A sneak peek at what’s featured in tomorrow’s issue of Inside Retail Weekly….

In this week’s magazine we continue with the next of our themed series and focus on the competitive supermarket and grocery industry. Heavyweight retailers, Wesfarmers and Woolworths, both released their first quarter results last week, leaving analysts and investors underwhelmed by tepid growth and now seriously questioning the future of both conglomerates ailing discount department stores, Target and Big W. Read more in our cover story as Jared Dickson analyses the Q1 sales reality check for both businesses.

Our bumper supermarket section includes a market update from IBISWorld senior industry analyst Nathan Cloutman who gives us the current state of play in the perennial battle for market share by both established names like Woolies and Coles, and the powerful German retailer Aldi.

In an Opinion piece, Dr Gary Mortimer takes a look at the emergence of ‘phantom brands’ as the likes of overseas supermarkets, and now Woolworths, try to incorporate private label products without any reference to the supermarket’s brand or logo. There are both risks and opportunities with such a move, and may just be a strategic win for Woolies if they can sway customers with the perception of a new ‘brand’, moderately priced with good quality and excellent value.

In Features, we look at the ways in which independent supermarket retailers are changing the rules of engagement, rather than trying to fight a battle on price.

We also analyse how the declining sales experienced by organic food retailers indicates that customer demand for this segment could be drying up, particularly as retailers are under increasing pressure to differentiate on price.

In News outside the supermarket sector, David Jones new boutique format being launched in the niche markets of Barangaroo in Sydney’s CBD and James Street in central Brisbane represents a new and significantly smaller format than what consumers may expect from the department store giant. Meanwhile Pharmacy Alliance, Australia’s largest independent pharmacy group, has outlined bullish plans for expansion.

You’ll find all of this, and much more, in Inside Retail Weekly Issue 2106.

Inside Retail Weekly is the premium product in the broad stable of Inside Retail publications. It is published weekly, 48 times a year, and offers in-depth analysis of key retail industry news, hard-hitting opinion pieces, feature stories, and much more. 

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