Woolworths Supermarkets

Woolworths, Balcatta, Western Australia, 2023.

Woolworths Supermarkets (colloquially known in Australia as Woolies and more recently as Wokeworths) is an Australian chain of supermarkets and grocery stores owned by Woolworths Group. Founded in 1924, Woolworths today is Australia's biggest supermarket chain with a market share of 33% as of 2019.

Woolworths specialises in groceries (vegetables, fruit, meat, packaged foods, etc.), but also sells magazines, DVDs, health and beauty products, household products, pet and baby supplies, and stationery. As at June 2023, there were 995 Woolworths supermarkets and 90 Woolworths Metro convenience stores. Woolworths Online (formerly HomeShop) is a click and collect, and home delivery service for Woolworths supermarkets.

Controversies

Special Person's Day

In 2017 Australian academic Dr Red Ruby Scarlet proposed replacing Father's Day with Special Person's Day. Scarlet's proposal was met with widespread mockery among the Australian population. Woolworths briefly produced cakes for Special Person's Day.

Wages

In 2019, Woolworths admitted to having underpaid its employees by millions of dollars.

Spam

In July 2020, Woolworths were found guilty of breaching spam laws in excess of 5 million times and failing to unsubscribe customers from their mailing lists when requested to do so. The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) found Woolworths had unlawfully spammed more than a million customers between October 2018 and July 2019. The supermarket was found to have repeatedly ignored consumers who had tried to prevent receipt of marketing emails and had not attempted to improve, despite the AMCA notifying the company that they had received customer complaints. The company was fined $1,003,800.

ACMA chairman Nerida O'Loughlin said of the violation:

"The spam rules have been in place for 17 years and Woolworths is a large and sophisticated organisation. The scale and prolonged nature of the non-compliance is inexcusable."

Store Conversions

In 2023, Woolworths came under scrutiny for converting some of its full-size stores into the smaller Woolworths Metro format stores. Woolworths Metro stores typically stock a lesser range of products and have a different pricing structure than the full format stores. In August 2023, residents in Alexandria protested the planned conversion of their local Woolworths to a Woolworths Metro. A petition, promoted by local community groups, gathered over 1600 signatures, with support from the City of Sydney mayor, Clover Moore. Despite the community feedback, Woolworths pushed through with the Metro conversion.

Gingerbread People

In November 2023 it was reported that Woolworths was now selling gingerbread people rather than gingerbread men.

Australia Day

On 10 January 2024, Woolworths Group announced that Woolworths supermarkets and Big W would no longer be stocking Australia Day-themed merchandise, citing declining demand and the broader discussion about the national holiday. The decision caused some controversy, with Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton calling for a boycott for its decision and vandalism to two stores in Brisbane.

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