This week in FMCG

It’s been a busy week in the FMCG industry with big news making the headlines.

Supermarket’s infant milk restriction showed a shift in daigou trade; Soft drinks giant’s ecex decided to retire; Supermarket giant to open a new distribution centre; Groceries decreased prices in Western Australia and an online grocery company acquired a failed business.

Coles’ infant milk restrictions foreshadowed shift in daigou trade

Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain Coles has restricted access to infant formula in some of its NSW stores. The baby products were moved the counter near razors and cigarettes. It came after daigous buy products from Australian retailers for resale in China – leaving local parents without much stocks of infant formula. Coles and Woolworths now have a two-tin limit on formula purchases but the latter won’t follow the other supermarket’s latest move.

Boss to leave CCA in 2019

Coke boss Catherine Brenner has decided to retire from the Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) board at the 2019 annual general meeting. AAP reported the soft drinks company said Brenner, who has been a director for a decade, will not seek re-election at the 2019 annual general meeting at the end of her current term. CCA chairman Ilana Atlas said her corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions experience has been valuable to the company over the past 10 years.

Woolies to open new Melbourne DC in fresh push

Supermarket giant Woolworths will develop a new multi-million-dollar fresh distribution centre that will deliver more and better quality products to Victorian customers. Woolies decided to open a new centre as part of its efforts to improve its fresh food offer. It will be located in Trugania in Melbourne’s western suburbs alongside Woolworths MeatCo. and will replace current operations in Mulgrave. It is slated to open in late 2020.

Aldi, Costco decreased grocery prices in Western Australia

International grocery giants Aldi and Costco have pushed down fruit and vegetable prices in Western Australia faster than anywhere else in the country, according to Bankwest’s new research. Perth shoppers spent 6.9 per cent less on fruit and veg in the year to September 2017 than the previous year. Richard Bator, Bankwest’s general manager of business banking in WA, said that discounters are rapidly growing their market share out west.

YourGrocer acquired Aussie Farmers Direct

Failed online grocery business Aussie Farmers Direct (AFD) finally has a buyer, YourGrocer. For an undisclosed sum, YourGrocer will start to use the AFD brand throughout its website and on its fruit and veggie boxes as a “stamp of quality”. It will also expand into the Sydney market by leveraging on AFD’s 100,000-strong customer database on top of the “few thousand” customers it already has in Melbourne. YourGrocer co-founder Morgan Ranieri told Internet Retailing their company’s goal “is to expand as quickly as we can without damaging the customer experience. The challenge for us is to figure out how to keep quality high as we scale.”

That’s it for now and we’ll be back for the headlines on Monday morning!