Coles and Woolworths control approximately 67% of Australian grocery spend. That figure alone would concern any competition regulator. But grocery is just the entry point. What these two companies are building — across finance, healthcare, energy, data, and media — is something Australia hasn't seen before.
67%
of Australian grocery spend
controlled by two companies
~43%
UK top-2 market share
Tesco + Sainsbury's — considered extreme globally
21M+
loyalty program members
FlyBuys + Everyday Rewards combined
2022
Wesfarmers buys Priceline
the healthcare land grab begins
The Expansion Timeline
The supermarket duopoly didn't happen by accident. It was built acquisition by acquisition while posting record profits — and expanding into every adjacent market the data made accessible.
$1.62B
Woolworths net profit 2024
$1.10B
Coles net profit 2024
$2.46B
Wesfarmers net profit 2024
$5.18B
Combined 2024 profit — three companies
What They Actually Own
Coles Group
ASX: COL
Demerged from Wesfarmers in 2018. Owns the supermarkets, financial services, FlyBuys (data). The grocery store is the customer acquisition engine for everything else.
Coles Supermarkets
Grocery
Coles Express / EG Group
Petrol & convenience
Coles Financial Services
Finance
Coles Insurance
Insurance
FlyBuys
Data
Coles Online
eCommerce
Coles Mobile (Coles SIM)
Telco
Coles Energy
Energy
Wesfarmers
ASX: WES
No longer owns Coles supermarkets directly — but remains one of Australia's largest retail conglomerates. The Priceline acquisition marks the explicit move into healthcare.
Bunnings
Hardware
Kmart
Retail
Target
Retail
Officeworks
Stationery/tech
Priceline (via API Healthcare)
Chemist
Catch.com.au
eCommerce
WesCEF
Chemicals
Industrial & Safety (Blackwoods, Workwear Group)
B2B
Woolworths Group
ASX: WOW
Largest grocery chain by store count. Everyday Rewards is the most comprehensive retail data asset in Australia. Healthylife signals the healthcare ambition.
Woolworths Supermarkets
Grocery
Big W
Discount retail
Everyday Rewards
Data
Woolworths Insurance
Insurance
Woolworths Money
Finance
Metro Food Stores
Grocery (urban)
Healthylife.com.au
Health eCommerce
Endeavour Group (partial)
Liquor & hotels
Note: BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street are significant shareholders in both Coles and Woolworths simultaneously. See the Global page →
The Pub Problem
The duopoly doesn't stop at the supermarket. Woolworths' former subsidiary ALH Group owns hundreds of Australian pubs and hotels under different local names. The patron at their local has no idea they're drinking in a Woolworths venue.
330+
Hotels and venues
ALH Group (now Endeavour Group, in which Woolworths retains a significant stake) operates over 330 hotels and gaming venues nationally. Most trade under local heritage names with no Woolworths branding visible.
BWS & Dan Murphy's
The bottle shop wall
BWS and Dan Murphy's are both Endeavour Group brands. When you see them on the same street — or in a hotel — they're the same corporate entity. The appearance of competing options is manufactured.
Gaming
The poker machine estate
ALH/Endeavour operates one of the largest poker machine estates in Australia. The revenue funds the overall group including supermarket operations. Your grocery spend and the pokies venue down the street share a corporate parent.
Sources: Endeavour Group ASX filings 2024; ACCC liquor retailing inquiry 2019; ALH Group corporate disclosures
The Farmer Problem
When two buyers control two-thirds of your market, “negotiation” is a formality. The ACCC's 2024–25 supermarket inquiry documented what farmers have been reporting for years.
Cosmetic rejection
Supermarket cosmetic standards require produce to meet strict size, shape, and appearance criteria. Perfectly edible fruit and vegetables that are the wrong size, slightly curved, or have cosmetic blemishes are rejected. Industry estimates suggest 30–40% of some crops never reach shelves. Rejected produce has no alternative buyer at scale — the farmer absorbs the loss.
ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry 2024–2025; Food and Grocery Council submissions
Last-minute order cancellations
Suppliers report receiving cancellations on produce orders hours or days before delivery, after the crop has already been harvested and prepared. Perishable goods cannot be redirected quickly. The farmer bears the cost of unharvested labour, packaging, and transport for product that was never received.
When two buyers control 67% of the market, 'negotiation' is a formality. Farmers report being presented with a price — not negotiating one. Refusing means losing access to the only market that operates at sufficient scale to absorb their output. The ACCC's inquiry found evidence of buyer power being used to transfer commercial risk from retailers to suppliers.
ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry interim report, September 2024
Private label displacement
Both chains grow their private label (home brand) ranges using the same suppliers who produce their branded competitors — then use volume commitments to shift shelf space to the cheaper own-brand product. The supplier produces the private label at a lower margin, watches their branded product get delisted, and becomes entirely dependent on the retailer's goodwill.
ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry; Choice submission; academic literature on buyer power
Wastage policy — whose problem is it?
Surplus and waste from over-ordering, seasonal gluts, and cosmetic rejection flows back to the producer or is destroyed. The chains have made public commitments to food waste reduction — while maintaining the commercial practices that cause it. The gap between the PR and the reality is documented.
FlyBuys and Everyday Rewards are not loyalty programs. They are data collection infrastructure. The discount is payment for your behavioural data. Here's what that means in practice.
FlyBuys (Coles) / Everyday Rewards (Woolworths)
8.5M / 13M active members
What they know about you
→Every product purchased, at what time, in which store, at what price
→Household composition inferred from purchase patterns (nappies → young children; pet food → pets; medication patterns → health indicators)
→Financial stress signals (timing of purchases relative to pay cycles, shift to home brands, reduction in premium items)
→Sell data insights to FMCG brands (Nestlé, Unilever, P&G, etc.) for targeted advertising and promotional decisions
→Use for personalised pricing and offers — different customers see different 'specials'
→Inform product ranging and delisting decisions (your behaviour determines what your store stocks)
→Feed into financial product underwriting (Coles Financial, Woolworths Money)
→Build predictive models — they know what you'll buy before you do
In-Store Surveillance
Computer vision CCTV
New-generation systems track customer movement, measure dwell time in front of products, and identify demographic categories. No longer just loss prevention — now active shopper behaviour research.
Shelf heat mapping
Sensors and camera systems measure which products get looked at versus picked up versus returned. This determines ranging, placement, and price elasticity across hundreds of stores simultaneously.
Self-checkout identity linking
When you scan your loyalty card at self-checkout, your identity is linked to CCTV footage of that transaction. Loss prevention becomes personalised — they know who you are across every visit.
Paid product placement
Eye-level shelf position, gondola ends, checkout zones — all paid by FMCG brands. A small independent producer cannot access these positions regardless of product quality. The shelf is a media channel.
Where They're Going Next
The grocery store was the customer acquisition mechanism. Every new vertical adds data. Every data point makes the next vertical more profitable. The pattern is documented and deliberate.
None of this requires conspiracy. It's the logical extension of the data asset they've built — applied to every industry where consumer behaviour data is commercially valuable.
Healthcare & GP clinics
Early moves underwayEst. 3–7 years
Wesfarmers' Priceline acquisition was explicitly described internally as a 'healthcare platform' not a chemist chain. The next step is co-located GP and allied health services — adding prescription authority and medical data to the purchase dataset. Woolworths' Healthylife platform is the digital complement.
Why it matters
Prescription data combined with grocery purchase history gives an extraordinarily detailed health profile. This data is worth more to health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and life insurers than almost anything else in existence.
Full-stack financial services
Active developmentEst. 2–5 years
Both chains have embryonic financial products. The endgame is a full retail bank: savings accounts, home loans, personal credit, insurance — all priced and underwritten using purchase behaviour data that no traditional bank possesses. A customer whose grocery spend shows financial stability is a better credit risk than their credit score alone indicates.
Why it matters
They would have a data advantage over every bank in Australia. The loyalty program becomes collateral. Your shopping history becomes your credit history.
Retail media networks
Revenue generatingEst. Now — already happening
Both chains are actively selling advertising space inside their apps, website search results, digital price tags, and in-store screens to FMCG brands. This is called 'retail media' — a multi-billion dollar category globally. They charge brands to appear prominently in search results when you shop online. The grocery store becomes a media channel.
Why it matters
A new revenue stream that doesn't require selling a single product. Brands pay for access to you while you're actively shopping. The data that makes the ads work was collected without you knowing it was the product.
Energy
LiveEst. Now — already launched
Coles Energy is already live. Woolworths has partnership energy offers through Everyday Rewards. The play: loyalty points for electricity bills locks customers into the ecosystem and adds utility usage data — when you're home, how much energy you use, what time you cook dinner.
Why it matters
Utility data completes the household picture. Combined with grocery and financial data, they have a more complete profile of your household than any government agency.
Aged care & disability services
Strategic positioningEst. 5–10 years
Not publicly announced, but the data play is obvious. An ageing population whose grocery patterns (medication, dietary supplements, mobility aids, meal delivery) already indicate health trajectory. The supermarkets have been tracking these customers for decades. The NDIS and aged care market is $30B+ annually and growing.
Why it matters
They would enter the market already knowing who needs what services. The data moat is insurmountable for any new entrant.
Education & childcare
Speculative but logicalEst. 5–10 years
Wesfarmers already runs training and workforce development businesses. The purchase data identifies households with children, their ages, educational purchasing patterns. Childcare and tutoring services accessed through the loyalty ecosystem is a documented growth strategy for supermarket-adjacent businesses in the UK (Tesco tried it).
Why it matters
Every new service adds a new data stream and a new financial relationship — deepening dependency and lock-in.
The Illusion of Choice
A typical Woolworths or Coles stocks 30,000–40,000 product lines. It looks like extraordinary variety. It isn't. The same shelf controlled by the same two companies, stocked primarily with products from the same six global food multinationals, supplemented by private label products made by those same suppliers under a different label.
The ranging decision
What appears on the shelf is decided by a category buyer at Coles or Woolworths HQ. Small producers without the marketing budget to compete for placement simply don't get listed. The 30,000 SKUs are largely who could afford to be there.
The private label squeeze
When a home brand version of a product is introduced, it is typically placed immediately adjacent to the branded version at a lower price point. The shelf facings of the branded product are then reduced. Over time, the branded version is delisted entirely if it cannot justify the space.
The promotional lock-out
'Half price this week' promotions are funded by the supplier, not the retailer. Small producers cannot afford to fund promotions across 1,000 stores. The promotional calendar is therefore dominated by brands with the budget to participate — which are the same six multinationals.
The algorithm
Online grocery shopping adds another layer. Search result placement on woolworths.com.au or coles.com.au is paid. 'Sponsored' products appear first. The digital shelf is even more controlled than the physical one — and most shoppers don't notice the difference.
Fake Health Brands
Both chains have created premium and “health-focused” own-brand ranges designed to look like independent health brands. They are not. They are private label products manufactured to specification, with branding engineered to evoke natural, artisan, or health-conscious producers that don't exist.
Macro Wholefoods (Woolworths)
What it claims
Presented as a wholefood and health-focused range. Natural-looking packaging, earth tones, ingredient-forward branding.
What it actually is
A Woolworths private label. No independent producer behind it. Some products in the range are genuinely less processed — others are standard processed food in health packaging. The brand exists to capture health-conscious spend within the Woolworths ecosystem rather than losing it to actual health food stores.
✓ How to check: Look at the address on the back. It will list Woolworths Group or a Woolworths subsidiary.
Coles Finest / Coles Simply
What it claims
'Finest' implies premium quality sourcing and production. 'Simply' implies minimal processing and clean ingredients.
What it actually is
Both are Coles private label tiers. 'Finest' competes at the premium price point; 'Simply' at the budget end. Neither implies anything about ingredient sourcing beyond what the label legally requires. The tier naming is a pricing strategy, not a quality guarantee.
✓ How to check: Check the manufacturer's address. Many 'Finest' products are made by the same manufacturer as the standard Coles product.
Free From (various)
What it claims
'Gluten free', 'dairy free', 'sugar free' — health halos that imply the product is better for you.
What it actually is
Removing one ingredient often means substituting another. Gluten-free products frequently use more sugar, fat, or starch to compensate for texture. 'Sugar free' products may contain artificial sweeteners with their own documented health implications. The claim is technically accurate. The health implication is marketing.
✓ How to check: Read the full nutrition panel, not just the front-of-pack claim. Compare the sugar, fat and sodium to the standard version.
'Natural', 'Wholesome', 'Real'
What it claims
Words that evoke unprocessed, authentic food.
What it actually is
'Natural' has no regulated definition in Australian food labelling. A product can legally call itself 'natural' while containing a range of artificial additives. 'Wholesome' and 'real' are similarly unregulated marketing terms. FSANZ has proposed stronger definitions but the industry has successfully lobbied against mandatory standards for decades.
✓ How to check: These words on packaging mean nothing legally. Disregard them and read the ingredient list.
Sources: FSANZ food labelling standards; Choice Magazine — private label investigations; Australian Food & Grocery Council submissions to ACCC inquiry
Home Brands, Profit & Health
Home brand (private label) products now represent over 30% of supermarket sales in Australia — up from 15% a decade ago. The margin on private label is 2–3x higher than branded products. The health implications are rarely discussed.
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The margin motive
A Woolworths-branded pasta sauce might retail for $2.50. The equivalent branded product retails for $4.00. Woolworths' margin on the home brand is approximately 40–50%. Their margin on the branded product is approximately 25–30%. The home brand is not cheaper to make — it's cheaper to market. The savings don't all flow to the consumer.
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The formulation difference
Private label products are made to a price point, not a recipe. When input costs rise, the formulation changes — cheaper oils substituted for better ones, sugar content adjusted, texture agents used to compensate. The branded equivalent is more resistant to reformulation because the recipe is a brand asset. Your home brand biscuit today is not the same product it was five years ago.
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Who makes it
Most home brand products are made by the same manufacturers who make the branded versions — on the same production lines. The supplier makes the branded product at one specification and the private label at a lower specification. They cannot say no without risking the branded contract. This is documented in ACCC submissions from food manufacturers.
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Ultra-processing and the health gap
Australia's private label ranges skew heavily toward ultra-processed foods — products containing ingredients not found in a home kitchen: emulsifiers, modified starches, flavour enhancers, preservatives. The NOVA classification system rates 4-in-10 Australian supermarket products as ultra-processed. The home brand tier is disproportionately represented in this category.
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The 'healthy' tier trap
When the duopoly introduces a 'healthier' private label tier (Macro, Free From, etc.), the primary effect is to retain health-conscious shoppers within their ecosystem — customers who might otherwise shop at health food stores, farmers markets, or independent grocers. The tier exists to prevent leakage, not to improve public health outcomes.
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The sodium problem
Across categories, comparative analysis of home brand vs branded equivalents frequently shows higher sodium in private label products. Sodium is cheap, improves perceived flavour, and extends shelf life. It is also the #1 dietary contributor to hypertension in Australia. The relationship between private label expansion and population sodium intake has not been formally studied in Australia — which is itself a problem.
The duopoly’s control of the shelf means they effectively determine what most Australians eat. When private label products with lower nutritional standards displace branded alternatives and crowd out independent producers, the public health implications are structural — not individual choice. You cannot choose what isn't on the shelf.
What Changes This
Individual choice matters at the margin. Structural change requires policy. Both are worth understanding.
What individuals can do
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Read the address, not the brand.The manufacturer's address on every packaged product is legally required. If it says Woolworths or Coles, it's their product regardless of what the branding suggests.
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Read the ingredient list, not the front of pack.Front-of-pack claims are marketing. The ingredient list and nutrition panel are regulated. If the first three ingredients are sugar, vegetable oil, and modified starch — you know what you're buying.
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Shop the perimeter.Fresh produce, meat, dairy, and bakery sections are where real food lives. The interior aisles are where ultra-processed home brand and FMCG products dominate. A trolley built primarily from the perimeter is structurally healthier.
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Spend 20% elsewhere.Farmers markets, independent grocers, butchers, greengrocers, fishmongers. You don't need to abandon the supermarket. But 20% of spend directed elsewhere supports market diversity and sends a signal.
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Use the loyalty card deliberately.Know that FlyBuys and Everyday Rewards are data collection products. Use them if the discount is worth it to you — but make the trade consciously.
Mandatory unit pricing.Already required but compliance is inconsistent. Proper enforcement would let consumers compare value across pack sizes and own brands instantly.
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Binding Food and Grocery Code.The ACCC has recommended the voluntary Food & Grocery Code be made mandatory and enforceable. The current version cannot be legally enforced against retailers.
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Divestiture powers for the ACCC.The government is considering giving the ACCC power to order divestiture of assets where market power is found to cause consumer harm. This would be the most significant competition reform in decades.
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Regulated nutritional standards for private label.No country currently imposes nutritional floors on home brand products. Requiring private label products to meet the same nutritional standards as their branded equivalents would be novel and significant.
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Data rights for consumers.If you can request, export, and delete your FlyBuys/Everyday Rewards data profile, the power dynamic shifts. Australia's Consumer Data Right legislation is expanding — but hasn't reached retail loyalty programs yet.
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Transparency on supplier contracts.The ACCC has recommended retailers be required to disclose the terms of supplier agreements. Sunlight on exclusivity and penalty clauses would shift the balance in negotiations.
Quick Reference: What You Can Actually Do Today
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Use the loyalty card deliberately.Or not at all. Understand that the discount is payment for your data. The question is whether that trade is worth it to you — but make it consciously.
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Shop at independents for some things.IGA, independent fruit and veg shops, farmers markets, specialty stores. Every dollar outside the duopoly is a vote for market diversity. You don't need to go entirely off-grid — even 20% of your spend elsewhere matters at aggregate scale.
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Use cash occasionally.Contactless payment tied to a loyalty card is a complete transaction record. Cash is invisible to the surveillance architecture. Not practical for everything — but for the shop you don't want tracked, it's still an option.
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Know the phantom brands.Coles and Woolworths each have hundreds of private label products across many brands that don't say 'Coles' or 'Woolworths' on them. When in doubt, check the address on the back of the pack.
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Support the ACCC inquiry.The ACCC's supermarket inquiry is ongoing. Public submissions are open. Consumer voice in this process matters — the inquiry has teeth only if there's demonstrated public concern.
Sources & References
ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry 2024–2025 — interim report and final report: accc.gov.au
ACCC Market Study into the Australian Liquor Retailing Industry, 2019
Wesfarmers Annual Report 2023 — API Healthcare (Priceline) acquisition and strategy
Woolworths Group Annual Report 2023 — Everyday Rewards, Healthylife strategy
Coles Group Annual Report 2023 — FlyBuys, Coles Financial Services
National Farmers Federation — ACCC inquiry submissions, 2024
Choice Magazine — Loyalty program data collection analysis, 2023
IBISWorld — Supermarkets and Grocery Stores, Australia, 2024
OzHarvest / Foodbank Australia — food waste statistics
ABC Four Corners — 'Price Check' (supermarket pricing investigation), 2023