BIG W i visited ) well there are other grocers to visit ( even if i don't hold shares in them )

i could go on a whole rant about one store ( always been a very large suburban store ) i grew up near but that seems to be more disorganized than others i have visited
Click to expand...
I rarely use trolleys, I generally just use a basket. Actually, I generally walk to the supermarket (there's generally a supermarket within 5km of wherever I'm staying). Surprised if there's a consistent difference in trolley quality.

If your biggest complaint is being 'clogged up with special promotions', it doesn't seem there's actually much difference.

Everywhere I've seen for quite some years has had both self and assisted checkouts. Self checkouts are a funny one. By my very rough calculation, as long as the average shopper using them shoplifts less than about $2 per transaction, the company comes out in front. I'd love to know what the average actually is. I'd prefer to see the company put that money towards paying staff and taxes rather than supporting shoplifters, but it is what it is.
 
Sdajii said:
Long ago I used to much prefer Safeway (what Woolworths was branded as in Victoria until about 20 years ago). Then for many years there didn't seem to be much difference. I perhaps have a mild preference for Coles these days, but there's not much in it. I'm surprised to hear your perception was not just a trivial difference, but such a difference that you would be in shock! What differences bothered you?

I'll be visiting Australia next week and I'm sure either one will shock me after the inflation while I've been away. For health reasons I've been planning to do a three day fast and I figured I'd time that to coincide with my Australia visit!
Click to expand...
Prices..i would say 20/30 % more on my baskets, narrow aisles, shitty e-labels you can not see on an angle,cashier, space decorations And light with too narrow width of aisles not to talk about checkout
It nearly felt like shopping on the other side of the iron curtain when i did it.
And lower economics of the customers, surprising considering price tags..but maybe they are easier to rob at the self checkouts
 
qldfrog said:
Prices..i would say 20/30 % more on my baskets, narrow aisles, shitty e-labels you can not see on an angle,cashier, space decorations And light with too narrow width of aisles not to talk about checkout
It nearly felt like shopping on the other side of the iron curtain when i did it.
And lower economics of the customers, surprising considering price tags..but maybe they are easier to rob at the self checkouts
Click to expand...
Go to Aldi, puts coles and woolworths to shame
 
up here WOW and COL opposite ends of the same centre while Aldi and IGA have their own separate locations , which is sometimes a good thing ( like when you are towing a trailer/van or just don't want a 5 minute obstacle course to find a parking spot )
 
qldfrog said:
Prices..i would say 20/30 % more on my baskets, narrow aisles, shitty e-labels you can not see on an angle,cashier, space decorations And light with too narrow width of aisles not to talk about checkout
It nearly felt like shopping on the other side of the iron curtain when i did it.
And lower economics of the customers, surprising considering price tags..but maybe they are easier to rob at the self checkouts
Click to expand...

Holy cow. I'm not sure if things are radically different up in QLD or if you just have a very poor Woolworths branch. 20-30% difference in price on average is difficult to imagine - I find most prices are identical or only marginally different. Coles used to do much better price reductions on stock close to expiry date, but since the cost of living went silly (shutting down the economy and giving everyone free money and spending money on 'free' injections which caused various health issues... gee... who could have seen it causing inflation right from the start and posted about it on ASF?) it seems that many people are desperate enough to buy things as soon as they're at a trivial discount (not sure why you'd buy old food at a barely reduced price, but there it is).

It's definitely true in many cases that poor people go to places with higher prices. Some of the smaller supermarket chains market themselves as being for the battler, and put money into making their stores look cheap, but their prices are higher. Buyer psychology is bizarre - a lot of people just look at how cheap or expensive the place looks and go there accordingly, without even looking at prices.

I find Aldi to have marginally cheaper prices and more than marginally lower quality. They've sometimes had a few specific products I've liked, but they were discontinued, increased in price or had the quality reduced, and I rarely bother these days. I'll check everything out when I'm back in Australia next week to see what has changed in the last six months though... already bracing myself for the horror of paying 5-10x the price for everything.
 
A 40c ff special dividend from sale of 5% of Endeavour Group (EDV)

Brad Banducci says goodbye. Politically heavied at those parliamentary enquiries into food costs. Scapegoated for inflationary and interest cost effects of government's own policies. I think they threatened him with jail didn't they? Did a great job for WOW in my casual opinion. Being replaced by a woman, there's a surprise - not. Look for WOW going more DEI and woke maybe.

Held
Holding

Screenshot_20240828_142655_Samsung Notes.jpg
 
finicky said:
A 40c ff special dividend from sale of 5% of Endeavour Group (EDV)

Brad Banducci says goodbye. Politically heavied at those parliamentary enquiries into food costs. Scapegoated for inflationary and interest cost effects of government's own policies. I think they threatened him with jail didn't they? Did a great job for WOW in my casual opinion. Being replaced by a woman, there's a surprise - not. Look for WOW going more DEI and woke maybe.

Held
Holding

View attachment 183298
Click to expand...
i have been underwhelmed here for years

i hold but basically less than 5% of the inherited holding ( basically half the DRP shares earned over the last 12 years )



i held tight for a while but it was obvious some decisions weren't very smart , so started reducing , and reducing , and reducing

PS i also offloaded the bonus EDV shares @ $6.90 and and the rest @ $5.52 ( after buying some @ $5.18 )

have seriously thought of opting out of the DRP as well several times , maybe i will wait until after the new payment date this time

who would have thought 40 years back APE would be a better share than WOW ( when my relative bought both ) the lessons in investing
 
finicky said:
A 40c ff special dividend from sale of 5% of Endeavour Group (EDV)

Brad Banducci says goodbye. Politically heavied at those parliamentary enquiries into food costs. Scapegoated for inflationary and interest cost effects of government's own policies. I think they threatened him with jail didn't they? Did a great job for WOW in my casual opinion. Being replaced by a woman, there's a surprise - not. Look for WOW going more DEI and woke maybe.

Held
Holding

View attachment 183298
Click to expand...
I sold out a while back, I think you are right about Banducci, scapegoats are in season at the moment.
 
houtman said:
WOW and Coles in the news, again for the wrong reasons.

From today's WOW announcement.

MEDIA RELEASE
23 September 2024
ACCC takes Woolworths and Coles to court over alleged misleading ‘Prices
Dropped’ and ‘Down Down’ claims
Click to expand...
liable to be a nothing-burger ( or trivial fine )

this is a result of the ALP trying to look tough

at worst the Government looking for some stealth-tax revenue

the food chains have faced this several times over the decades ( and still crush the minnows despite the ACCC's attempt to create competition )

i hold WOW ( 'free-carried ' seriously sold down due to previous disappointments ) and COL ( courtesy of the WES spin-off )
 

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