As a reply to today's column by Dita De Boni on supermarket costs, Countdown managing director Dave Chambers addresses the issue of pricing.
At Countdown our strategy is to bring prices down for our customers. Our team works hard every day to do this in what is an extremely competitive environment. Since Labour Weekend 2013 we have dropped prices on more than 900 items - these are not weekly specials but a long-term commitment to getting cheaper for New Zealanders on items like a $1 loaf of bread. We also currently have four brands of coffee for under $4.
We track prices of the most commonly purchased goods at Countdown and these prices have dropped around 2 per cent in the last year. And it's not just us saying that food prices are falling - Statistics New Zealand's Food Price Index has reported a 1.6 per cent decrease in the year to September.
Once we have paid the 18,000 New Zealanders we employ, paid our 4000 suppliers and farmers, paid the power bills, maintained our buildings and equipment, and paid interest on tax we make around 2.5 cents profit in every dollar. This is before we look at investment in new stores and communities - this week alone has seen two new stores opening and 111 new jobs created.
One fact that is often overlooked about our industry is that the biggest factor in what consumers pay at the checkout is what we pay for those goods. Because of this, the relationships we have with our suppliers is critical. Overwhelmingly we have good, long-standing relationships with our local and multi-national suppliers, but it shouldn't be a surprise that our job is to negotiate the best deal we can so we can give customers the best price we can.
