The battle between supermarket giant Woolworths and newly arrived competitor Amazon is set to heat up, with the former revealing its plan to Ramp up its online offering by opening up to four new “dark stores”.
Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday, Woolies chairman Gordon Cairns said the new dark stores – big warehouses used to pack and ship orders that aren’t open to customers – will be in place by the end of next year.
Woolies already has one dark store in the Sydney suburb of Mascot.
“We need to be obsessive about our customers, their needs and how we serve them better,” Cairns said at the AGM.
“If we do not, we will lose out to those who do, like Amazon.”
Cairns also credited the creation of WooliesX as another arrow in the company’s quiver to fire at Amazon.
“We created WooliesX, combining rewards and digital to provide customers with greater choice on how they shop with us, and an offering that is counter-competitive to other offers such as Amazon.”
WooliesX recently appointed eHarmony’s marketing MD, Nicole McInnes, to head up its e-commerce marketing.
Woolies is also looking to improve its online offering to customers by piloting an express delivery option.
