Lady Lunchalot

I was recently talking to marketing guru Stu, who told me some disturbing news about supermarket branded products, such as the You’ll Love Coles range.

Stu explained what had happened in the large UK supermarkets over the past few years when the big supermarket chains over there started initiating their own house brands at low prices.

It seems that the large supermarkets can offer these products at a very low price for a year or so, which is long enough to put major pressure on smaller labels and close many of them down. I mean, let’s face it, when the average mum on a budget is faced with a bag of frozen house branded peas at 99 cents, or Farmer Joe’s frozen peas at $2.50, she’s going to choose the house brand. Farmer Joe can’t stand the loss of business for very long, and before you know it his peas have disappeared from the shelves, along with a few other brands.

Next, we see the price of house branded peas creep up from 99 cents to $1.50, then to $2.00. Before we know it, the supermarket brand has a monopoly on the peas you can buy, and can charge a higher price for them. Farmer Joe’s brand isn’t around anymore, so we can’t turn back to them. There’s really no choice other than to buy the supermarket brand and pay the price the supermarket asks.

So much for competition.

When you multiply this across all the products you buy in your weekly grocery shop, it’s a bit scary. House branded products are everywhere - laundry detergent, honey, butter, breakfast cereal. You’ll Love Coles tinned tomatoes are made in Italy. What about all our Australian tomato farmers who produce a great product and supply jobs here?

It’s important to think about factors other than just price when you’re in the supermarket, because the food you buy today can impact on the food you will be able to buy tomorrow. I know this is hard for some people who are stretching the grocery budget as it is, but I see it as safeguarding my rights as a consumer and a food lover.

Stu’s little lesson really opened my eyes as to how our everyday purchasing choices have an impact on a whole economy. So next time you’re in the supermarket, I urge you to think about whether saving a few cents now is worth having no choice but to shop in a monopolised grocery market later on.

Stu and I aren’t the only ones talking about this. You can read more about it in a Sydney Morning Herald article, Choices fade as Coles Stacks Shelves.
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