What one small vegetable tells us about the Woolies turnaround.

About 18 months ago, I found myself having problems with the auto-checkout machine at my local Woolies which failed to recognise the weight of one small chilli I placed on the scales. As the red light flashed and the attendant ambled over to me, I realised the entire experience was counter-productive, which is one of the reasons why Aldi thinks self-checkouts are a stupid idea. Expensive labour had to compensate for poorly programmed machines while customers were slowed down, frustrated and humiliated, all presumably to save a few measly shoplifting dollars. Companies that make decisions like this usually fix them quickly. Ones that don’t tend to be monopolists that know they can mistreat their customers because they have no choice. Woolies is not in that fortunate position, and yet it was behaving like it. The groceries market is becoming more competitive, not less, but the company was happy to frustrate customers, almost inviting them to go elsewhere. To read full article, go to : (VIEW LINK)