Woolworths Australia: Report on Key Business Environment Challenges

This report analyzes the key challenges Woolworths Australia faces in its current business environment. The challenges include discount pressures from competitors, rising inflation, and the need to maintain competitive pricing. The company also faces intense competition from both domestic and foreign retailers, which impacts sales and market share. Furthermore, Woolworths struggles with managing inventory effectively across its wide range of products, alongside the increasing demands for new and innovative products from customers. Operational challenges, such as managing staff, store operations, and technological advancements, also impact the business. The report emphasizes the need for Woolworths to address these issues to maintain profitability and competitiveness in the Australian retail market.

DISCUSS KEY CHALLENGES
THAT WOOLWORTHS
AUSTRALIA FACES IN THE
CONTEXT OF ITS CURRENT
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Table of Contents
Main Body:......................................................................................................................................3
The Key challenges that Woolworth Australia faces in current business environment:............3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

Main Body:
The Key challenges that Woolworth Australia faces in current business environment:
Woolworth is an Australian supermarket/grocery store chain in the nation which owns
wide range of retail business sector. From the current competitive scenario of business, it has
been seen that, the business is facing of multiple key challenges in current business environment
which is as following:
Discount pressure: The cost pressure comes as supermarkets are slashing prices to attract
customers more. Business owner has said that, the current level of discounting in Australia's
grocery sector was unsustainable in a market that was also under pressure to pay big increases in
fixed costs. Inflation rate of country is increasing year by year, so it generated big issues to the
business for offering retail and grocery services at cheaper rate (Lawrence, Richards and Lyons,
2013). So its administration team facing big challenges to furnishing of discounting to its
customers in market as per their requirement. Numbers of competitors running in the market and
offering products at cheaper rate.
Competition: Competition is one of the biggest challenges for Woolworth supermarket
organisation, the business is facing extreme level of competition in current business
environment, because of multiple numbers of foreign companies are entering in Australia's retail
industry at higher rate and offering retail services in market at lower price base. Which affecting
the sales of Woolworth organisation industry in negative way. So this is one of the most key
challenges of the business.
Knowing the inventory: The grocery store manager must understand the inventory inside
and out of the stores. There are numbers of grocery and retail products and services are offering
by Woolworth organisation in its stores in Australia. So it is creating big challenges to its
managers to maintain proper productions inventory in business and serve them in store in
respective manner (Kew and Stredwick, 2017). Knowing inventory of all products can assist
them to managing them at its specific location in stores.
Customer demand: Customer's demand is also increasing key challenges in the industry.
It can be said that, numbers of grocery products are increasing in rapid form in nation and
demand of new and innovative products are also raising up, so arrangement of new products and
services from different-different countries has become bug challenges for Woolworth

organisation. It is also increasing expenses of the firm which makes negative impact on
profitability of it.
Operation management challenges: Operation management is one the key challenges of
each business. In case of Woolworth business, its current scenario defines that, in case of
increasing in its staff and stores in Australia, it is facing difficult task to managing its all
operational activities in industry (Gitman, Juchau and Flanagan, 2015). Some key operation
management challenges which I, time & attendance system is time consuming and it is required
to manual intervention. In addition to it, some proper management of technological equipments
and keeping fresh all stores, maintain standard of business and also furnishing retail products and
services in respective form. Hence, it can be said that, all these above mentioned key challenges
facing by Woolworth organisation in current business environment in Australia.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Lawrence, G., Richards, C. and Lyons, K., 2013. Food security in Australia in an era of
neoliberalism, productivism and climate change. Journal of Rural Studies, 29, pp.30-39.
Kew, J. and Stredwick, J., 2017. Business environment: managing in a strategic context. Kogan
Page Publishers.
Gitman, L. J., Juchau, R. and Flanagan, J., 2015. Principles of managerial finance. Pearson
Higher Education AU.
Online:
The Key challenges that Woolworth Australia faces in current business environment. 2018.
[Online]. Available through: <http://www.afr.com/business/10-challenges-for-woolworths-
20150120-12u29m>