Grocery wars: chain reaction

s the grocery war intensifies, Canberra already has the nation's greatest floor space for supermarkets per capita.

One reason for that is the gargantuan Woolworths at the airport, the largest supermarket in Australia when it was built. The huge Coles at Gungahlin had the same status in that chain. And more supermarkets are to be built - two more at Dickson, with that restaurant precinct set to become a pivotal centre of growth as the light rail is built nearby, linking Civic to Gungahlin.

The explosion of supermarkets is partly due to the ACT government's policy, adopted about five years ago, to provide more competition by breaking monopolies at suburban centres. In what might be called positive discrimination, sites were allocated for Aldi and Supabarn.

In the larger town centres, shoppers had plenty of choice and still have; in the suburban centres, not so much.

Questions are being asked about what impact the expansion policy has on Civic or, more urgently, minimarts and small shops in surrounding suburbs. And the continual expansion of the supermarket giants will have major implications for the future viability of the smaller chains - IGA and home-grown Supabarn - which so far have risen to the challenge.

It also poses further critical questions, such as - have the big two become too big and, consequently, are they now the bullies of the checkouts?

While all this is happening, the supermarket industry is undergoing a paradigm shift into online shopping, following the trend elsewhere in retailing. Another trend is for Canberra shoppers to shop more often, for less - treating the supermarket as their pantry - and preferring the convenience of going through the do-it-yourself scanners, as they rush home to prepare dinner.

But shoppers are also becoming more frugal, according to Gary Dawson, chief executive of the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

''Cost of living pressures over the last few years and lower consumer confidence, combined with greater uncertainty, has contributed to a trend towards consumers becoming more frugal so they are constantly on the hunt for bargains,'' he says.

Canberra's situation is particularly gloomy, with job cuts in the federal public service blamed for the territory's overall retail sector being the worst performing in the nation.

While the ACT government's supermarket policy is driving competition, to provide greater choice and lower prices for consumers, it has failed to slow the intense battle between Woolworths and Coles for market share.

When the expansion policy was introduced, Woolworths had twice the market share in Canberra of Coles. The deliberate introduction of Aldi - by providing land specifically for that chain - has changed shopping habits and the chain will open new stores in Kingston and Dickson.

Supabarn took up opportunities to move into more northside sites. Costco moved into the airport and that store is said to be one of the chain's most profitable. IKEA cited Costco's success when it announced it would open in Canberra as well. So, is the government-inspired competition working, driving all supermarkets to compete with discounts? Do we already have too many supermarkets in Canberra?

''I think the short answer is probably not,'' former Planning Institute of Australia ACT division president Hamish Sinclair says.

''In any business line there is a saturation point but I think both of the leading brands have been innovators in the marketplace and have expanded into areas that support what they're doing.''

He recalls, for example, the era when a service station just sold petrol, not bread, milk, newspapers and pies. ''It seems, from a planning perspective that they innovate regularly so they are always on the leading edge of design but also changes in the market space,'' Sinclair says.

Dickson is a microcosm of the battle of the grocery giants. The tired, wind-swept centre will be restyled and redeveloped, with a Coles and an Aldi to be built on the current car park outside the Woolies. The short term impact on parking could be a shocker, although the ACT government will open other areas as temporary car parks.

Clearly the vast areas devoted in supermarkets to fresh food, meat and bread will slam small traders.

At the Go Bananas fruit shop in Dickson, Khaled Ajaj is aware the end for his business could be nigh.

''The supermarkets are no good for small business, it will kill off small business, it's no good for Dickson,'' he says. ''If they open another two supermarkets here, for sure I will close.''

During his nine years in the shop, he has seen business decline as the Gungahlin town centre opened. He has noticed a further downturn this year, probably due to the public service cuts. ''People are not spending,'' he says.

ACT Treasurer Andrew Barr is pleased with the higher intensity of competition, as shoppers become winners.

''Back more than five years ago there was certainly concern expressed about the need to introduce more competition into the supermarket business here in the ACT,'' he says. ''The market was dominated by the two main players so the government took a decision at that time to release more sites for new supermarkets to increase competition and meet some of the pent-up demand for additional retail space.

''We sought at that time to bring in some new players so that involved Aldi and Costco being the new entrants. When Costco decided to take up the opportunity at the airport, that was a welcome addition to competition.

''The ACT government also released a number of sites to facilitate a network of Aldi stores and then also made some commitments around land release that came with a precommitment for Supabarn to be the supermarket tenants in some redevelopments.

''The evidence shows where a full-line operator has an Aldi in close proximity, there's much more competition and prices are more reasonable as a result.

''I think the market response from Canberra households to support this increased competition reflects well upon the decision to release those extra blocks of land.

''In recent times The Canberra Times reported upon a bit of an underground movement calling for a supermarket in Braddon.''

In Canberra, it seems, you can never have too many coffee shops, but what does Barr say about over-supply in supermarkets?

''We certainly need to be conscious of that,'' he says, adding that new leases for supermarkets are linked to population growth.

With Canberra's economy being hurt by cuts to the federal public service, Barr acknowledges he can't guarantee the viability of all supermarket operators.

However, residents moving into new areas such as Molongo can be assured they will have competition among supermarkets, and not have to live with the stranglehold of one supermarket, so obvious in previous years in some suburban centres.

Barr is also happy with the enthusiasm shown for farmers' markets, introduced to heat up competition, particularly with fresh food.

The big two compete aggressively with their nearby traders, selling a wide range of items, from milk to mobile phones, and opening huge expanses of fresh food counters, to encourage a massive once-a-week grocery shop.

Mike Hettinger, chairman of the North Canberra Community Council, says the effects of the development at Dickson will be mixed, but he welcomes competition for Woolworths.

''For businesses nearby, it will probably be good for them with more people coming into the centre but that in turn means less spent on some of the other, more local shopping areas,'' he says. ''Most shoppers have a bucket of money and it's a constant bucket of money so the more that gets spent in the Dickson area, the less gets spent elsewhere in shops closer to people, so potentially you are looking at a drop for those areas.''

The Australian Food and Grocery Council's Dawson says the strong competition among supermarkets over recent years is putting intense pressure on suppliers.

''For the last three or four years we have seen Coles focus on improving their foot traffic and profitability from the existing stores through refurbishment and initiatives to drive greater foot traffic, against Woolworths continuing to roll out new stores,'' he says. ''We're just starting to see a change in that with Coles and Aldi rolling out new stores so there's going to be considerable growth in supermarket retailing space as a result.

''What often happens in those circumstances is there is a risk of an overshoot, prompting a correction at some point in the future. We have certainly seen a correction in the UK where the amount of supermarket retail space per capita grew over a number of years and reached the point where most of the major supermarkets in the UK are now struggling to maintain their profitability. There is a resurgence in smaller format stores as they try to find a way to continue growth.''

Dawson says the big drivers for consumers remain taste, price and convenience.

''On the convenience front, consumers are shopping more often and their basket size is smaller so they are treating the supermarket almost as a pantry and making more trips and getting fewer items per trip,'' he says. ''So the convenience around parking and speed through checkouts is becoming more important.

''That has implications not only for the majors but also for the smaller neighbourhood supermarkets that fill that convenience more readily, both because they're closer to where you live and often it's quicker to get in and out.''

In an extraordinary development, Canberra's grocery war has even reached the High Court. An alliance of northside businesses, which includes local IGA grocery stores backed by Supabarn, has won special leave to challenge the redevelopment of the Giralang shops.

The shops have stood derelict since the supermarket closed in 2004. The legal battle began after Planning Minister Simon Corbell used his call-in powers to approve a 1500-square-metre Woolworths supermarket, retail outlets, a cafe, restaurants and car parks.

The ACT Supreme Court and then the Court of Appeal rejected the legal appeal by the northside retailers who said the development was not consistent with the Territory Plan because it was too large, would create traffic problems and failed to take into account the economic impact on other commercially viable centres.

The retailers took the case to the High Court and were granted special leave in May for the challenge which will be heard in coming months. So competition is good, but only in moderation, it seems, especially if you are a smaller store struggling against the blizzard of advertising from the big two.

In recent days the market leaders have made the news, again, but for the wrong reasons.

This week Coles admitted to warning suppliers it would refuse to stock new products and would withhold information on sales forecasts unless they agreed to pay extra rebates to participate in a new supply chain program.

But Coles rejected allegations by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that it contravened Australian Consumer Law by acting unconscionably, using misleading information and applying undue influence to force suppliers to sign up.

Coles also rejected allegations that suppliers were threatened or had sanctions imposed if they did not participate in the program.

Greens consumer affairs spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson said: ''The bullying of producers and suppliers by the supermarket duopoly has to stop … We need a mandatory supermarket code of conduct and we need it now.''

Also this week, Master Grocers Australia said the major chains had been carving up Australia town by town using an aggressive strategy to buy up sites and drive smaller operators out of business.

''This oppressive strategy which we call 'predatory capacity' is sucking money out of local economies and is having a devastating human impact on small business owners and local communities,'' chief executive Jos de Bruin said.