Nov 29, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
The Commerce Commission Market Study into grocery retailing has been thorough and has exceeded all my expectations in terms of the meticulous nature of the research and information gathering from the perspective of economics and competition law. It has been great to...
Nov 1, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
The recent draft report by the Commerce Commission confirmed New Zealand’s supermarket market structure is a duopoly, that there is weak competition and that the returns are high. While there are few opportunities and competition to own a supermarket, there’s not much...
Oct 15, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
Last December, Foodstuffs North Island made a big splash explaining “why Foodstuffs won’t charge suppliers for shelf space anymore”. It was about “democratic shelving”, so some brands could not “buy the best shelf space, the pole...
Oct 3, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
A Grocery Code of Conduct came closer recently when the Food & Grocery Council appeared before a parliamentary select committee to make an oral submission on our petition. We have long advocated for a framework similar to those in Australia and the UK which...
Oct 1, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
Following the announcement of the latest Level 4 lockdown, the Police tweeted, “Go Home, Stay Home. You’re It”, in reference to a favourite childhood game for many of us. At the time, I thought it was clever and humorous social media, but I didn’t appreciate how well...
Sep 13, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
Anyone doubting the thoroughness with which the Commerce Commission would conduct its market study into competition issues concerning consumers, retailers and suppliers in the grocery sector would have been well and truly silenced by their draft report. At a whopping...
Aug 30, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
There’s been a lot to take in from the Commerce Commission’s draft report on their market study into New Zealand’s grocery sector. There’s no doubt everyone wants lower grocery prices, and that’s what was behind the Government’s instruction to the commission: was...
Aug 19, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
The New Zealand economy has been built on the export of food, kicked off in a big way by the first successful shipment of frozen meat on the ‘Dunedin’ to Great Britain from Totara, in Otago, in 1882. Of course, there was exporting before that, with the first trades...
Aug 6, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
From November, some product and sales tickets in the fresh and deli sections of supermarkets will need to be updated. That’s when the first new regulations on Country of Origin labelling of food products come into force. In both the supermarket chains and independents...
Jul 12, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
Few New Zealanders do not know the Maori proverb “What is the most important thing in the world, it is the people, the people, the people / He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata he tangata he tangata. It’s true when things are going well, and it’s particularly true...
Jun 14, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
Ensuring accurate claims on product labels is critical to any business, and the laws are clear. Get it wrong or make a false claim and the result could be disastrous. It could lead to customers buying elsewhere, possibly leading to the demise of the product or even...
Jun 3, 2021 | Katherine Rich Comments
There is no doubt the main reason the food and grocery sector was able to ensure New Zealanders were able to get through the COVID-19 lockdowns of the past 12 months or so with very little disruption to vital supplies was due to teamwork. That is, teamwork both inside...
