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Kathleen Wong, CPA, CA, CFA, our Consumer Staples & Consumer Discretionary Senior Analyst, was interviewed by @The Toronto Star about the well-publicized boycott of Loblaw Companies Ltd. (TSX: L) to protest high prices. Investors remain confident in Loblaw because, in the middle of an affordability crisis, when consumers are looking for value, Kathleen's analysis has shown that Loblaw's prices have been coming down and are on par, and in some cases even better, than those of its competitors in Canada. Most shoppers want to cut costs on their grocery bills, so it's hard to convince them to turn down a deal, especially if it involves a longer trip. "Investors are grocery shoppers just like you and I," she said. Kathleen completes quarterly pricing surveys of Canadian grocers to determine which grocers are able to pass along price inflation to consumers to maintain their profit margins. Loblaw's internal food price inflation has historically tracked closely with industry food price inflation, but it was lower than the industry's CPI during the past three quarters due to discounts and promotions to attract shoppers, Kathleen wrote in her most recent report on the company. https://lnkd.in/eiyrw3be #grocers #investmentresearch #equityresearch #investors

Check out my blog post https://wix.to/YEF5ouL A BBC article highlights the high costs at Canada's Loblaw compared to the UK's Tesco and the U.S.'s Walmart. A whole chicken costs $5.63 CAD at Tesco but $11.59 CAD at Loblaw. This disparity has fueled a nationwide boycott initiated by the 'r/loblawsisoutofcontrol' subreddit, founded by Emily Johnson. With 88,000 members, the movement protests Loblaw's high prices and substantial profits, which saw a 4.5% revenue increase to $13.58 billion last quarter. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland calls for more competition in the grocery sector, while the Trudeau government considers attracting foreign retailers like Aldi and Lidl to Canada. #VeritasMedia #Loblaw #GroceryPrices #BoycottLoblaw #Tesco #Walmart #CanadianEconomy #ChrystiaFreeland #ForeignRetailers #Aldi #Lidl #EmilyJohnson #rLoblawsIsOutOfControl

Interesting how some of the biggest advocates for cash freedom and being able to pay in cash, have businesses that do not let you pay in cash. Their businesses have the benefit and efficiencies of not accepting cash, but other businesses should not be able to make these efficiencies?? Taking cash is inefficient and expensive in Retail & Hospitality, the same as any other business, but most of these businesses would absorb ( build the costs into pricing) if they felt there was a big enough demand to pay with cash. A good example is Apple store still take cash payments I very much doubt cash will completely disappear and if you are that bothered about your transactions being tracked by the bank, get a prepaid debit card or start bartering. #Cash #Retail #Payment

Loblaw faces a halfway point in a boycott with investors seemingly unaffected, as the stock achieves a record high. The movement originated from a Reddit group and aims to address the company's market dominance and high living costs in Canada. Tap on the link to know more: https://lnkd.in/d6Qe4Gtt #urbananews #newsupdate #Canada #LoblawBoycott #StockMarket #InvestorConfidence #MarketDominance #HighLivingCosts #RedditMovement #CanadaEconomy

In case you missed the news (though I highly doubt it!), there's a boycott movement that is targeting one of the major players in the grocery retail sector in Canada - Loblaw. Loblaw Companies Limited has found itself in the midst of public outrage due to the surge in food prices (and the cost of living in general) in the past couple of years. Canadians have taken to various social media platforms - reddit in this case - to express their frustration, highlighting the steep costs of groceries at outlets like Loblaw. In my opinion, the issue extends beyond just grocery retail dynamics. Canada's grocery market is heavily dominated by large corporations, necessitating governmental intervention to incentivize new entrants and bring better and more competitive pricing to the market. While boycotting a particular retailer may (or may not) impact the targeted company, it's unlikely to have a substantial results on the grocery prices unless it is accompanied by governmental action. #retail #grocery #supplychain #canada #boycott #loblaw

*BREAKING NEWS* Woolworths Supermarkets accetps Cash. Cash only people theaten boycott. Yep, thats right. Cash acceptance has been made easier and safer but they dont like it because....reasons I cannot fathom. "... a depository safe known as a “cash recycling machine” that counts and sorts money — isn’t new, the little-known checkout feature has recently gained attention following the supermarket’s announcement it was rolling out a “new front-of-store experience”. Their outrage is mind blowing. “I won’t be shopping at Woolworths any more that’s absolutely for sure,” one raged on Facebook. “This is pure laziness,” someone else mused. As another stated: “Is Woolies OK? It’s not hard for their staff to count a few coins.” The hill that the Cash only people have chosen to die on is that Woolworths staff are lazy and wont "count a few coins" Cash use is around 13% of retail payments according to Reserve Bank of Australia down from 29% in 2019 according to Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet) which is 5 times more than my favourite payment method, BNPL at around 2% RBA from 2022: "If one considers all payments, including online payments, cash payments made up 13 per cent by number and around 8 per cent by value in 2022. Whilst cash is declining, we need some guarantee or "right to cash" like the UK From GOV.UK "A government statement published today (18 August 2023) set the minimum expectations on banks to protect services for people and businesses wanting to withdraw or deposit cash. They can expect to withdraw cash without any fees – something that has been set out in law." #payments #cash

Canadian Food Crisis - Posthaste: Over half of Canadians would pay more to support small grocers Comment: Competition is good. But, if you are a consumer who only has so much money to spend on food, it may be difficult to support a small grocer if their prices aren't as competitive as another store. I've noticed that smaller communities may only have one grocery store. If you don't like their prices, you may need to drive to another community to shop somewhere else; thus, spending gas and more money to shop. Online groceries may be an option too, but even that can be more expensive at times, plus delivery. https://lnkd.in/gbcBEF6e #canadianfoodcrisis #foodprices #consumerspending #groceryindustry #groceryretailers #foodcrisis #groceries #groceryprices #costoffood #canada #smallgrocers

This story feels like a parable in terms of reportage of economic news. "Almost two-thirds of Canadians feel that inflation at the grocery store is getting worse, a new poll suggests, even as food inflation has been steadily cooling...." But, just a couple of paragraphs later: "However, even low inflation still means prices are going up." Well, right. Prices aren't "cooling," it's merely a case of the rate of increase on prices slowing down. Cause for optimism in policy terms, but hardly a positive final outcome. So, after a year or two of significant price inflation, with prices still on that trajectory, why would ordinary shoppers think anything other than 'inflation at the grocery store is getting worse'-? And why expect them to? It's a strange juxtaposition to set up, both with the poll, and the story.

What happened in retail this week? 👇 - Asda is increasing staff pay by 8.4% with a total investment of £150m this year. - Asda to donate £1m to reduce alcohol harm in children. - Tesco to change Clubcard logo after losing legal battle to Lidl. - Morrisons has installed touch-screen police terminals to enable shoppers to report crime. - Sainsbury's revealed its new targets for emissions reduction, verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), on its journey to becoming net zero. - Aldi UK, Tesco & Sainsbury's are amongst 30 food businesses calling for government action to tackle food waste. - Aldi UK reveals priority store locations in London including Chelsea, Kensington, and Hackney. - Aldi UK is set to sell 20 million hot cross buns and 8.5 million of its own brand chocolate eggs for its biggest easter ever. Co-op launched a ‘Best of British’ section on its online delivery website to further its commitment to British sourcing and champion local suppliers. Marks and Spencer has created new 100% recyclable paper packaging for its Jersey Royal potatoes which will remove 1m pieces of plastic within the first year. — — — — — — — I post the biggest stories from the UK’s biggest retailers each week. Connect with me to never miss a weekly update. #Retail #News #March 

I am very proud of my team who have been recognised as the Community Champions of the Year by our retail partner, Coles Supermarkets. Together, Mondelēz International and Coles raised over $250,000 for FightMND and delivered over 1 million meals to struggling families last Christmas with SecondBite. This is a great example of how suppliers and retailers can and often do come together and work collaboratively to deliver better outcomes for Australians. I believe we are fortunate to have some of the best retailers in the world in Australia. They are dedicated to giving back to communities and are actively seeking ways, both independently and with their supplier partners, to do what’s right. These retailers provide employment and development opportunities to hundreds of thousands of Australians. At a fundamental level, they ensure a reliable and resilient supply chain and modern retail environment, so Australians can conveniently access their favourite products when they need them. While at times commercial negotiations may be very robust, it is a highly competitive and effective market. In recent times, some have been blaming retailers and suppliers for the cost of living pressures we are seeing. Those pressures are very real, and many Australians are struggling. I truly hope that through progressive industry policy and longer-term cost-effective solutions in key areas such as energy, we can begin to alleviate these cost pressures and provide relief to consumers and manufacturers who are also facing a real manufacturing crisis. In the meantime, I hope that this one example of how Mondelēz and Coles worked together to deliver better outcomes and a brighter future for Australians doing it tough may highlight, that when we step back from a lot of the current noise and take a real look, there is much more good being done by committed and community-minded retailers and their supplier partners than some would have you believe. Thank you Coles Group for your recognition, and we look forward to our continued partnership to create a brighter future. Sarah Shaw-Dennis Karen Wheelahan Matt Swindells Leah Weckert #Supermarkets #AustralianRetail #GroceryPricing #SupplierSupport