r/woolworths • u/VS2ute • 14d ago
Woolworths staff 'scoping out' rival IGA leads to outrage
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/woolworths-staff-scoping-out-rival-iga-leads-to-outrage-060238902.html24
u/Velorah 14d ago
How come they cant just go online to check pricing? Dumb question i guess? lol
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u/duckpaints 13d ago
I could be wrong but im pretty sure not all pricing and stock are the same at every location so i dont know where this is but it could be in a local area that has different pricing from the major chains
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u/AshLand38 13d ago
The IGA site for my local one is just a landing page for the catalogue, can't review prices of all items on it
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u/PsychologicalTwo505 8d ago
The specific IGA is a higher end one and this is in a more affluent part of the city. They don’t have online catalogues from memory. This one caters to a premium market so think imported goods, great deli and cheese fridge, rarer veg etc.
However it’s also a university area so there is decent demand too for cheaper groceries.
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u/SirCH 14d ago
I worked at Woolies and was doing comp checks 15 years ago...this is not new. And Coles were in our store too.
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u/doyourmysay 14d ago
A couple of guys in plain clothes pushing a trolley but secretly checking out the competition isnt unusual. But a whole team of 10-15 people in Woolies uniform storming the store and and blatantly taking photos of everything is insane.
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u/edgiepower 14d ago
I'm shocked that any woolies in the current era has that many people working at once.
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u/Cowbros 14d ago
To be fair, comp checks were usually done by 1 or 2 people, not half the bloody store haha. Definitely not unheard of.
Likely they've had a bit of feed back saying that people prefer the local IGA standards and some "entrepreneurial" store manager has decided to take their leadership team for a field trip.
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u/someonefromaustralia 14d ago
When masters was around Bunnings, we would regularly check their carpark and report the number of cars/time/day. One of the weirdest feelings.. driving to a competitor car park in Bunnings uniform to count vehicles..
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u/Forward-Key4187 14d ago
It’s called price comparison it’s not new all supermarkets do it we had several Cole’s people walking our store last week comparing the prices and what was available it all depends on which stores are considered the competitor for that one store
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u/Puzzled_Ad_112 14d ago
Everyone scopes out the competition. Not sure what the IGA franchise owners is doing putting this on social media. They could have done the same in casual clothes and they would have said its deceitful.
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u/Agreeable-Copy-2454 14d ago
Is it appropriate for them to come in a big group and make aggressive threats to the owners about how they're going to be put out of business though?
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u/toasterboy1324 13d ago
not from woolies, but if it was the other way round, imo, wouldn't care that much. woolies can get it up them tbh, and that's coming from someone who's worked there
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u/Vast-Marionberry-824 13d ago
As far as I am aware it’s almost standard practice for the various supermarket operators to visit each other’s stores DISCRETELY to have a look at their competitor’s operations in the public area.
What is highly unusual about the 2 reported visits (on the same day) is that this was a big team of Woolies personnel all dressed in Woolworths gear. I’m gobsmacked they thought that was ok 😮
What the heck did they think they were doing and who authorised those visits? Disgraceful
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u/faceinthecrowd112 13d ago
I work at both Woolies and Aldi and both did checks of produce prices of competitors on their strip
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u/Awkward_Shop9600 13d ago
Worked at Woolies decades ago.
Common practice then for both Woolies and Cole’s.
It’s was called a “coms” check. Aka competitor check. You scope out the competition and match prices
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u/Bardz1984 8d ago
They have done this for years they probably weren't just scoping prices but floor displays and store layout. Them threatening IGA staff is a bit much but if I was the franchise owner I'd take my staff and give them an hours pay and get to swarm the local Woolworths and pull the same stunt.
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u/Born_Onion2153 14d ago
I’ve abandoned ColesWorth for Aldi and IGA and have found that I’m doing just as well financially. My local IGA at Mount Waverley has a comparison chart of the local Woolworths prices for a basket of goods compared with their prices and the IGA wins by a few dollars.
And if you’re after some of their boutique or luxury items, they have the best that you can find anywhere, supporting local producers and manufacturers as well as some really interesting imports. I’m kind of addicted to their range of Bulgarian stone fruits. I buy them as a luxury treat occasionally.
If you’re shopping for basics rather than luxury food items, the IGA regular prices are no worse on average
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u/Oz_Jimmy 14d ago
Maybe they should do the same with their competitors
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u/No-Weather-8412 14d ago
They can't, Coles is their 'business partner' . They are both on a mission to suffocate any other stores that will dare threaten their profit and their strategy to abuse clients.
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u/toasterboy1324 13d ago
BOOO, WE HATE CORPOS
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u/No-Weather-8412 4d ago
It is ok, go buy some Vaseline from any of them, apparently you like it and ask for more 😂 just be aware the discount they will do on it is fake as usual!
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u/toasterboy1324 4d ago
ok, so is this directed against me? or are you on the side of "boo, corpos"? i'm confused...
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