Woolies' reputation strengthens: Survey

LazyLion

LazyLion

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The reputation of retailer Woolworths strengthened this year while other companies fared poorly, the Reputation Institute said on Wednesday.

"The 2014 survey shows that Woolworths is in a league of its own. Its success comes in an environment in which South African corporate companies are suffering a bloodbath in their reputations," the institute's Africa partner Dominik Heil said in a statement.

"Woolworths has managed to break out of this logic because it has a sound stakeholder management strategy. It demonstrates that engaging with stakeholders is not a loss exercise."

Woolworths' reputation strengthened from 73.98 last year to 74.31 points this year. It was also the only company to score above 70 points.

Last year's top company Vodacom fared poorly this year, dropping 9.35 points.

The institute carries out the national "RepTrak® Pulse" survey annually and is in its ninth year in South Africa.

It measures the reputation of the largest listed South African companies based on revenue and commercial activities.

Mining companies and financial institutions were included in the survey but performed poorly. Standard Bank moved up marginally, from 68.5 in 2013 to 68.77 this year.

First National Bank dropped 9.08 points from last year, while Nedbank and Absa dropped 4.18 and 4.39 points respectively.

Trevor Ndlazi, the institute's South African manager, said the biggest driver of reputation in South Africa this year was products and services.

"Product and services, citizenship, financial performance, and innovation explain almost 60 percent of reputation, while workplace, governance, and leadership made up just under 40 percent of what drives reputation this year," he said.

"What is needed is either a new model of doing business, or for companies to take actions that regain the trust of consumers."


Source : Sapa /mar/jk/jje/th
Date : 14 May 2014 12:20
 
The only thing that is strengthening their bottom line is all the saps who think that paying twice as much for food is a bargain! :D
 
All their ready-to-eat meals/desserts is expensive, but their fresh produce is quite competitive with PnP, Checkers etc
 
Woolies are clearly not surveying the right respondents.

I will rather shop at a Spar than a Woolies, but then I do have some decent Spars where I live.
 
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VernD said:
Products and services people, products and services.

You won't get Woolies' services at Pick 'n Pay.
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PnP is at the very bottom of my list of places to shop. I do agree that Woolies till operators tend to smile. I think the PnP employment contract prohibits staff from smiling or doing anything helpful.
 
Garyvdh said:
The only thing that is strengthening their bottom line is all the saps who think that paying twice as much for food is a bargain! :D
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Don't think it is. I recall a number of people on here who have compared their usual groceries and found Woolies to be on par or even cheaper in some cases. As mentioned, though, the ready made meals are very expensive.
 
Garyvdh said:
The only thing that is strengthening their bottom line is all the saps who think that paying twice as much for food is a bargain! :D
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In their defense, it lasts longer :p and it runs free, it's organic, no preservatives, no pesticides were used....and they have proof. Oh yes, the air conditioning runs off frozen distilled spring water with a dash of lemon :rolleyes:
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Don't think it is. I recall a number of people on here who have compared their usual groceries and found Woolies to be on par or even cheaper in some cases. As mentioned, though, the ready made meals are very expensive.
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Fsck how long is a piece of rope really. On par? doubt that very much.
 
Falco said:
In their defense, it lasts longer :p and it runs free, it's organic, no preservatives, no pesticides were used....and they have proof. Oh yes, the air conditioning runs off frozen distilled spring water with a dash of lemon :rolleyes:
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I like my meat to stay quite still in its wrapping thank you.

There was a time when those things may have been true and the premium you paid for it was worth it. But the gap has closed.

Also, Woolies are notorius for stealthy price increases. Trying to screw over Frankies. And racist employment practices.

I'd say that the only decent thing about Woolies is that one Woolies is pretty much the same as any other Woolies. Can't say the same for any of the other places.
 
Some tangible things in Woolies favour, some of which I don't think other threads have touched on before:

- Refrigeration and temperature regulation. From point A to B and in the store. This is a golden rule.
- Woolies Rewards and combos. Sometimes you get free related stuff with a product you buy.
- Woolies is currently the cheapest in S.A. for Nescafé Cappucino. I'm talking ten bucks.
- Often cheaper for odd things like pool chemicals.
- Regularly cheaper for things such as the usual basket of goods and baby formula.
- Their fruit lasts and is the best of the crop.
- Sustained drive towards healthy living. Preservatives and salt are blasphemy.
- If there is a power outage they systematically start to remove all cooked food from display e.g. pies and chicken. They will give it to you but won't sell it to you.
- Free WiFi coverage throughout the store.
- Some of the best freshly made coffee.
- You actually get to know cashiers and vice versa.
- They engage with me on a regular basis in the form of satisfaction surveys.
- Their fresh flowers last really well.

Just some things that come to mind for me. I'm comparing to Spar and Pick 'n Pay.
 
OrbitalDawn said:
What? I'm just relaying what others said on here previously.



Is that all you buy, and from your whole grocery list are those the things where you save the most in totality?
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Milk and bread are probably ther two items that are purchased most often. The Woolies price on these items is ridiculous. I think 2l milk is around R26 whereas at the Spar it varies from R16 to R22. PnP is even cheaper.

I raised milk and bread as convenience plays a large role as to where you'll buy it. Woolies is convenient.

Washing powder and loo paper - well those are the monthly shop items. You can plan where to get those.

I think we should also bring Woolies clothes into the discussion. I used to be a Woolies perfect match. I could buy clothes off the rack and they'd fit. So I may have changed shape slightly but I haven't changed into a chinaman. Also, you could buy clothes that were so well made that they'd come back into fashion before you wore them out. Nowadays you need to check the seams before you leave the shop otherwise you could expect a return trip.

Yes, their returns policy is good. But it isn't as good as it was. Maybe they did get scammed by staff stealing items and then having someone return it for a refund. But the process now is laborius. The girl child bought some boots and found some of the stitching on one of them wasn't done properly. You can't just return it and swap. No, it has to be scanned back, then the replacement scanned out and a whole filling out of a form story. The consumer ends up doing the admin. That admin should be done by the store. Like it was when Woolies was that much better.
 
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