I don't know about anyone else, but I reckon that Woolworths deserve to be taken to court in an anti-trust move. The directors and major shareholders are going to hold this whole damn country to ransom some day - if they aren't already. I'm going to buy my fuel (and I buy LOTS of it for a non-truckie) from the liitle guy from now on (as long as their fuel is clean).
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Stations to take on fuel giants
By John Lehmann
August 09, 2005
From:
Petrol prices
War ... independant providers are trying to take on big suppliers
AUSTRALIA'S army of independent service stations has been drawn into the petrol price war, with as many as 1200 to offer 4c-a-litre discounts in a desperate bid to stop
supermarket giants ripping away about $2billion in fuel sales a year.
Independent operators are battling to stay in business as customers flock to discount petrol schemes set up by Woolworths, Coles and independent grocer
IGA. And the fight for customers is set to intensify as petrol prices continue surging towards $1.25 a litre.
Sydney prices are tipped to hit $1.25 by tomorrow, with motorists in
Melbourne paying as much as $1.20 yesterday.
Adelaide prices have soared to $123.9 a litre, while in
Hobart, prices hit a record $121.9 yesterday.
Motorists in western and northern parts of Queensland, such as
Weipa, were paying $1.24.
And in
Perth, FuelWatch last night warned prices at some metropolitan service stations would reach close to $1.20 today.
Despite the high prices, independent operators were "under the hammer" from
supermarket deals, with about 200 outlets shutting down in the past six months, Service Station Association chief executive Ron Bowden said. He said the independents' share of Australia's $17 billion petrol market had plunged by 30 per cent in two years, or about $2 billion in sales a year.
"If we just sit back and do nothing, a couple of thousand service stations will be forced to close down," he said. More than 50 per cent of petrol was now sold in
supermarket outlets, which made up only 14 per cent of service stations.
Under the independents' new loyalty scheme, called SaveSmart, motorists receive a 4c-a-litre discount on up to 50L of fuel after buying specially marked food and drink items from petrol station shops. Each item will cost no more than $10, compared with the
supermarket deals that require shoppers to spend at least $30 to get a discount. Companies participating in the scheme - such as Coca-Cola, Schweppes, Arnotts and Mars - will subsidise the discount.
Mr Bowden, whose association is co-ordinating the program, said between 1000 and 1200 independents were expected to join the scheme by the end of next year. About 100 operators had signed up in the past month.
The association also plans to widen the scheme by negotiating agreements with a range of retailers, such as whitegoods manufacturers, liquor outlets and hardware stores, where motorists could buy goods and receive petrol discounts.
Isaac Obadia, who manages a
Liberty petrol outlet in Caulfield,
Melbourne, said his customers had been pushing harder for petrol discounts in recent months. "If we want to compete against the big guys, we have to try this, but it will take time to see how it works out," he said.
Woolworths and Coles have dramatically increased their share of petrol sales since launching discount schemes over the past two years.
Coles, which is pumping petrol at 597 Shell-Coles Expresses, is expected to announce this month that its fuel sales doubled to more than $5 billion last financial year. Woolworths, which now has 458
Caltex and Woolworths petrol stations involved in its program, sold $3.3 billion worth of petrol in the past year, a 51 per cent rise.
Mobil Oil Australia is also getting into the discount war, rolling out a scheme in
Adelaide last week in which motorists get 4c-a-litre off when they spend $5 at the petrol station
shop.
The offer will be extended to
Sydney,
Melbourne and
Brisbane if successful in
Adelaide. But BP Australia has no plans to join the frenzy. BP Australasia chief Gerry Hueston said last week the discount deals were unprofitable.