Woolworths boss Amanda Bardwell seeing a ‘real acceleration’ in value-seeking shopping behaviour

Cross-shopping is the new buzzword for bargain hunters. The boss of the country’s biggest supermarket chain, Woolworths, says consumers are increasingly shifting some of their weekly grocery shop to other retailers as they look to stay above cost-of-living pressures. “Cross-shopping is absolutely something that we’re seeing as customers look to compare prices . . . particularly in those key non-food categories like personal care, household care,” chief executive Amanda Bardwell told The West Australian on Wednesday after unveiling a slide in profit. “Many of those categories, we’re seeing increasing levels of cross-shop into other retailers . . . like Amazon, Bunnings, Chemist Warehouse.” Ms Bardwell noted it wasn’t until mid-last year when it started to see “a real acceleration in value-seeking behaviour”, with customers now looking for deeper specials around the 40-50 per cent off mark and switching to home brands. Many customers were also relying on loyalty points and reward offers to save money at the checkout, she said. “We have seen an increase in customers participating in our Everyday Rewards loyalty program and that shows up with customers increasingly scanning their cards so that they get more points,” Ms Bardwell said. Ms Bardwell’s comments came after fresh data revealed prices of key grocery staples like meat, vegetables and bread picking up, with inflation proving sticky. New Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed core inflation — which removes volatile price movements — ticked up slightly to 2.8 per cent in the year to January. While the numbers were in-line with the Reserve Bank’s expectations, economists believe a second interest rate cut is unlikely when the board next meets on March 31-April 1. Ms Bardwell welcomed the RBA’s decision to cut interest rates last week but says shoppers will continue to seek value this year. “At the same time we’re seeing customers also put a lot of value on convenience,” she said.