" Just big ? " - " Or too big ? "

The H.J.Heinz company - one of the world's biggest suppliers of food products - complains that the  duopoly on food retailing in Australia by Woolworths and Coles is actually restricting the product range offered to shoppers.

These two retail chains command eighty percent of all food sales in this country - and this gives them immense power.  What the average shopper gets a choice to buy depends entirely on what products the central buyers choose to allow on their shelves.    You may have noticed that the choice of a selection of brands for each individual product has been diminishing - and been replaced by a similar product marketed under each stores " in house brand " occupying more and more shelf space.

This is a two sided argument.   It is in the stores interest to sell their house brand product in preference to a competitor because they gain all along the profit chain from the raw material to the packaged product, but when they deny another product shelf space they probably kill off that brand and cause it to disappear.
This is one reason why Australian manufacturing industry is contracting rather than expanding.

The house brand product is usually cheaper than competing brands, but that does not mean that the product specifications are identical.  It can be interesting for those who have the time to compare the product information and decide which offers the best deal on fibre content, fat and salt - and that other vital component - actual product size delivered by weight - not just the size of the packaging.

It seems to be a freak of nature that just two grocery chains have captured eighty percent of the market, and this is unique to Australia.   In the big population countries of Europe and in America this industry is spread between five or six similar giant chains, and therefore competition if fierce - and as any traveller will tell you - prices are much lower than here.

The answer to this growing problem lays entirely in the hands of the shopping public.   If we continue to applaud the convenience of having these chains expand - and enter into a bigger supply line that now includes petrol, liquor and services like insurance and banking - we will pay the price of having the choice offered to us restricted by their company policy.

The question seems to be.   " Are they just big ? "   -   "  Or is that  " Too big ? ".