Woolworths’ food and liquor sales have dipped further during the third quarter in a negative sign for the supermarket giant.
Food and liquor sales declined 0.9 per cent during the 13 weeks to April 3 when the figures are adjusted for Easter. Non-adjusted figures show sales edged 0.4 per cent higher to $10.7 billion.
Total group sales for the third quarter were down 0.3 per cent to $14.9 billion, compared with the same period the previous year, despite Woolworths investing more than $400 million in lowering grocery prices.
The decline shows Woolworths continues to leak market share to archrival Coles and German discount retailer Aldi, despite investing more than $400 million in lowering grocery prices since the second half of fiscal 2015.
Non-adjusted Australian food and liquor sales edged 0.4 per cent higher to $10.7 billion.
Woolworths said it will throw a further $150 million into lowering grocery prices to combat competitive market conditions.
Woolworths CEO, Brad Banducci, said: “The sales performance in Australian Supermarkets continues to be impacted by high levels of deflation, predominantly from our price investment. However, we are encouraged that customers are starting to notice the improvements we are making. It will be a three to five year journey to rebuild Woolworths Supermarkets, but we are confident we are on the right track.”
“We have commenced a Group wide review across all aspects of our business. We are also adopting a new operating model designed to move accountability into the individual businesses as well as reviewing our corporate and shared service functions to ensure they are organised to best support these businesses.”
