Biggest Australian department store may open sourcing office in Thailand

[chooka]

A good move for Woolies in light of the fact CP (Charoen Pokphand Group) also intends to capture more of the Australian market. It is also predicted that more discount type supermarkets are likely to open in Australia due to the ongoing success of discount supermarket chain ALDI.  Could it be that “makro” (CP All Plc owed ) is also next to open in Australia too in light of Woolworths moving up to be closer to the front line of sourcing?

I believe Macro foods is already under the woolworths umbrella in Australia and C.P own some of the largest prawn, pig and poultry farms in the country supplying Woolworths

[chooka]

I remember Woolworth's store in My home town in England. It was next door to Marks and Spencers store. During the second world war. Woolies used to get a batch of ice cream in periodically and to me it was marvelous.I remember too that it had a three penny and six penny sign outside. I heard there is no Woolies in England now. 

 

 

Woolworths Ltd in Australia has no connection with the F.W. Woolworth Company in the United States, nor the Woolworths Group of UK.

The new Woolworths store was innovative; it was the first variety store in the world to use cash registers that print receipts for customers.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Limited

[Old Croc]

Australian supermarkets have been sourcing from Thailand for years.
There are laws in place there about labelling product origins.
For example Thai, pond grown, prawns are readily available for 2/3s of the price of Australian caught ones. I never bought them when in Australia, but unfortunately have to now I live here!

Woollies is a very big retail company (19th in the world) with tentacles in many different products. They own Caltex fuel outlets near their stores for promotional purposes, The ALH group of hotels which make them a major player in poker machine gambling, they have Dick Smith electronics, and in the liquor industry own BWS, Cellarmasters, Dan Murphy's, Langton's, and their own brand in their stores.
They are expanding into hardware with "Masters" to compete against the Wesfarmers/Coles/Bunnings monopoly

As a major player in retail they would have much money to source Thai exports.
However, pity us all if they decide to open outlets here.

[Eric Loh]

Woolworths not sourcing internal, Ford and Toyota stopping production, China boom over for hard commodities; what is going on with the Australian economy? Case of overheated economy? or just that the government have never been business friendly.

[Spoonman]

Woolworths not sourcing internal, Ford and Toyota stopping production, China boom over for hard commodities; what is going on with the Australian economy? Case of overheated economy? or just that the government have never been business friendly.

 

Woolworths have been sourcing out of country for many many many years already. for the stuff they do source internally they screw the supplier until the point they collapse in financial ruin.

 

Them and coles hold a duopoly on the supermarket industry in OZ and are basically above the law.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Spoonman

[RigPig]

This is good news for Thailand, it will increase their exports to Europe via Austria.

 

Here´s a clue.....

 

AUSTRALIA

AUSTRIA

 

NOT same same, different, a looooong way from Europe........

[noitom]

Woolworth's should be ashamed to announce the planned import of Thai fisheries products. Thais will now have a buyer for that rotten vermin ridden rice that was found in warehouses.

[kamahele]

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alt=whistling.gif>  I didn't know Woolworths was Australian.

I can remember going into Woolworths in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the U.S. in the late 1950's when I was only 10 years old. (1956, 1957)

I always though of it as a U.S. company.

Believe it is out of business now in the U.S. for some years.

But read the headline ..... they say the will open a "sourcing office"  NOT a store.

As I read it that means they will be purchasing supplies in Thailand not selling products?

I once bought canned Tuna in a French owned supermarket chain store in Greece which was clearly labeled (in English) as having been packed in Thailand.

So it goes.

 

 

 

Both.  There is an American Woolworths and the Australian two totally separate identities.

 

Woolworths Limited was founded in September of 1924, originally under the name "Wallworths Bazzaar Ltd", a play on the internationally renown F. W. Woolworth name. After discovering the name had not been registered in Australia, and Woolworths had no plans for overseas expansion, the company became "Woolworths Limited" on 22 September 1924

 

The American Woolworth's five and dime is long gone. Finally went belly up in the 80's I think.

[Thai at Heart]

I guess there wouldn't be any excuse for these sourcing guys to get right to the bottom.of the supply chain then to see that labour and human rights aren't being broken.

This office is as much about CSR as buying stuff, I reckon.

[simple1]

 

This is good news for Thailand, it will increase their exports to Europe via Austria.

 

Here´s a clue.....

 

AUSTRALIA

AUSTRIA

 

NOT same same, different, a looooong way from Europe........

 

 

Lost your sense of humour?

[Prbkk]

Woolworth's should be ashamed to announce the planned import of Thai fisheries products. Thais will now have a buyer for that rotten vermin ridden rice that was found in warehouses.

Yes, it's odd, particularly in the context of the fact that Woolworths is discounting Thai tuna like there's no tomorrow.

[Paulzed]

Woolworths not sourcing internal, Ford and Toyota stopping production, China boom over for hard commodities; what is going on with the Australian economy? Case of overheated economy? or just that the government have never been business friendly.

The Australian Government is controlled and manipulated by big business e.g. resource companies, insurance companies, supermarket and shopping monopolies etc... 

These companies dictate policy to the government, if they don't do as they are told they find them selves looking for a new job at the next election, or like in the case of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard they get kicked out mid term.

So much for democracy.

[Mudcrab]

 

Woolworths not sourcing internal, Ford and Toyota stopping production, China boom over for hard commodities; what is going on with the Australian economy? Case of overheated economy? or just that the government have never been business friendly.

The Australian Government is controlled and manipulated by big business e.g. resource companies, insurance companies, supermarket and shopping monopolies etc... 

These companies dictate policy to the government, if they don't do as they are told they find them selves looking for a new job at the next election, or like in the case of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard they get kicked out mid term.

So much for democracy.

 

Nonsense

[RigPig]

Nah still laughing, the Austria, Australia thing and people posting when they don't read first is a bit frustrating after a while

[Benmart]

Woolworths, the Mega Octopus is about to screw thailand.

It is indeed refreshing to hear that a poster shops only at "Mom and Pop stores".

[mikemac]

With the poor or non existent level of English spoken by many Thais I wondered if they were looking for staff for a moment!

 

Why should Thais be fluent in English ?  They are Thais and their national language is Thai, last time I looked.  I suppose you are fluent in Thai as well as English ?

[mikemac]

 

 

Woolworths not sourcing internal, Ford and Toyota stopping production, China boom over for hard commodities; what is going on with the Australian economy? Case of overheated economy? or just that the government have never been business friendly.

The Australian Government is controlled and manipulated by big business e.g. resource companies, insurance companies, supermarket and shopping monopolies etc... 

These companies dictate policy to the government, if they don't do as they are told they find them selves looking for a new job at the next election, or like in the case of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard they get kicked out mid term.

So much for democracy.

 

Nonsense

 

 

+ 1 Muddy,  I doubt if either of them have a clue what they are on about.
 

[Benmart]

If it caries same range, quality and standards as in Oz, it would put tesco and big c out of business , but then again with somchai management and business practice, most likely will run just as all others

Can you not read, it say sourcing office which meens it will be searching for products to buy!!!!!
Brain into operation before mouth open.

"Can you not read". "Brain into operation before mouth open". The former comment explains the later.

One's written comments are often a good indicator of the inner self.
Me

[ginjag]

 

With the poor or non existent level of English spoken by many Thais I wondered if they were looking for staff for a moment!

 

Why should Thais be fluent in English ?  They are Thais and their national language is Thai, last time I looked.  I suppose you are fluent in Thai as well as English ?

 

 

Tumtime but no all time, I lern from barr and der bed. I hab paper from leave school I can work at woollyworthless if I want job there.

[Benmart]

With the poor or non existent level of English spoken by many Thais I wondered if they were looking for staff for a moment!

 
Why should Thais be fluent in English ?  They are Thais and their national language is Thai, last time I looked.  I suppose you are fluent in Thai as well as English ?

The global, competing economy may have something to do with this. English proficiency is also a major goal of the Thai Ministry of Education.

I would invite you to Google Thai English proficiency. The resulting articles are very informative and may answer many questions.

The supposition of one knowing the language of their host country seems to be predicated on many values, one of which is economics. When the world seems to embrace English as the medium for business, it seems wise to become proficient in it's use.

[Tomtomtom69]

Woolworths not sourcing internal, Ford and Toyota stopping production, China boom over for hard commodities; what is going on with the Australian economy? Case of overheated economy? or just that the government have never been business friendly.

 

Well I hope Woolworths sourcing from Thailand will merely replace say Chinese products with Thai products, NOT Aussie products being replaced by Thai products. But I'm being optimistic here. Australia is the land of imports. Soon nothing will be produced locally anymore and Australia will become a laughing stock, a third world country that can't produce anything and relies entirely on imports much like Pacific Island nations or protectorates like Fiji and French Polynesia, which due to small size, isolation and lack of natural resources can't produce anything and have to rely on imports. I'm not optimistic for Australia's future with this horrible attitude of screwing over Aussies and importing everything. And it's not just car manufacturing that's ending - as is shown here, our food supply may soon become unrecognizable if this continues.

 

Something needs to be done to prevent all this foreign garbage coming to our shores. We should be embracing Australian products - after all, they provide jobs, which in turn provides money to buy things, whether local or foreign in the first place! If the Woolies decision ends up costing Australian suppliers then it will be another sad day in Australia's history.

 

Even Thais comment when they travel to Australia - what? This is made in China? Can't Australia make anything these days? I'm always left embarrassed and dumbfounded, don't even know how to respond when Thai friends, my girlfriend etc. make those comments. But I agree with them of course.

 

Seriously, we have excellent seafood back in Aus and probably more seafood in our waters than anywhere else in the world (bar Russia or Canada perhaps but that's a different story). We don't need nor want those hormone induced Thai rubbish prawns. Let Thai consumers eat that and we'll have our fresh, locally caught king prawns, which BTW aren't that much more expensive. Or is it that everything we have is being shipped off to Japan? Is that what it is?

 

Case in point: September or October 2013: Coles Supermarket: rubbery, old looking Chinese farmed prawns - A$22 a kilo. Big succulent Aussie prawns - A$24. What kind of an idiot would buy Chinese prawns when Aussie ones are much bigger and only marginally more expensive?! How can China have that much surplus to export prawns to Aus when it has 1.3 billion mouths to feed and we have many times the seafood in our waters versus our measly 23 million population? I can tell you ethnic Chinese aren't buying the Chinese rubbish - saw a Chinese family there who bought Aussie salmon. She scoffed when she saw the Chinese seafood. I was about to join her and spit on the imported prawns in disgust and as a sign of protest (lol) but the Chinese lady beat me to it - she handled a piece of salmon with her bare hands, looked inside and then put it back so I had to tell management to replace it because obviously we don't want anyone to get sick.
 

Edited July 30, 2014 by Tomtomtom69

[Tomtomtom69]

Woolworth's should be ashamed to announce the planned import of Thai fisheries products. Thais will now have a buyer for that rotten vermin ridden rice that was found in warehouses.

 

An Aussie expat in Vientiane, Laos tells me that recently more and more Vietnamese seafood, which is also cheaper than Thai seafood and not pumped up with hormones has made it onto the markets there, at the expense of Thai produce.

 

However, Australians are experts at replacing local suppliers with foreign ones. A sad, sad trend that urgently needs to be stopped.
 

[Tomtomtom69]

 

This is good news for Thailand, it will increase their exports to Europe via Austria.

and more Australian farmers will go bust because they can't sell their produce.  Woolworths will buy cheaper and poorer quality produce from Thailand and sell it in their stores in Aust at the same price that they would have been selling the locally produced.   Definitely doesn't help the Australian economy or the people who are out of work because of greed by large companies like Woolworths. 

 

 

You're right. It's outrageous and needs to stop. And the Woolies or Coles etc. argument that consumers will be paying less is flawed and inaccurate. In the long term prices will be higher for those imported goods than the locally made ones are now.

 

Last time I checked, the only Aussie imported products in Thai supermarkets are those that Thailand doesn't or can't produce itself: for example cheese and butter, wine (there are a limited number of Thai manufacturers of these products, but not many and they don't compare to the international competition and even their prices aren't that much lower - 140 Baht for Thai cheddar vs. a bigger block of Aussie cheddar for 172 at Foodland for example), cookies, and carrots, cherries (seasonal), raspberries and blueberries (seasonal and of course out of Australia's season these fruits and veggies come from the USA, or Europe/South America instead), wagyu beef etc.

 

So anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong but I doubt there are any Aussie prawns sold in Thai supermarkets, or perhaps only the larger variety (which would not be unreasonable as equivalents farmed in Thailand are much smaller)?
 

[Tomtomtom69]

Also I forgot to mention but if any Aussie is dumb enough to rather purchase something imported than something local just to save a few bucks or whatever, then either they are self-hating and should be ashamed to be called Aussie or they don't care about the serious repurcussions that the Australian economy and the local man on the street will suffer from this, especially in the long run.

 

They should take a look at Thai nationalism for inspiration - and I'm talking about Thai trade protectionism rather than merely blindly reciting the Thai national anthem, but basically teaching the people to learn how to love all things local should go a long way in restoring pride and therefore an indirect way of safeguarding jobs.

 

However, as already mentioned I highly doubt Woollies cares about Aussie jobs. I just hope one of their executives is smart enough to read this thread right here on TV and clarify exactly WHAT they intend to source and IF those products will replace Aussie sourced ones. If the answer is yes, then they have a lot of explaining to do.

[Showbags]

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I must admit I picked up a can of  in Wollies last week.

 

Did it have that taste....packed by Burmese slave labourers.......

[aussieruss]

Hi all I think woolworths is owned by south Africa

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[MK1]

Hi all I think woolworths is owned by south Africa

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On the contrary, these days an Australian public company.

Edited July 30, 2014 by MK1

[Spoonman]

Hi all I think woolworths is owned by south Africa

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Defo not South African.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworths_Limited

[aussieruss]

The other day listening. to Sydney news woolworths had a problem. and Jamie Oliver was involved they said something about being. South Africa company?

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[kimamey]

 

  I didn't know Woolworths was Australian.
I can remember going into Woolworths in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the U.S. in the late 1950's when I was only 10 years old. (1956, 1957)
I always though of it as a U.S. company.
Believe it is out of business now in the U.S. for some years.
But read the headline ..... they say the will open a "sourcing office"  NOT a store.
As I read it that means they will be purchasing supplies in Thailand not selling products?
I once bought canned Tuna in a French owned supermarket chain store in Greece which was clearly labeled (in English) as having been packed in Thailand.
So it goes.

Yes I am sure Woolworths is a original American company although as a kid like you I remember a woolworths in our little town in the UK.They traded as the "twopenny and treepenny store" Tupenny and thrupenny!!!.That would have been in the early 50's.I also remember a big huha about something to do with the American Woolworths millionaire Heiress.Not sure now what it was all about but it sure hit the headlines,and yes it does say---- if you people would only read it properly-----It is looking for a SOURCE store .Inother words they want to buy to export,stuff from Thailand

 

 

Yes it was American and opened in the UK as well. The UK arm split from the US one but eventually went bust. The Woolworths name and web address was bought and is now an online retailer.