Australian Retail Research Articles

The big squeeze: a product content and labelling analysis of ready-to-use complementary infant food pouches in Australia

BackgroundEncouraging the early development of healthy eating habits prevents diet-related chronic disease. It is well understood that highly processed foods with high amounts of sugars, salt and fats are a risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Commercial baby foods in ready-to-use squeeze pouches emerged in the global food market around 2012. The long-term effects of this now ubiquitous packaging on the quality of infant diets, baby food consumption and marketing are unknown. This study aimed to conduct a rigorous mixed-methods audit of squeeze pouches in Australia to inform product regulation and policy.MethodsNutritional and marketing data were sourced from products available in Australian retailers. Analysis of nutritional content, texture and packaging labelling and serving size was conducted. Pouches were given a Nutrition Profile Index (NPI) score and compared with the Australian Infant Feeding Guidelines. Marketing text was thematically analysed and compared to existing infant nutrition policy around regulation of marketing claims.Results276 products from 15 manufacturers were analysed, targeting infants from 4 + to 12 + months. Total sugar content ranged 0.8-17.5 g/100 g, 20% (n = 56) of products had added sugars, 17% (n = 46) had added fruit juice, 71% (n = 196) had added fruit puree. Saturated fat content ranged from 0.0 to 5.0 g/100 g, sodium 0.0-69 mg/100 g and dietary fibre 0.0-4.3 g/100 g. Only two products were nutritionally adequate according to a nutrient profiling tool. Marketing messages included ingredient premiumisation, nutrient absence claims, claims about infant development and health, good parenting, and convenience. Claims of ‘no added sugar’ were made for 59% of pouches, despite the addition of free sugars.ConclusionsSqueeze pouch products available in Australia are nutritionally poor, high in sugars, not fortified with iron, and there is a clear risk of harm tothe health of infant and young children if these products are fed regularly. The marketing messages and labelling on squeeze pouches are misleading and do not support WHO or Australian NHMRC recommendations for breastfeeding or appropriate introduction of complementary foods and labelling of products. There is an urgent need for improved regulation of product composition, serving sizes and labelling to protect infants and young children aged 0–36 months and better inform parents.

Bridging organisational discourse and practice change: exploring sustainable procurement portfolios for Australian beef

PurposePrivate retail and brand-driven sustainable procurement standards are influencing global agri-food markets, shifting trade and export priorities and reshaping food supply chains. Using the case of Australian beef, the authors construct and evaluate three procurement activity “portfolios” and evaluate how these activity sets pull towards or against diverse organisational goals and/or science-based sustainability objectives.Design/methodology/approachA review of the academic and practitioner literature identified three key pillars for sustainable Australian beef procurement: animal welfare, environmental management and climate change (i.e. emissions). A subset of sustainable beef production activities (n = 100) was identified through this review plus semi-structured interviews with Australian beef retailers and industry bodies. This activity set was filtered (n = 40) and scored by a panel of science experts via a series of workshops and an additional survey. Using these data, the authors use a k-means cluster analysis (k = 3) to consider the strong or weak contributions of each activity portfolio towards typical sustainable beef goals.FindingsA portfolio-based view of sustainable procurement puts the trade-offs between activities and the need for clear sustainability prioritisation into sharp focus. The authors find that individual strategies may be singularly more or less impactful, complex or popular, but when combined as a suite of activities enacted towards a particular goal or set of goals, essential for success. The authors find that obtaining balance across sustainable beef pillars versus within specific pillars can narrow the optimal set of activities that can succeed against multiple sustainability goals.Practical implicationsFor procurement managers, the balance between clear focus and multidimensional progress is a difficult challenge. It requires the bold identification and articulation of an organisation’s interlocking corporate, industry or environmental objectives and flexibility on the strategies, tools and resources required. The authors posit that shifting away from a focus on rigid metrics may be useful in breaking the impasse on meaningful action.Social implicationsUsing a set of known activities and strategies that a procurement manager might draw from in operationalising sustainability goals, the authors cluster activities into three discrete activity portfolios. Each portfolio requires differing levels of effort, implementation complexity and potential for within-pillar and cross-pillar impact (i.e. co-benefits). Assessing the evidence and potential for cross-pillar impacts of individual strategies is a complex undertaking, indicative of the systems and tangled interactions that characterise sustainability science more broadly.Originality/valueBy assessing how the procurement function can be leveraged and operationalised towards sustainability goals through a lens of optimal portfolio management, the authors provide a way forward for the procurement managers working within large retailers and agri-food businesses to progress towards multiple sustainability pillars simultaneously.

Sports foods are not all they shake up to be. An audit of formulated supplementary sports food products and packaging in Australian retail environments.

To determine store availability, total number of products, and types of Formulated Supplementary Sports Foods in Australia, along with their stated nutrition content, sweeteners added, total number, and type of claims displayed on the packaging. A cross-sectional, visual product audit of mainstream retailers. Supermarkets, pharmacies, health food stores, and gym/fitness centres. A total of 558 products were captured in the audit, 275 of which displayed the correct mandatory packaging attributes. Three categories of products were identified, based on the dominant nutrient. Only 184 products appeared to display the correct energy value based on the listed macronutrient content (protein, fat, carbohydrate, dietary fibre). The stated nutrient content was highly variable across all product subcategories. Nineteen different sweeteners were identified, with most foods containing only one (38.2%) or two (34.9%) types. The predominant sweetener was stevia glycosides. Packages displayed multiple claims, with a maximum of 67 and minimum of 2 claims. Nutrition content claims were most frequently displayed (on 98.5% of products). Claims included regulated, minimally regulated and marketing statements. Sports food consumers should be provided with accurate and detailed on pack nutrition information, to ensure informed choices are made. However, this audit showed multiple products which did not conform to current standards, appeared to provide inaccurate nutrition information, contained multiple sweeteners, and displayed an overwhelming number of on-pack claims. The increase in sales, availability, and products available in mainstream retail environments, could be impacting both intended consumers (athletes), and general non-athlete population. The results indicate underperformance in manufacturing practices which preference marketing over quality and stronger regulatory approaches are needed to protect consumer health and safety, and to prevent misleading consumers.

Effects on Consumer Purchase Intentions through Online Marketing Activities: Evidence from Australian Retail Sector Consumers

It is the goal of this study to investigate the most fundamental components of Internet marketing or digital marketing that have an impact on consumers' intentions to purchase in the retail sector of Australia. This study also analyses the aspects of online marketing that contribute to either an increase or a decrease in the level of consumer intention for a certain retail establishment's products or services. According to the findings of the study, many aspects of online marketing influence a consumer's choice to purchase a product from a store on the internet. These aspects include the consumer's perception of trust, communication, and the consumer's sense of the responsiveness of the online platform to their interactions with other consumers all of which play a role in a consumer's view of the quality of a brand. Nevertheless, trust and open communication are the most important variables.

“They’re sleek, stylish and sexy:” selling e-cigarettes online

ObjectiveWe examined the product range, marketing strategies, access and marketing claims made by Australian and New Zealand (NZ) online e-cigarette retailers. MethodsTwenty Australian (n=10) and NZ (n=10) e-cigarette retail websites were identified via Google using a combination of keywords nominated by an expert panel and identified via a literature review: ‘e-cigarette’, ‘e-cigs’, ‘vape’, and ‘vaping’, combined with ‘Australia’, ‘AU’, ‘New Zealand’ and ‘NZ’ and then examined. ResultsProducts were extensive (disposable, pod-based, reusable, replacement parts), 95% (n=19) offered ‘Starter Kits,’ flavoured e-liquid (n=1,032), most containing nicotine (70%, n=14). Most retailers (85%, n=17) offered price discounts and free delivery. There were unsubstantiated health claims (80%, n=16), cessation claims (65%, n=13) and cost-benefit claims (50%, n=10) promoting e-cigarette use. Most (n=14) website age verification features simply required the purchaser to indicate they were aged 18 years. ConclusionsAlthough e-cigarette regulations are different in Australia and NZ, the online product range, marketing strategies, access and marketing claims were similar and sold e-liquid containing nicotine. The health and cessation e-cigarette marketing claims were outlandish and unsubstantiated. Implications for public healthMost purchasing of e-cigarettes occurs online. Regulations and enforcement to limit access and stop unsubstantiated marketing claims must be a public health priority.

Asymmetric behaviour and the 9-ending pricing of retail gasoline

Using daily unleaded gasoline data for almost the totality of Western Australian retail outlets over twenty years, we find that retail prices are most rigid when they are 9-ending as opposed to other price endings. Upward rigidity from a 9-ending retail price is found to be greater than downward rigidity in terms of a lower number of price movements. Irrespective of whether or not a 9-ending price is being charged, an upward gasoline price movement is likely, in absolute terms, to lead to a larger size of price change than a downward movement. In sharp contrast, we find that wholesale gasoline prices are not characterised in such ways and that irrespective of whether or not taxes are included, there is uniformity across the frequency distribution of price endings. The presence of 9-ending pricing affects the nonlinear response of retail gasoline prices to wholesale price movements.

Sustainability reporting of major electricity retailers in line with GRI: Australia evidence

PurposeThis paper aims to comprehensively analyse the sustainability reporting practices of Australian electricity retailers in comparison with global sustainability reporting indicators outlined in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework.Design/methodology/approachBased on the GRI G4 sector-specific guidelines, the paper investigated Australian electricity retailers’ reporting in three broad areas of sustainability, namely, economic, environmental and social. The 2018/2019 annual reports along with websites, corporate social responsibility reports and standalone sustainability reports of the major electricity retailers listed on the Australian Energy Regulator were analysed and coded using a content-based technique.FindingsThe findings inform that electricity retailers’ disclosures are substantially varied between and within the three categories of sustainability reporting, and the majority of the retailers have failed to address over two-third of the GRI indicators. This study also shows that positive information is the dominant form of the disclosures, and reporting with declarative information without providing any quantifiable data is a common practice of the retailers who fail to address an indicator that requires information in numerical terms.Originality/valueElectric utilities provide essential services to society and have a significant influence on sustainable development. This study contributes to the social disclosure literature, in particular in a developed countries energy sector context, and captures insights about the sustainability reporting and accountability behaviour of the major electricity retailers operating in Australia.

Consumer Information and Price Transmission: Empirical Evidence*

We investigate how consumer information affects price adjustment in the Austrian retail gasoline market. Our measure of consumer information is obtained from detailed census data on commuting behavior, as commuters can freely sample prices on their commuting route and are thus better informed about prices. A threshold error‐correction model suggests that prices adjust more quickly if cost shocks exceed certain thresholds. Parametric and semi‐parametric regressions show that a larger share of informed consumers increases both transmission speed and pass‐through rate, but has no effect on the asymmetry of cost transmission.

Are Banks Responsible for Animal Welfare and Climate Disruption? A Critical Review of Australian Banks’ Due Diligence Policies for Agribusiness Lending

AbstractThis article argues that banks should adopt animal welfare policies in the light of the growing acceptance of the need for ‘responsible banking’, which incorporates environmental, social, and governance analysis into credit risk and due diligence processes. The responsibility of banks for animal welfare is underscored by the drive towards greater investment in animal agribusiness, and the vicious cycle through which animal agribusiness can both contribute to, and be impacted by, climate disruption. The article evaluates, through a desktop review, how leading Australian retail banks and agribusiness lenders are addressing animal welfare and climate disruption in animal agribusiness lending. We find that although most banks have made a commitment to animal welfare and climate policies, these often amount to little more than greenwashing. We call for an ecosystem of industry, regulatory, and civil society action to address this danger.

In-transit interventions using real-time data in Australian berry supply chains

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to contribute to Australian berry supply chains with a relevant identification regarding the possible data driven interventions that stakeholders can take while the berries are in transit.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory series of semi-structured interviews was conducted through six Australian experts in the industry with more than 20 years of experience in Australian berry supply chains and the Australian perishable food industry, to identify key possible in-transit interventions that could be implemented in the Australian berry industry.FindingsThe analysis of the interviews revealed a total of 18 possible in-transit interventions. An important finding is that in-transit interventions are made possible by the use of real-time data gathered through IoT devices such as Active Radio Frequency Identification, Time and Temperature Indicators interacting with Wireless Sensor Networks. Another key finding is that Australian berry growers and retailers do possess the technologies and the resources necessary to make in-transit interventions possible, however they have yet applied these technologies to operational decision-making and interventions based on the product, rather focussing on supply chain transactions and events.Research limitations/implicationsSince the research focusses on an Australian context, its findings may or may not be applicable to other countries. The research is exploratory in nature, and its findings should be verified by future research, in particular to test whether the in-transit interventions proposed here can be implemented in a cost-efficient way.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, this publication is the first known academic article to provide a clear understanding of the Australian berry industry from a supply chain and logistics perspective, and the first to explore possible data driven in-transit interventions in perishable food supply chains.

Current Situation and Future Development of Australian Retail Industry

These years, traditional Australian retailers have gone through a hard time threatened by domestic online retailers, and the sales of traditional retailers have been declined per annual over the past five years and only forecast to improve slightly over the next five years. At the same time, the continuous propagation of COVID-19, and the relationship between retailers and customers further exacerbates the crisis. So to have a full understanding of the current circumstance of Australian traditional retailers, in this paper, we will firstly analyze the retail industry as a whole including its features and current bottlenecks and then detailed reasons of current bottlenecks will be showed. We will also put forward targeted development strategy for the traditional retail industry in Australia.

Supply chain finance in enhancing supply-oriented and demand-oriented performance capabilities – moderating role of perceived partner opportunism

PurposeWhile supply chain scholars concur on the need to integrate supply chain finance (SCF) processes to meet ever-changing customer demands, it is unclear how SCF influences business performance in the presence of perceived opportunistic behavior. Therefore, the study aims to investigate the moderating role of perceived partner opportunism in the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the dynamic capability theory (DCT), this study investigates how perceived supply chain partner opportunism moderates the mediating role of supply- and demand-oriented performances on the link between SCF and business performance, from the retail industry perspective. Data was collected from Australian retailing firms. In all, 293 completed surveys were received. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that supply- and demand-oriented performances serially mediate the relationship between SCF and business performance. The study also found that the effect of SCF on performance was higher when perceived partner opportunism was lower.Practical implicationsTo respond to changes in consumer preferences and demand effectively, supply chain and marketing managers need to understand the complex interaction between supply- and demand-oriented performances and the key role of SCF in developing such capabilities.Originality/valueThe current study theorizes and demonstrates the effects of supply- and demand-oriented performances that can facilitate the effects of SCF on business performance. Also, the study reveals the effect of each dimension of SCF (accounts payable, accounts receivable and inventory finance) on supply- and demand-oriented performances. Additionally, the study shows the key role of perceived partner opportunism in supply chain management.

Beyond food swamps and food deserts: exploring urban Australian food retail environment typologies.

'Food deserts' and 'food swamps' are food retail environment typologies associated with unhealthy diet and obesity. The current study aimed to identify more complex food retail environment typologies and examine temporal trends. Measures of food retail environment accessibility and relative healthy food availability were defined for small areas (SA2s) of Melbourne, Australia, from a census of food outlets operating in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016. SA2s were classified into typologies using a two-stage approach: (1) SA2s were sorted into twenty clusters according to accessibility and availability and (2) clusters were grouped using evidence-based thresholds. The current study was set in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. Food retail environments in 301 small areas (Statistical Area 2) located in Melbourne in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2016. Six typologies were identified based on access (low, moderate and high) and healthy food availability including one where zero food outlets were present. Over the study period, SA2s experienced an overall increase in accessibility and healthiness. Distribution of typologies varied by geographic location and area-level socio-economic position. Multiple typologies with contrasting access and healthiness measures exist within Melbourne and these continue to change over time, and the majority of SA2s were dominated by the presence of unhealthy relative to healthy outlets, with SA2s experiencing growth and disadvantage having the lowest access and to a greater proportion of unhealthy outlets.

Commentary and reflections on, ‘The existential crisis of traditional shopping streets: the sun model and the place attraction paradigm’, by Matthew Carmona, with particular reference to the Australian retail milieu

Commentary and reflections on, ‘The existential crisis of traditional shopping streets: the sun model and the place attraction paradigm’, by Matthew Carmona, with particular reference to the Australian retail milieu

Barriers and enablers to sustainable finance: A case study of home loans in an Australian retail bank

Large financial institutions are inextricably linked to the climate risks and opportunities affecting their customers and have the potential to stimulate action on climate change though their lending decisions and policies. Ensuring that the prices of assets, including residential property, reflect climate risks is essential in averting the systemic risk climate change poses to financial stability. By undertaking a case study of a major Australian bank through interviews and focus groups with twenty-six participants, we identify factors influencing climate-related decisions affecting home loans and draw together a framework of barriers and enablers building on prior literature. The framework's six categories are economic market failure, economic non-market failure, political-institutional, socio-cultural, behavioural and organisational, with more specific factors within each category. Interdependencies and relationships between factors mean they cannot be perceived or addressed in isolation. Further theorising of the stages of decision-making within the case bank reflect a need for proactive, comprehensive action embedded in core value creating processes and internal governance, that interact with and are deeply connected to the broader society and environment in which the bank operates.

Lockdown and retail trading in the equity market

This paper examines the trading patterns of Australian retail investors during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It addresses the possibility that the Australian stock market may be used as a substitute for gambling due to prolonged lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using transaction-level data, we document that retail trading volume increases substantially during 2020, overtaking institutional trading. This trading behavior is consistent with the conjecture that the stock market offers an easily accessible platform as a gambling substitute. We further explore two additional motivations for gambling in the stock market. We find that investors treat stock trading as a fun and exciting activity especially during the second phase of lockdown from July to October 2020. Examining the profitability of retail trading, we show that stocks heavily bought by retail investors consistently generate negative returns. This result resembles the negative expected outcome of gambling loss and demonstrates the danger of trading in a volatile market environment.

Australian household adoption of solar photovoltaics: A comparative study of hardship and non-hardship customers

Prior studies establish that electricity systems across the globe need to transition toward renewable energy and that renters have a low adoption of effective means to do so through access to household solar photovoltaics (PV). Yet, the economic, environmental, and social costs of low PV adoption by people who have trouble paying their electricity bills (hardship customers), who are more likely to be low-income tenants, remain understudied. Drawing on electricity use data from an Australian energy retailer we compare the performance of PV for hardship customers against ‘average’ households. Results illustrate that if society could achieve greater solar PV installation on hardship homes, annual grid-based electricity consumption could be reduced by 40%, lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 1.6 tCO2e per household annually and energy bills by $2908 per low-income household over 15 years. We illustrate how Australian policy could be re-oriented to encourage greater PV adoption on hardship properties, including through support for a new market structure that distributes the economic benefits of PV between renters and landlords.

Conducting tobacco industry informant interviews: lessons and implications for commercial determinants of health research.

Investigating and exposing tobacco industry tactics to oppose and interfere with tobacco control policymaking is crucial to advancing public health. Whilst past investigations of tobacco industry activities have largely focused on secondary sources of information, such as publicly available tobacco industry documents, the collection of first-hand evidence from key informants has been an under-utilized method in tobacco industry monitoring. This article provides a detailed account of a methodological approach to systematically recruit former tobacco company employees as key informants for a study that aimed to gather information on the marketing tactics tobacco companies use in the Australian retail channel. Given the success of our study methodology in uncovering new information about tobacco company practices, we propose that key informant interviews with former industry employees should be a priority method for research investigating the role of commercial actors in influencing public health outcomes. To offer guidance to researchers who may wish to undertake a similar methodological approach, we also provide a reflective account of the elements of success and the lessons learned from this research.

“Feudal Barons Extracting Tribute”: Narratives of Market Power in the Australian Retail Property Sector during the 1980s

This article analyzes the ways that shopping center tenants deployed narratives to encourage government intervention in the Australian retail property sector during the 1980s. Tenants claimed that landlords were abusing their market power through a range of egregious and exploitative practices. Landlords responded with stories of their own, claiming that amateurish retailers were using isolated cases to make broad generalizations about the industry as a whole. Politicians retold retailers’ stories in Parliament, championed small business enterprise as a driver of economic growth, and produced retail leasing legislation aimed at protecting shopping center tenants. In the process, established conceptions of shopping centers were inverted. In the 1960s and 1970s they were seen as bastions of capitalist enterprise constructed by nation-building visionaries. Through stories, retailers captured the cultural legitimacy of entrepreneurship from their landlords, who were characterized as feudal barons blocking the free operation of markets they controlled. Exploring these developments offers new insights into the relational dynamics of preplanned retail environments, expands our understanding of postwar Australian retail history, and contributes to a growing historiography on the role of narrative in business history.

RETAILER VULNERABILITY TO LOTTERY FRAUD

ABSTRACT A fraud at an Australian national retail chain over a two-year period exposed deficiencies in first, second, and third line of defence controls (Institute of Internal Auditors). Internal Audit’s role was to data-mine millions of transactions to assure the retailer of the full extent of the fraud and whether other stores had suffered similar losses in the preceding 3 years. In addition to the quantitative findings, the resulting qualitative improvements to internal control helped to offset the AUD$100,000 loss. So the fraud was turned into a beneficial process improvement assignment at less than the cost of engaging management consultants to achieve a similar result. In this way an undesirable fraud shock became an opportunity to terminate under-performing staff, improve internal controls, and increase the retailer's profitability.