I never imagined I’d say this, but I miss Tesco. Well, not so much Tesco, but Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Morrison’s. And I only say “not Tesco” because I never really shopped at Tesco, but if I had, I’d probably miss that too. Supermarkets here in Australia are, by comparison, dreadful. Rather than those huge palaces of groceries to which I, as a Brit, have become accustomed, Australian supermarkets are dingy little shops selling basics and not much else.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, of course. In terms of convenience it’s not good, but I generally feel that in Britain supermarkets have come to dominate the retail industry to such an extent that variety has been replaced with homogeny, and the quirks of little independent shops are disappearing at an alarming rate.
Supermarkets do, of course, exist in Australia, as they do all over the world. In Britain there are the “Big Four”: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s; in Australia it’s the “Big Two”: Woolworth’s and Coles. Now, I did some research (which I almost never do!) into market shares of these brands to form some sort of comparison, and here it is: Woolie’s and Tesco have about a 30% share in their respective markets; Coles and Asda sit at about 20% each. But is the comparison as simple as that?
No. Woolie’s and Tesco are worlds apart. Coles is nothing like Asda. Leaving numbers aside, both Coles and Woolworth’s feel like small run-down branches of Sainsbury’s, or perhaps extra-large Londis or Costcutter stores. Put simply, there is nowhere in Australia that is like Tesco.
It is possible to do all of your grocery shopping at the supermarket here, and you could get through life quite easily if you only ever shopped at the supermarket, but you would miss out on so much variety and so much specialty produce. Supermarkets seem only to cater for the basics and a few extras, and even then there aren’t the huge number of different brands for each product – including home brands. In British supermarkets there is a home brand version of everything. And even then, not just one home brand version: there’s the regular home brand version, the no-frills version, the premium version and probably more. Not so here in Australia where only a select few items have home brand versions. Home brands are also of the no-frills variety, so unlike in Britain, you couldn’t survive entirely on home brand products.
Supermarkets here also lack the enormous deli counters that are in British counterparts. There are no huge butchery counters: the supermarkets do sell meat, but it’s pre-packaged. My local Woolie’s has a tiny fish counter, but unlike Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s etc., it doesn’t cater to people who love fish; it really only provides the basics. Same too for international or “ethnic” foods: there’s so much you just can’t get in the supermarkets.
So, is this another post where I moan? Again, no. What the supermarkets lack, independent stores do provide. Independent butchers, for example, are strong and all over the place. And they compete with each other, not the supermarkets. Fruit and vegetable stores are huge and awash with colour, and it’s here, not the supermarkets, where you can get excited by the sheer variety. For the best fresh fish, Sydney Fish Markets have it. And if, for instance, you want to cook Indian food, you go shopping in the independent food stores in the areas where there are big Indian communities. Independent small food stores are big business, and over 30% of Australia’s food is bought outside of supermarkets. I sometimes hear that Australia is 20 years behind the UK, and in this instance it’s true and it’s wonderful!
Still, most people do the bulk of their shopping in supermarkets, and much as in the UK, the big supermarkets compete on price. But like I said before though, both Woolie’s and Coles feel more like Sainsbury’s than Asda – there’s no super-cheap feel. Unlike Tesco’s “Every Little Helps” and Asda’s “That’s Asda Price”, the big Aussie supermarkets market themselves mainly on quality, with slogans like “Australia’s Fresh Food People” (Woolworth’s) and “There’s no Freshness like Coles”, so while the do compete with each other on price points, you never see the 8p cans of baked beans type offers you do in British supermarkets.
There is, of course, the slow rise of stores like Aldi and SupaIGA which really do market themselves purely on price. I’ve even heard suggestions that Aldi make their stores look untidy to give the impression of lower quality to fool shoppers into thinking the prices are even cheaper. They haven’t yet seemed to build any real loyalty: Aldi is the sort of place you go to as well as, and not instead of, Coles.
Ultimately supermarket shopping is a different experience in Australia. I like that independent and specialty food stores are still big business, but when I’m a lazy shopper I hate the lack of variety in the supermarkets. I think it impacts Australian cuisine (which appears to me much more vanilla/pedestrian and far less experimental and exotic than British cuisine), and it impacts on overall prices: without selling exotic foods with a huge mark-up, they can’t offer ridiculous discounts on the basics.
So is there a balance to be had? I don’t want to see Tesco or Wal-Mart trying to break into Australia, but I’d take Sainsbury’s or Waitrose any day of the week.
Follow me on Twitter: @SuperCroup
Six Months in Sydney 