Supermarket duopoly: Grocery Commissioner doubles down on supermarket shake-up

• Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden criticised supermarkets for not fully opening wholesale supply to smaller retailers.
• Van Heerden highlighted the need for a third entrant and a wholesale supply code.
• The draft findings on wholesale supply have been delayed to allow responses to Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ request for information.

Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden has fired a shot at the big supermarket operators over a new regime meant to open their wholesale supply to smaller retailers.

“We don’t believe it’s fulfilling its potential, because of the low volume and the low numbers that are customers,” van Heerden said.

Foodstuffs’ 70 to 80 retail customers were “not a lot” he said, while Woolworths had more focus but “it’s still a small offering”.

Van Heerden said it showed the need for a third entrant and for a wholesale supply code.

A Foodstuffs spokesman said the wholesale regime was new and “like any new system, it’s still bedding in”.

A Woolworths spokeswoman said the company had been “working from scratch” for two years to build the wholesale offering, which supplied 60 independent retail customers and delivered to 108 sites.

The Grocery Commissioner has delayed releasing a draft of his findings on wholesale supply to allow time for all to respond to a request for information that Finance Minister Nicola Willis issued last month, with threats to legislate and potentially break up the supermarkets.

“It’s really a political decision that needs to be taken,” van Heerden said.

“We’ve been clear that competition isn’t working well for Kiwi consumers.”

Read more at BusinessDesk.

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