Leading Australian retailer Woolworths has announced its will cut jobs and close underperforming stores as part of a A$959m restructuring.
As part of its five-year turnaround plan, Woolworths will slow its new store rollouts in Australia, close 21 underperforming or unprofitable stores in Australian and seven in New Zealand, and cut 500 jobs from its support office and supply chain.
Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci told investors on 25 July that the operating model review implemented when he was announced as CEO back in February is already showing results.
“Five months ago, I said we would work hard to get customers to put us 1st, to improve our culture and rebuild momentum,” Banducci said. “Today’s announcement demonstrates both the progress we are making and our absolute commitment to act quickly to rebuild the business by doing the right thing by our customers, shareholders, team and suppliers.
Banducci said Woolworths’ supermarket strategy was to get customers to “put us first”, through investing on price, quality, service and customer experience.
“While we have had to make some tough decisions and this has ramifications for many of our team, we are confident we are putting in place solid foundations for the future and early results give us confidence we are on the right track,'Banducci said. 'This will be a three to five year journey and we are determined to drive sustainable improvements in sales per square metre and Return on Funds Employed to deliver value for shareholders,”
