WoolWorths holdings limited 2013 good BUsiness JoUrneY report

SETTING OUT
CONTRIBUTION TO THE
SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY
Woolworths continues to create shared
value across a broad spectrum of the
South African economy, at the most
fundamental level by generating direct
employment and career opportunities
for over 23 500 people and indirectly
more than double that through our
manufacturing and processing network,
as well as assisting to bring small-scale
suppliers into the value chain.
During the current year our staff
complement has grown by 1 076, a portion
of which is due to the purchase of our
franchise business, where Woolworths
made offers to all the employees in
these businesses. We have also created
over 5 000 new jobs directly in the last
five years.
Woolworths has done a country of origin
assessment in order to confirm that 96%
of the food that it sells is South African in
origin – a significant contribution to the
South African economy, especially the
agricultural sector.
what a day
the difference
makes
The vast majority of goods sold in our
stores, by volume, are manufactured
in South Africa and we continue to
encourage local manufacturing wherever
possible. We will only consider sourcing
abroad where local or regional supplier
partners are unable to provide the ideal
quality, value and innovation that our
customers expect. Woolworths is also well
placed to drive Enterprise Development
projects and has set up teams devoted
to working more closely with emerging
suppliers, further supporting South African
business first as part of our indirect
economic contribution.
One of our key contributions is to provide
safe, healthy and good-quality products
to consumers at a reasonable price.
Our food, clothing, home and beauty
technologists ensure product development
and innovation take into account our
safety policies. We are also assisting
to create our customer of the future by
investing in education through a number
of our corporate social investment
interventions. Our Good Business Journey
programme drives investment into efficient
and green technology in our real estate,
logistics and supplier networks, as a part
of our contribution to South Africa’s green
economy growth. This is also supported
by our initiatives in waste management
and recycling, especially incorporating
more and more recycled content into our
products and packaging.
Woolworths’ expansion programme has
moved to a focus on store extensions
and modernisations, as well as the
continuation of our supermarket strategy,
through the launch of the Parkview Kimiad
store in Pretoria. The current retail footprint
includes: 461 stores – 330 corporate stores
and 131 franchise stores. During 2014 we
will continue the push into Africa with
three new stores.
The retail sector
and consumption
A key retail sector sustainability issue
is dealing with the inherent conflict of
the sector in promoting consumption.
Woolworths attempts to do this in a
responsible manner by ensuring the
majority of promotions we offer are
linked to long-term shopping behaviour
(via our loyalty programme, WRewards)
or do not promote food wastage
(our Eat in for a family of 4 for R150
promotions). Our WRewards programme
now offers a green rewards component,
which will reward customers for making
more sustainable choices.
a look inside
our good
business journey
WHL 18 / 2013 GOOD BUSINESS JOURNEY