" Eat-In " Supermarkets !

Seventy- years ago the "Supermarket " concept swept into Australia and started to change the way we shopped for our food.   The incentive was cheaper prices.  It became an era when " specials " were heavily promoted in mass advertising to take trade away from the " corner stores " where price control from the war years was still the common practice.

It was a huge change in how we shopped.  We were invited to take the place of store staff and wheel a trolley around the aisles and select from the merchandise packed on shelves.  We were exposed to many new and exciting products and manufacturers enhanced the packaging of their products to gain our attention.   Speed was part of the experience when a line of " checkout " girls priced the items in our trolley, packed the goods in plastic bags for us to carry to our cars.   Each supermarket was served by a copious amount of off street parking.

Gradually, the selling of groceries devolved into a duopoly of two store chains that competed with opposing branches in every suburb of out cities and dominated the country towns spread across the nation.    The main battleground was " price ".   This duopoly was ruthless in extracting lower prices from food suppliers because of the power their franchise gave them.   The media took great delight in comparing the price of similar items bought from both to nominate a winner.   Smaller, independent food competitors were driven out of business.

It seems that this food war is about to gain a new battlefront.   The duopoly has competed for the housewives dollars in buying the food they prepare for their families.  Now they are casting their eyes of the food we eat outside our home.  Trials are underway to compete with the Hungry Jacks and McDonalds by creating similar fare in store where shoppers are actually on supermarket premises and once again price will be an incentive.

At this experimental stage they are trying to determine what is attractive to shoppers.  It is yet to be determined if this will devolve into simply coffee and a snack or extend to a sit down meal with a wider menu.  It is something the public needs to consider with caution.  We should remember how the supermarket age displaced the huge number of butcher shops and greengrocers scattered about our cities when they used the price weapon to bankrupt competitors.

This move by the Coles and Woolworths duopoly will clearly threaten the vast array of small cafes and coffee shops scattered across Australia.  Many offered an opportunity for a hard working family to establish their own business by giving good service and offering an  innovative cuisine.  They are about to encounter a ruthless competitor.  Not all can survive a price fight for the shoppers dollar.  It will certainly have an impact on the job market and in particular, the casuals who work in cafes and coffee shops on a part time basis.  Supermarkets now offer an extended hours service.

We live in an ever changing world.  With change good fortune or disadvantage are an inevitable consequence on how some people will be affected.