Coles Will No Longer Stock Capilano Honey's Allowrie Product

sss333 on 05/07/2018 - 17:18

Capilano Honey bargains normally get a few comments about this so posting this here.

Coles will no longer stock Capilano Honey's controversial Allowrie product, which contains syrup sourced from China, with the supermarket chain saying it wants to support Australian production.
Capilano has faced criticism from some local beekeepers over its use of Chinese syrup in its products including Allowrie. According to Allowrie labels the product contains 10 per cent Australian ingredients.
…
A Woolworths spokesman said it would not follow its competitor and was planning to keep the Allowrie product in its range.
“Woolworths is a big supporter of Australian honey, with around three quarters of the range available on our shelves consisting of 100 per cent Australian grown honey," the spokesman said.
“Allowrie is a good quality product, offering an affordable price point for customers on a budget. It has proved a popular choice for customers, particularly families, and will continue to be offered as part of our broader honey range.”

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Comments

  • Clear on 05/07/2018 - 17:31
    +7

    Typical Woolworths. They've always been the most difficult to work with for suppliers.

    It would be curious to see how much of the Chinese syrup is actual honey.

    • HighAndDry on 05/07/2018 - 17:48
      +8

      I don't get this. Why do they have an obligation to work with suppliers at all? It's not like local beekeepers are doing this for altruistic reasons… they're doing it so they can get more money. Understandable, sure, but hardly some kind of moral high ground.

      • EightImmortals on 05/07/2018 - 17:55
        +4

        They should do it for their CUSTOMERS. Of course if the customers continue to buy only on price and not on quality or health aspects then you can hardly blame colesworth for taking advantage. Luck for me I have a mate around the corner with a flowhive. :)

        • HighAndDry on 05/07/2018 - 17:56
          +2

          Oh sweet. Nothing better than fresh honey - that stuff is almost addictive. But yeah obviously the customers didn't mind. If they did, and sales were down, Woolies and Coles would've both pulled the plug without need for a marketing campaign.

        • EightImmortals on 05/07/2018 - 17:58
          +1

          @HighAndDry: Maybe sales WERE down but they decided to make it into a PR play anyway. :)

        • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2018 - 18:48

          @EightImmortals:
          Most likely.

          Nothing sells like a scandal.

        • singingwolf on 05/07/2018 - 20:33

          @tshow: Except sex.

      • Clear on 05/07/2018 - 18:03
        +1

        Let me elaborate further. Woolworths are really aggressive in dealing with local brands and suppliers. Constantly trying to push them to lower prices that will hurt their profits and have consequences like less shelf space or bad positions if they don't comply.

        • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2018 - 18:14
          +4

          And apparently that's a great business model. They're doing well and people keep supporting them.

          I personally do not like big supermarkets. They're too large and too much variety. I prefer small shops. Not even being sarcastic.

          I also don't like Capilano. Something about a that bee on their label. I just don't trust that shifty bugger.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 09:58

          I'm not sure what your point is - that's just called business. From the other side, suppliers are also trying to push Woolies to raise prices that'll hurt Woolies profits, and have consequences like negative PR campaigns if they don't comply.

          Everyone is trying to maximise the price they can charge, and minimise the prices they pay.

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 10:28

          @HighAndDry: My point? Woolies are significantly more aggressive than the rest of them. Plain and simple.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 11:56
          +1

          @Clear: Right - but you say that like it's a bad thing. It's not. It's only bad for suppliers, same as suppliers negotiating hard is bad for Woolies. It's business. You haven't really given a reason why anyone should support suppliers more than Woolies (or their own wallets).

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 12:27

          @HighAndDry: Yes, let's go back to my original comment.

          Typical Woolworths. They've always been the most difficult to work with for suppliers.

          Why should you support these suppliers and their brands more? This brand in particular I referred to creates hundreds of Aussie jobs. What does the Woolies Select provide? Jobs for overseas workers because that's where it comes from. What is my very obvious point? Support Australian if you can.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 12:39

          @Clear: It's not Woolies Select being hard on suppliers though, it's Woolies - and last I looked their staff are still here in Australia. In any case, that's academic. If you weren't trying to imply bad things about Woolies then I don't really have an argument with you. Have a good Friday!

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 12:51

          @HighAndDry:

          It's not Woolies Select being hard on suppliers though, it's Woolies

          Yes that's what I said. Woolies are significantly more difficult to deal with than the other supermarkets as unless you sell the product for the same price as their own overseas made brand they will give you significantly less shelf space in undesirable locations where most people will not see it.

          How is this so hard to understand?

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 12:58

          @Clear: Hahaha noooo. It's Woolies being hard on suppliers. But your reason for supporting suppliers was:

          What does the Woolies Select provide?

          Woolies isn't Woolies Select. You can shop at Woolies and buy absolutely no Woolies Select items whatsoever if you don't want to support Woolies Select. (And even with this argument - I'm pretty sure Coles Homebrand is no better).

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 13:09

          @HighAndDry: Coles give some brands priority space over their own homebrand. I explained elsewhere that IGA give priority. Woolies do not unless you were to sell at basically the same price as their brand.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 13:15

          @Clear: …. I'm really confused as to why this matters. It's their shop - surely they can arrange products however they want - and negotiate contracts on this basis. If this is an issue, isn't ALDI even worse because afaik they basically have 90% of their product range being their own products, meaning they give 0% shelf space to most suppliers?

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 13:20

          @HighAndDry: Think of it as a supplier/manufacturer rather than a consumer.

          You make a product locally in Australia and sell it in the supermarket. Then Woolies come along with their own brand for a much cheaper price because it's made overseas. They cut down your space on the shelf to the bare minimum to make room for their new brand which is $2 cheaper. Suddenly people stop buying your brand and end up buying Woolies. You start losing money and soon you have to cut down your workforce of Aussies.

          Then you have Coles and IGA. They bring in their own brand but they don't want you to suffer too much. They still give you a decent amount of shelf space and don't say "hey you want to have half a shelf? Lower your price by $2 and we will give it to you". Instead they're like "Hey we'll put your product next to ours and add some notices next to the price that say Australian Made".

          Suddenly consumers can see that they can get a cheaper brand for $2 less made overseas or pay $2 more to support local jobs. Rather than thinking the brand has disappeared completely or simply not knowing about it with Woolies.

          See where I'm going with this?

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 13:35
          +2

          @Clear: I get how it works. But I don't get why the blame is on Woolies - instead of the end consumer who's obviously buying the cheaper overseas product. Everyone wants to decrease their expenses (including CoGS), and wants to increase their prices. That's… how business works.

          And yes, I know it sometimes works better for some people and worse for others, but that's the nature of competition. Suppliers can band together (short of anti-competitive monopsony behaviour?) and supply to only Coles and IGA, and if consumers care Woolies would either have to give more shelf space or take a hit.

          And again - ALDI. You concede they give literally zero shelf space (so less than Woolies), but I'm not seeing the same criticism of them as that directed at Woolies.

          It's okay - it's Friday and I'm really not wanting to get into an argument.

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 13:39

          @HighAndDry: Why is the blame on Woolies? Because they're the only ones that are being difficult? The rest aren't.

          Aldi is actually on the horizon of stocking it soon.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 13:53

          @Clear: That's the thing - you call it "difficult", anyone who does business calls it… well, doing business. To Woolies, the fact you don't immediately agree to their terms is also "difficult". It's a matter of perspective more than it is a matter of objective good/bad or right/wrong. Woolies is just looking out for their self-interest. I'm not saying they're doing a good thing or anything, but it's also hardly unreasonable. They don't have to stock anything, right?

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 13:57

          @HighAndDry: There is business and then there is difficult business. That's what it is. Woolies are caring more about their own offshored brands to maximise their own profits while Coles sometimes like to look out for the locals. Like the case in OP with the Chinese honey.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 14:00

          @Clear: It's only difficult business if it doesn't serve a purpose. You're basically telling Woolies to go easier on you, possibly sacrifice their own profits, so that suppliers can make more money. That'd be nice, but I still don't see why Woolies should.

          In any case, I also get the buy-Australian angle and honestly I buy Australian honey whenever I do get honey. That's a personal choice, and I think it's a responsible choice, but I think that's on consumers ultimately, and not on Woolies. If Coles/IGA can leverage that via PR into affecting Woolies' bottom line, good for them. If they can't.. well again, it's business.

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 14:03

          @HighAndDry: When I say suppliers I refer to the manufacturer as they're supplying it but basically yes. Woolies care less about Aussie brands and that's always been the case and everyone knows it.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 14:07

          @Clear: Yeah fair enough. I guess personally I put the blame more on end customers because if everyone actually bought Australian-made/owned, and didn't go for cheaper foreign/Woolies products, you'd see Woolies change their tune pretty quick I reckon.

        • Clear on 06/07/2018 - 14:11

          @HighAndDry: Agreed. The other issue being that a lot of the time it gets too expensive always buying Aussie made. Sometimes there is no difference in quality between the two.

    • mskeggs on 05/07/2018 - 18:42
      +5

      I'm not clear on why this is 'typical Woolworths' being hard on suppliers. Coles is deleting the range, Woolies is keeping them on the shelves.

      • Clear on 05/07/2018 - 19:38

        I'm speaking on first hand experience here with the family business ;) Woolies have been significantly harder to deal with than Coles. Coles would actually put the products in a better position with Australian Made notices next to the price tag rather than their own mostly overseas product.

        Woolies on the other hand had smaller shelf space at the bottom and constantly threatened to remove the product among other things if their prices weren't met.

        • mbck on 05/07/2018 - 21:30

          What about iga/aldi, would be interested to know of what they're like from your pov

        • Clear on 05/07/2018 - 21:37

          @mbck: IGA are the best and really supportive so they'll put the brand ahead of theirs. Then again the brand also makes their Black and Gold so it doesn't matter too much. Aldi don't stock it so there is no dealings with them.

  • Savas on 05/07/2018 - 18:11
    +2

    Yeah more like the profits are higher on the Chinese crap sugar syrup

  • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2018 - 18:15
    +3

    Businesses are free to stock whatever they like. Also helps if they stock products that people will buy.

    No idea why this is even newsworthy. It's not like they are selling acid to kids.

    • garetz on 05/07/2018 - 18:27

      Chinese honey isnt really honey at all, its sugar water disguised as honey. its worse than acid, cause you dont know what you are getting, its full of neonicotinoids that cause cancer for instance. I would educate yourself before espousing an uninformed opinion.

      • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2018 - 18:36
        +3

        There is also jelly disguised as bears. They're all cute and cuddly until someone pokes it and gets the diabetes.

        But seriously, if supermarkets are going to pretend to have a moral stance, why not remove the soft drink section?

        While they're at it, remove imported seafood because it damages local stock.

        Remove all those kids cereals made out of goodness knows what.

        Heck, someone is going to call out "uninformed opinion" as long as there are still items on the shelves.

        Ps. I've got nothing against Coles removing the product. I just think it's sad to sensationalize it and vilify someone else who decides to keep stocking the product. It's just junk food in the honey section.

      • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2018 - 18:45
        +6

        Also, it won't be sugar water disguised as honey and still have neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids is found in actual honey. Not a welcome compound but to suggest that a product isn't actual honey and say it is contaminated honey but maintaining it is actually sugar water is just misleading and confusing at best.

        • garetz on 05/07/2018 - 20:00
          -2

          Your replies just show me how uninformed you are, i do not want to correct your misconceptions here and waste my time, like i said educate yourself. The information is freely available, this place is a good start https://www.beethecure.com.au

  • garetz on 05/07/2018 - 18:22
    +4

    Good on coles, support australian beekeepers.

    • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 10:01

      Good in the short-term. Long-term, it discourages competitiveness, which is why things like our car manufacturing plants shut down.

      • Gandalf the Thrifty on 06/07/2018 - 17:18

        There were lot of other factors in car industry. Govt was paying $$ into it for ages not many other industries get that.

        • HighAndDry on 06/07/2018 - 17:21

          Yeah… that probably wasn't so great for the competitiveness of the local industry either.

  • BertieBrown on 06/07/2018 - 09:58

    If anybody has Netflix, there's an interesting doc called 'Rotten', it's applicable to US beekeeping in that instance, but might still be an interesting viewing nonetheless. The beekeeping is one episode, there is more on other livestock products.

  • Mistymoo on 06/07/2018 - 10:56

    I'm actually all for this. Bees are in a precarious position and we need to ensure that they are supported in Australia. Without bees, humanity dies in four years so yes, Australian honey is far more vital than people realise.

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