Graduate School of Business and Law MBA Programs Strategy Case Study Series # 2020-5 - Transtutors
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Graduate School of Business and Law
MBA Programs Strategy Case Study Series # 2020-5
Coles Group Limited: Back on the ASX and a New Beginning
Acknowledgement:
This case has been prepared by Timothy O’Shannassy for teaching strategy in MBA programs in the College of Business
at RMIT University. Copyright 2020.
MBA Programs Strategic Management Case Study Series Editor-in-Chief: Dr Timothy O’Shannassy, Senior Lecturer,
Graduate School of Business and Law, College of Business, RMIT University, 379-405 Russell Street, Melbourne,
Victoria 3000 Australia, Telephone +61 3 9925 0111, tim.oshannassy@rmit.edu.au
Introduction
As Coles chief executive officer Stephen Cain contemplates Stage 4 restrictions in Coles home
state of Victoria sales are strong but there is great risk to the Coles workforce. Some have likened
the Covid-19 pandemic as a “horror movie” for company boards and corporate executives. How
will the board and executives at Coles cope with the challenges presented in 2020 and beyond?
The demerger of Coles Group Limited (Coles) effective 21 November 2018 from the West
Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers Limited is a new beginning for one of Australia’s great and
traditional brands (Coles, 2019). There are great external environment and industry challenges
ahead for Coles with the Covid-19 pandemic, a great Australian competitor in Woolworths Limited
(Woolworths), strong new entrants, a market trend to online shopping, greater use of technology
for customer fulfilment, and a tough property lease sector (Greenblat, 2020a).
Coles has an interesting corporate history, interwoven with the evolution of Australian suburban
life. Coles was founded in 1914 as a variety store in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. In 1960
the first Coles supermarket opened in the Melbourne suburb of North Balwyn. Through the 1980s
Coles acquired numerous liquor businesses including Vintage Cellars and Liquorland. In 1985 Coles
merged with Myer Emporium Limited to form Coles Myer Limited. In 2003 Coles signed an alliance
agreement with Shell Australia, the national subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc one of the world’s
largest companies. In 2006 Coles Myer Limited became Coles Group following the sale of the Myer
stores to the Newbridge Capital (now TPG) and the Myer family. In 2007 Wesfarmers Limited
acquired the Coles Group including the Coles, Kmart, Target and Officeworks businesses (Coles,
2019).
The 2019 result presented to share market analysts by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steven Cain
was a A$1.434 billion net profit with sales down slightly at A$38.46 billion. But there is much more
for the executive and board to do with the world economy stricken by the Covid-19 virus and
Coles playing a key role in supplying supermarket essentials to its customers. Cain sees a return to
profit growth as a top priority for Coles in the next two financial years (Coles, 2019).
An Uncertain Business Environment in the 2020 Pandemic
The Morrison Government has responded to the Covid-19 crisis by abandoning its careful and
prudent fiscal policy goal of balancing the budget to a strong orientation to spending on the
Jobseeker and Jobkeeper programs (Frydenberg and Corrman, 2020).
Document: Coles Group Limited Case Study
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Page 1 of 10The Covid-19 epidemic has placed considerable pressure on the new National Cabinet and State
Premiers to manage the health and mental well-being of the Australian public and ensure safe
workplaces in priority locations such as supermarket and grocery stores and hospitals which are
essential providers to the Australian public. Victoria is in deep trouble with a second wave of the
virus with a risk this will spread to New South Wales and Queensland. Tougher lockdown
measures in Victoria will have a significant economic impact on state gross domestic product
(GDP).
The Australian economy is in the midst of a significant shock from the impact of the Covid-19 virus
with industries such as aviation, tourism and hospitality heavily impacted. As a consequence the
Morrison Government has contributed a A$289 billion stimulus to the Australian economy which
is the equivalent of 14.6% of GDP (Frydenberg and Corrman, 2020).
Despite this stimulus, total hours worked in Australia in April and May dropped by 10% in a few
weeks which is a smaller drop compared with Canada at 28% and the United States at 19%. This
statistic has improved slightly in June in Australia up 4% with 210,000 finding jobs (Lowe, 2020).
Many firms impacted by the earlier pandemic shutdowns have now commenced rehiring and
offering improved hours as restrictions are lifted; industries such as arts and recreation, hospitality
and retail are included here. An example is the supermarkets sector (Lowe, 2020).
However, this is only part of the broader picture, with unemployment likely to continue to rise
during the recovery as people currently standing aside from the labour market are not currently
classified as unemployed. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) expects that this will change as they
commence the search for work and re-join the labour force (Lowe, 2020).
Estimate of the fall in real GDP by Australian Treasury is 7% in the June quarter. Over 960,000
businesses and not-for-profit entities an 3.5 million citizens have been supported by Jobkeeper.
Real GDP is expected to be negative 3.75% in calendar-year 2020 followed by growth of 2.5% in
2021 (Frydenberg and Corrman, 2020).
The impact of Covid-19 has been traumatic for the Australian community, and for many countries
across the world (Lowe, 2020). Many in the community have lost their jobs or are on reduced work
hours and consequently reduced income, with younger age groups bearing much of the burden.
There are great concerns in relation to the mental health of Australians who are out of work or
struggling to keep their businesses solvent.
On a positive note the Australian Government has committed A$2 billion to upskilling and
retaining in sectors where there are job opportunities. In addition at this difficult time the
Australian Government has committed A$2 billion to the National Bushfire Recovery Fund
(Frydenberg and Corrman, 2020).
There have been scenes of panic buying in supermarkets from the outset of the Covid-19
pandemic with items such as toilet rolls, flour, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes and long-life milk
anxious shoppers grabbing everything in store and hoarding (Ross, 2020).
The major supermarket and grocery players in Australia set out to be connected to their local
communities deliver strong community engagement – it is a strategic priority (Coles, 2019;
Woolworths, 2019).
Technology is continuing to evolve and is having a number of impacts in the supermarket and
grocery sector (Coles, 2019; Woolworths, 2019). All players in this industry are seeking to improve
automated distribution, online fulfilment centres, software capability and provision of inventory
systems seeking to partner with high value adding partners including Wiron, Orcado and others
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Page 2 of 10(Coles, 2019). Technology disruption is a material risk in this industry (Coles, 2019; Woolworths,
2019).
Loyalty programs are yielding rich data, allowing data analytics to inform inventory selection,
inventory stock levels and in store staffing. Woolworths is using a group cloud platform to assist
data governance and security (Woolworths, 2019).
Online sales continue to grow (Woolworths, 2019). The importance of online sales gives high
strategic value to company online stores backed up with order preparation and delivery services
(Costco, 2019).
The Morrison Government has been reluctant to embrace long range emissions targets and using
a price on carbon as a market-based solution to emissions (Gluyas, 2020). The Business Council of
Australia (BCA) is encouraging the Morrison Government to embrace a target of net zero
emissions by 2050 by focusing on new technologies such as hydrogen, grid reliability and electric
cars. The BCA argument is that a clear statement of Government goals on emissions targets and
the investment environment will allow the private sector to engage in long run investment and
business development, and this will aid Australia’s economic recovery from the Covid-19
pandemic (Gluyas, 2020). Climate change and a greener future is an increasing concern of the
Australian community including the Australian business community (Coles, 2019; Woolworths,
2019).
Australian Supermarket and Grocery Store Industry Trends
The Australian supermarket and grocery store market is tipped to increase 2% per annum each
year until 2024 (BankWest, 2019). Robust competition between the big supermarkets continues to
exert downward pressure on prices. Intensive monitoring by Coles and Woolworths of each other
means that their prices are closely matched; they account for approximately 70% of Australian
market share between them (Clemons, 2017). There has been media speculation for some time on
new market entry for some time from overseas rivals including Costco, Kaufland and Amazon
Fresh with concerns this could further drive down prices (Pash, 2018).
The big new entrant event in the past 20 years was the entrance of ALDI to the Australian market.
However there has been much media speculation on the prospect of further market entry by big
international players such as Costco, Kaufland and Amazon Fresh which has the potential to really
shake up the Australian supermarket and grocery scene (Pash, 2018).
However, in a remarkable turnaround Kaufland in January 2020 cancelled its Australian market
entry with its hypermarket offering after committing significant financial resources. Kaufland had
employed an Australian workforce of more than 200, commenced build of a 115,000 square metre
distribution centre in Mickleham in Melbourne and made progress on development of numerous
store locations (Ballantyne, 2020).
Costco have opened their first Australian 14,000 square metre outlet at Perth Airport in March
2020 with a few constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic; a further store is planned in Western
Australia. Costco customers need to purchase a membership priced at A$60 per annum to allow
them to shop for fresh food, furniture, televisions and white goods at discount prices (Mosconi,
2019). Costco competes on the basis of a limited selection of private-label and nationally branded
products in a wide range of categories giving strong sales volume and fast inventory turnover. This
business model drives costs down (Costco, 2019)
David Jones which positions in the differentiation segment has been actively looking to grow its
food retailing business in the past 12 months, seeking to capitalise on market growth trends.
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Page 3 of 10There is also a trend for the growth of specialised food stores which have grown 2.1% in the 12
months to June 2017; this growth trend provides opportunity for new entrants to gain a foothold
in a locality and survive, offering premium products and excellent service (BankWest, 2019).
Supermarket and grocery shopping is a need for the community and not a want in relation to the
purchase of food and beverage items and so defined in this way the threat of substitutes is low.
This is further supported by the integration of online shopping in the offering for supermarket and
grocery shopping by big and small players alike. This need for the community is supported by
Federal and State Government support for supermarkets and grocery stores remaining open
during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, if food and beverage shopping is defined as a consumer experience in food and
beverage then the threat of substitutes changes and is higher in the context of a food experience,
a beverage experience or for purchase of non-food items. For instance, a food experience
introduces the options of a visit to Victoria Market, South Melbourne Market or Prahran Market in
Melbourne; the restaurant scene also then provides a substitute threat in the same conversation
with a range of cuisines available in Australian cities and regions (e.g. Italian, Greek, Thai,
Japanese), as well as a taste for local seasonal produce in local restaurants and at local wineries. A
beverage experience introduces the threat posed by cafes, pubs, bars and clubs.
Non-food items can be purchased from specialty stores, pharmacies, homeware stores,
newsagents or even Bunnings or Mitre 10 depending on the item sought.
The industry majors are also opening small format stores to compete with the small convenience
stores such as 7-Eleven.
The online supermarkets segment and grocery stores have forecast growth of 75.9% in the next
five years (BankWest, 2019).
There is some evidence of state by state trends in online shopping with this mode especially
popular in Western Australia due to more restricted trading hours compared with other states;
online shopping is also popular in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) (BankWest, 2019). The
impact of Covid-19 and self-isolation has also helped to promote online shopping.
The result is that the big players in this category including Woolworths, Coles, ALDI and Metcash
Limited (Metcash) all support an online offering and are giving this segment a high focus of
attention. This has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic with the convenience of online
shopping strengthening these trends.
Supply to the supermarkets and grocery sector is big business. Coles alone has more than 7,000
suppliers (Coles, 2019). Costco practices using many suppliers to reduce risk in this area and
ensure competition among suppliers (Costco, 2019).
Woolworths and Coles are using data analytics from loyalty programs to better understand
customer tastes and preferences and give insight to future business plans (BankWest, 2019).
There has been a trend to private food label goods, healthy options and organic foods in the
period 2015 to 2019. This has allowed the Australian consumer to enjoy luxury goods including
gourmet foods and delicatessen items at highly competitive prices and been good business for
suppliers to these segments (BankWest, 2019).
A further push from buyers is for convenience which has encouraged the sale of pre-cooked
packaged meals, meal-kits and ready-to-eat meals. This has also been an opportunity for suppliers
to move to meet these evolving demands.
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Page 4 of 10The supermarket and grocery stores industry sector is a highly competitive based on pricing,
quality of merchandise, customer service, ease of use of website, convenience, location and
distribution strategy (Costco, 2019).
Metcash Limited (Metcash) support the independent, local community, family-owned business
sector giving brands such as IGA, Foodlands, IGA Liquor, Cellarbrations, The Bottle-O, Duncan’s,
Home Timber and Hardware, Mitre 10 and Hardings marketing, merchandising and operational
support (Metcash, 2020).
Low price competitor ALDI entered Australia in 2001 and has established a presence in New South
Wales (NSW), Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and ACT with more than
500 stores and the ALDI Curbside click and collect offering (ALDI, 2020).
Specialised stores are doing good business in Australia and we have seen are enjoying healthy
growth. Meat and seafood are products that Australian consumers are willing to pay a premium
price for especially when this is matched with great service (BankWest, 2019).
Supermarket and Grocery Store Regulation and the Law
A range of legal issues impact the supermarket and grocery store scene in Australia with need to
protect employees, suppliers, investors, consumers, government bodies (e.g. local municipal
councils, state governments, Commonwealth of Australia) and the natural environment. For
example, cybercrime and cybersecurity have become a heightened concern for private sector and
public sector entities in Australia and overseas in recent years, in particular when it comes to the
privacy of employee or customer records (Coles, 2019; Woolworths, 2019).
There are serious consequences in Australian courts for breaches of one or more of the relevant
Acts that can apply in a corporate and workplace setting. The Competition and Consumer Act 2010
replaced the Trade Practices Act 1974 as the vehicle for articulating competition and fair trading
law, and giving protection to consumers. The Corporations Act 2001 is an act of the
Commonwealth of Australia that sets out the laws that apply to corporations in Australia including
director’s duties. The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 of the Commonwealth of Australia
provides a balanced and consistent framework to ensure the health and safety of workplaces and
workers.
There are a number of bodies that regulate the Australian corporate scene. The Australian Tax
Office maintains a high company tax rate of 30% compared with the rest of the world; as a
comparison, the United States company tax rate is 21%. The Australian Foreign Investment Review
Board has oversight of foreign investment in Australia on behalf of the Commonwealth
Government. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission, and the Australian Prudential
Authority oversee the Australian Stock Exchange, corporation’s merger and acquisition activity,
and the financial scene. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission oversee trade
practices, and this is of particular importance to the supermarket and grocery sector where pricing
and location are key elements of competition practice.
Coles Group Limited Strategic Situation
The Coles Group Limited Annual Report (2019, p. 3) communicates the organisation vision and
purpose:
Our Vision
Become the most trusted retailer in Australia
and grow long-term shareholder value.
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Page 5 of 10Our Purpose
Sustainably feed all Australians to help them
lead healthier, happier lives.
Strategic highlights for Coles in the 2018 to 2019 financial year in the Supermarkets business
include 22 new store openings, 10 store closures giving an end of year total of 821 stores, the
success of more than 1,200 new products, plus new brands like Nature’s Kitchen and Cook with
Curtis. Coles Online continues to grow to serve the demand for “anytime anywhere shopping”
which is a growing market trend (Coles, 2019, p. 25). In Liquor there was further investment with
27 Liquorland store openings and 16 closures leaving a balance of 910 sites. A total of 64 Exclusive
Liquor Brand lines were added and a joint venture with Australian Venue Company to operate 87
hotels and 253 liquor stores established. In the Express business six new sites were opened and
three closed for a balance of 714. A New Alliance Agreement with Viva Energy was finalised (Coles,
2019).
Coles has approximately 460,000 shareholders and is committed to maintaining a strong balance
sheet, returning to profit growth in the short term, maintaining strong cash flow, disciplined
capital allocation and sound credit metrics (Coles, 2019).
Key summary financial information is provided in Figure 1 below.
Better earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in supermarkets and liquor was offset by weaker
performance in Express due to reduced fuel volumes plus significant items and additional costs
associated with the requirements of listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) (Greenblat,
2020b).
Net debt was reduced in 2019 despite gross operating capital investment of A$893 million (Coles,
2019). Interest bearing liabilities reflect external borrowings with Coles utilising $2,000. 0 million
of its $4,000.0 million external borrowing limits with part of that debt repaid leaving gross debt at
balance date of $1,460.0 million. Average debt maturity is 4.6 years (Coles, 2019).
In terms of business segments supermarkets continued to perform well sales growth of 3.2% with
total revenue at A$30.89 million for the 2019 financial year.
Highlights include improved earnings per share in 2019 and payment of a dividend of 35.5 cents
per share for the period 28 November 2018 to 30 June 2019 following the demerger from
Wesfarmers Limited (Coles, 2019; Greenblat, 2019).
There were three significant items in the 2019 result. First the restructuring provision of A$145.8
million for the Supply Chain Modernisation program. Second a first and final payment to Viva
Energy of A$137.0 million related to the New Alliance Agreement for foregoing the retail fuel
margin. Third a net gain of A$133.0 million related to establishing Queensland Venue Co. Pty Ltd in
a joint venture with Australian Venue Company (Coles, 2019).
It is a priority to Coles to deliver high quality food, drinks and other products to the Australian
community. Reportable business segments include Supermarkets with 821 stores, Liquor with 910
stores and Express with 714 outlets (Coles, 2019).
Coles is a 50% owner of flybuys which has more than 8 million members from 6.6 million
households (Coles, 2019). Marketing initiatives like Little Shop continue to be popular with
customers (Greenblat, 2019).
Coles Online comprises 3.6% of supermarket sales and through improved scale and the popularity
of Click & Collect with 1,000 locations, further investment in technology in home delivery and
better van utilisation has seen this improvement in efficiency (Coles, 2019; Greenblat, 2020a).
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Page 6 of 10Figure 1: Coles Group Limited Financial Summary Financial Years 2018-2019 (Coles Group
Limited Annual Report, 2019)
2018 2019 + or - %
A$Million A$Million Change
Balance Sheet
Total assets 12,544.7 9,777.0 -22.1
Intangible assets 1,965.7 1,540.6 -21.6
Total liabilities 9,295.1 6,419.9 -30.9
Total current liabilities 8,980.9 4,290.5 -52.2
Non-current interest bearing liabilities - 1,460.0 n/m
Total equity 3,249.6 3,357.1 3.3
Profit and Loss
Sales revenue by Business
Supermarkets 30,018.2 30,992.6 3.2
Liquor 3,180.8 3,204.8 0.8
Express 5,735.4 3,978.4 -30.6
Group sales revenue 39,934.4 38,175.8 1.9
Other operating revenue 211.0 288.4 36.7
Cost of sales (30,119.3) (29,253.4) 2.9
Gross Profit 9,026.1 9,210.8 2.1
EBIT by Business
Supermarkets 1,171.9 1,191.4 1.7
Liquor 130.2 133.1 2.2
Express 164.0 45.8 -72.1
Other 13.3 (27.8) n/m
Significant items - 124.2 n/m
Group EBIT 1,479.4 1,466.7 -0.9
Net finance expense (41.5) (0.1) n/m
Interest expense (29.8)# - n/m
Income tax expense (456.1) (347.0) 23.9
Net profit after tax 1,023.1 1,078.2 8.4
Earnings per share 76.7 80.8 5.4
Dividend per share - 35.5
Cash Flow
Net cash flows from operating activities 1,909.9 2,275.4 19.1
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 170.4 384.4 125.6
# Actual interest expense incurred which is included in net finance expense
n/m denotes not meaningful
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Page 7 of 10Coles Credit Cards now offers credit cards in partnership with Citigroup to 350,000 customers and
in partnership with Insurance Australia group insurance to 400,000 customers (Coles, 2019).
The marketing vision for Coles is to: “Inspire customers through best value food and drink
solutions to make lives easier, deliver Smarter selling through efficiency and pace of change, and
Win together with our team members, suppliers and communities (Coles, 2019, p. 29).
Coles has more than 2,400 outlets across its portfolio of supermarkets, convenience stores and
liquor stores with high volumes of people interactions each day. Coles maintains a rolling Safety
and Wellbeing Plan focusing on three priorities - safety, leadership and culture. The Coles
SafetyCARE System provides a framework for the maintenance of health and safety (Coles, 2019).
Coles continues to invest in its store network with rollouts of store offerings tailored to local tastes
and demands (Greenblat, 2019).
Coles places much importance on the partnership with Witron to create two automated
distribution centres. The partnership with Ocado to create two customer fulfilment centres will be
important elements of the Smarter Selling agenda (Coles, 2019).
Security of supply is achieved through detailed business planning including the preparation of
business continuity plans if there is an extreme weather event or disruption to key growing
regions for produce or the business of key suppliers (Coles, 2019).
The Coles demerger from Wesfarmers Limited was a significant undertaking with current
Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott and Coles former Managing Director John Durkan playing key roles
with other Wesfarmers and Coles top management team members (Greenblat, 2019).
Coles is also committed to diversity in its workforce with more woman participating in the Coles
senior executive group than any other private sector employer in Australia. Coles is also Australia’s
largest indigenous employer. Coles has more than 113,000 team members including 4,100
indigenous team members. Indigenous employee numbers have grown significantly from 65 in
2011 to the current level, with an objective to increase to 5500 indigenous employees by 2023
(Coles, 2019).
Coles commitment to diversity ensures that the workforce is representative of the Australia
population and allows for a diversity of views to be heard from team members, customers and
stakeholders (Coles, 2019).
Occupational Health and Safety is an important focus of attention for Coles with a clear
improvement in workplace safety performance in the 2019 financial year with recordable injuries
dropping by more than 700 compared with the 2018 financial year comparison (Coles, 2019).
Coles uses its own and third-party information technology infrastructure and applications for a
range of operations including product ordering, logistics, warehouse management, website
maintenance and customer transactions. Coles maintain Group Privacy and Digital Security
frameworks to help assess and manage cybersecurity risks, security risks and give appropriate
controls (Coles, 2019).
The flybuys loyalty scheme is a valuable source of data, data analytics and customer insight
helping to guide inventory selection, maintain inventory levels and inform store staffing (Coles,
2019).
Coles has identified the industry context as fast changing with changing consumer preferences and
robust local and international competition. Consequently, Coles are focused on investing in
strategic partnerships to deliver new technology. The objective here is to improve automated
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Page 8 of 10distribution, online fulfilment centres, software capability and provision of systems to ensure
Coles maintains its competitive edge (Coles, 2019).
The Future Strategy Challenge
The demerger of Coles from Wesfarmers in November 2018 was a new beginning for one of
Australia’s great corporations and brand names. There are some big issues confronting the Coles
board and executive at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. A priority for the board and
executive is returning to sales and profit growth, consistently.
Coles in 2020 confront a range of strategic risks including competition, digital disruption and
changes in consumer behaviour. Operational risks include health and safety heightened by the
Covid-19 pandemic for the Coles workforce, human resource management and capability,
industrial relations, climate change, security of supply, ethical sourcing, food and product safety,
legal compliance, regulatory compliance, thirds party management and any litigation that may
emerge. Financial risks include group liquidity, interest rate fluctuations, commodity risks, foreign
currency risk and insurance risk (Coles, 2019).
How will Coles achieve profit growth in the short, medium and the long term? Will profit growth
require sales growth, or tight line by line expense control, or both? How will Coles manage
strategic risks? How will Coles manage operational risks? How will Coles manage financial risks?
What major projects should have priority for Coles in the medium term? What major projects
should have priority for Coles in the long term?
References
ALDI, 2020. Who we are, https://corporate.aldi.com.au/en/about-aldi/, downloaded 31 July 2020
Ballantyne, A. 2020. Supermarket chain Kaufland pulls pin on Australia, realcommercial.com
NEWS, https://www.realcommercial.com.au/news/supermarket-chain-kaufland-pulls-pin-
on-australia, 23 January, downloaded 31 July 2020.
Clemons, R. 2017. Want to spend less at the checkout? Choice, 5 June,
https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/everyday-shopping/supermarkets/articles/cheapest-
groceries-australia, downloaded 31 July 2020
Coles Group Limited, 2019. Annual Report. Melbourne, Victoria.
Commonweath of Australia, 2001, Corporations Act, Canberra ACT.
Commonweath of Australia, 2010, Competition and Consumer Act, Canberra, ACT
Commonweath of Australia, 2011, Work, Health and Safety Act, Canberra, ACT.
Costco, 2019, Form 10-K, Issaquah, Washington.
Frydenberg, J. and Corrman, M. 2020. Economic and fiscal update, 23 July, Australian Treasury,
Canberra, ACT, https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/josh-frydenberg-2018/media-
releases/economic-and-fiscal-
update#:~:text=Net%20debt%20is%20expected%20to,GDP)%20at%2030%20June%202021.
&text=Despite%20the%20support%20to%20the,quarter%20by%207%20per%20cent,
downloaded 31 July 2020.
Greenblat, E. 2019. Coles bullish as online sales hit $1 bn, The Australian, 23 August, p. 19.
Greenblat, E. 2020a. Coles boosts e-sales with new fulfilment centres, The Australian, 8 May, p. 15.
Document: Coles Group Limited Case Study
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Page 9 of 10Greenblat, E. 2020b. Coles tips shift to private label, The Australian, 30 April, p. 16.
Lowe, P. 2020. Covid-19, the labour market and public sector balance sheets, Address to the Anika
Foundation Online, 21 July, https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2020/sp-gov-2020-07-
21.html, downloaded 28 July 2020.
Metcash, 2020. About us, https://www.metcash.com/about-us/, downloaded 28 July 2020.
Mosconi, C. 2019. Costco set to open two stores in WA in early 2020, 7news.com.au,
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/supermarkets/costco-set-to-open-two-stores-in-wa-in-early-
2020-c-419779, downloaded 31 July 2020.
Pash, 2018. A new wave of threats points to another supermarket price war primed to break out in
Australia, Business Insider Australia, 19 September,
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-supermarkets-kaufland-threats-ibisworld-
analysts-2018-9, downloaded 31 July 2020.
Yeo, M. 2020. Supermarkets lead in rebound, The Australian, 6 May, p. 29.
Woolworths Limited, 2019. Annual Report, Sydney, NSW.
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