Woolworths CEO Amanda Bardwell warns food, staples prices rising, with more increases to come
Australia’s biggest supermarket chain says higher prices are flowing into fresh produce, milk, bread and other essentials as the fuel crisis drives up inflation across the economy, and in response Woolworths says it will freeze prices on 300 products for three months from Friday.
Amanda Bardwell, chief executive of the $45.5 billion grocery giant, said the price freeze was part of the supermarket’s efforts to be more open with customers about potential price inflation as it determined to balance supplier cost pressures with household budgets tightening due to the rising cost of living.
“We’ve learned the lessons of the last inflation cycle. This time, we’ll be more open and transparent with our customers about where prices are rising and why,” Bardwell told reporters Thursday morning.
Most of the items on the company’s price freeze list are Woolworths branded or private label brands, such as Woolworths’ hot fried chicken, bread, a dozen cage-free eggs, sausages, tissues and toilet paper.
“To make this happen, we will invest with suppliers to cover the extra costs agreed upon on these products,” Bardwell said.
Australia faces its last significant burst of inflation between 2022 and 2023, when the world faces severe supply chain bottlenecks, rising energy and food prices as a result of the Ukraine war, and strong consumer demand in the wake of the pandemic.
‘We learned from the last inflation cycle. This time we will be more open and transparent with our customers about where and why prices are increasing.’
Amanda Bardwell, CEO of Woolworths
The subsequent rise in grocery prices and competitive discounts by Coles and Woolworths to win back consumers led to an investigation by Australia’s consumer watchdog and legal action over alleged fraudulent discounts offered by both Woolworths and Coles, which are still ongoing in Federal Court hearings.
As Bardwell detailed Woolworths’ third-quarter sales results on Thursday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was preparing to make its closing argument in a two-week case against the grocery giant over what it claims were fraudulent sales discounts. The “Prices Down” promotional program at the center of the dispute was quietly discontinued in December 2024.
The grocery giant said supermarket sales rose 5.9 per cent to $13.8 billion in the three months to April 5. E-commerce sales rose 20.2 percent from the previous year, helping the group’s overall third-quarter sales rise 4.5 percent to $18.1 billion.
The supermarket is facing a wave of cost increase demands from many suppliers, which have been hit hard by a twin rise in fuel and fertilizer costs, both of which have risen sharply or are in short supply in the past two months. Bardwell said Woolies was expecting more demand in the coming months.
“We are still in the very early stages of these impacts, but we expect pressures to increase,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we expect to see prices increase on some products and in some categories over the next three to six months and possibly 12 months.”
Big W, a consistently underperforming business for the Woolworths group, increased sales by 4.8 per cent.
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Jessica Yun is a business reporter covering retail and food for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect with: X or email.
