A New Year COVID-Omicron Update from our CEO

Dear Customers,

With the current lockdowns now entering Week 10 in NSW and Week 4 in Victoria, I wanted to provide an update to all Australians on how we’re supporting our team, customers and the communities we serve.

Our dedicated team...

We are deeply appreciative of our team members on the front line, whether in Stores, Distribution Centres or out making deliveries. They are feeling the impacts of Delta very directly, with more than 3,300 team members currently in isolation on the advice of local health authorities.

Also a huge thank you to team members across the country who have rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated. We’ve already had 3,000++ jabs at our on-site Distribution Centre clinics in NSW and VIC, plus thousands more thanks to priority vaccination slots from NSW Health.

Why are some products not available?

You may have noticed some gaps on shelf this week, or substitutions in your online order. Unlike 18 months ago, this is less to do with surges in customer demand (aka “the toilet paper wars”) and more because of the extra pressure on our Distribution Centres, with over 500 of those team members needing to self-isolate as close or casual contacts. The good news is that these team members, having tested negative, are starting to be cleared to come back to work.

If you’re shopping online in NSW and the ACT, you’ll notice that currently we are automatically allowing substitutions on all orders given the demand pressure. We know this isn’t ideal, but it does mean there’s less chance of missing out on an essential item. We’ll revert to your preference as soon as we possibly can.

Our sustainable collectible program, Woolworths Bricks, starts on 8th September, which we hope will bring a little joy to families everywhere. However in NSW and the ACT, we have postponed the start to 22nd September to help those teams prioritise food and essentials – plus we’ve set aside a full allocation of packs to help make sure no-one misses out.

Why can’t I get my preferred home delivery slot?

Demand has grown rapidly, with more than 330,000 people choosing to shop with us online for the first time since July. We are also prioritising close to 1 million online customers registered for Priority Assistance, who are either in mandatory isolation or considered vulnerable.

Our team is working hard to add more online windows across NSW, particularly for those most impacted in Greater Sydney. Thank you in advance for your patience as we work through this.

Are our stores COVIDSafe?

Yes, they are safe and it is critical we all help keep them safe. Please continue to maintain social distancing, wear a mask and use the QR code to check in and out. The Woolworths App can help you be as efficient as possible, by making lists before you leave and organising items by aisle.

Beating the Delta Blues together

I read a lot of customer feedback and the sense of frustration due to Delta is palpable.

Our slow cooking and scratch baking adventures from last year have turned into meal shortcuts, and we’re seeing growth in chilled and frozen food categories that make life a little easier.

We also understand that the current challenges are having an impact on our collective mental health, so it is more important than ever to look out for each other and ourselves.

Thank you again for your support and take care.

Brad Banducci

CEO Woolworths Group

Dear NSW Customers,

With Greater Sydney now entering its third week of lockdown, and with the tightening of restrictions announced on Friday, I wanted to assure you that we are committed to keeping our customers, teams and communities safe and this is our top priority.

A few things by way of reminder as you plan your shopping:

Current NSW Government restrictions allow only one person per household per day to shop and that it is mandatory to check in via the NSW Government QR code, which is now available in multiple locations throughout our stores.

Our team members can help you check in if you need assistance, or do not have a smartphone, by providing a tablet with the NSW Government app to ensure your information is captured securely. We understand checking in is something new for all of us, so please treat our team with kindness and respect as they help everyone get used to it.

It’s worth also saying that we care about your privacy. All information captured by the Service NSW app is administered and stored by the Government. Woolworths does not have access or store any of this information.

In recent days, the NSW Government has also made it clear that shopping for essentials should be done as quickly as possible. Using the Woolworths App can help, as it allows you to make lists before you shop and even locate items by aisle. Planning ahead and shopping online for contactless Delivery, Direct to Boot or Pick up is also a good option.

Finally, it is important that you don’t come into a store if you feel unwell or have been in contact with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID. All our New South Wales team members have also been asked to not come to work on the same basis.

Thank you again for your ongoing understanding and for showing kindness and respect to our team members and your fellow customers. We are all in this together - please check-in first so that we can check you out safely.

Be safe and take care.

Brad Banducci

CEO Woolworths Group

Dear Customers,

I wanted to provide you with an update from Woolworths, given the current Lockdown across multiple locations in Australia including:

• Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour

• Greater Darwin, Palmerston, Litchfield Council areas, Wagait and Belyuen Shires

• Perth and Peel areas in Western Australia,

• South East Queensland (Noosa, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, Logan, Redlands, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Somerset, Scenic Rim, Moreton Bay and Lockyer Valley regions)

• Townsville, Magnetic Island and Palm Island regions.

We know these are once again uncertain and anxious times for us all. Incredible as it might seem, it is now over 16 months since Australia had its first COVID case and keeping our customers, teams and communities safe remains our top priority.

Supporting our team

We remain deeply appreciative of our team members on the front line, whether in our stores, distribution centres, or out making deliveries. Please show kindness to our team as they continue to work to have essential items available for you. They are feeling the impact of these restrictions just as much as you are, and I don’t think I can emphasise the need for mutual respect strongly enough.

Helping you shop COVIDSafe in our stores

• Health & Safety Ambassadors are positioned at the entry of all affected Woolworths Supermarkets 9am and 7pm. These dedicated team members are here to help with QR code check-in, cleaning baskets and trolleys, and are also monitoring customer numbers as needed.

• When shopping in store, please wear a mask, sanitise your hands and practise social distancing.

• It is a government requirement that you check in each time you visit our stores using the government app in your state to assist with contact tracing requirements. There are multiple locations throughout the store to check in. If there is a line up please be patient and maintain social distancing between yourselves and other shoppers.

• A reminder to get tested and isolate if you have any COVID symptoms. Please refrain from coming into our stores if you feel unwell.

Product update

here is plenty of stock in our distribution centres and we’ve put more trucks on the road to bring extra stock into stores. Our team will be working hard to restock shelves as quickly as possible over the week.

Frustratingly, we currently have a 2-pack per shop limit on toilet paper in NSW and WA after we’ve seen surge buying leading to some shortages in store and online. It seems the almost primordial urge to pantry stock toilet paper is still symbolic of these times. We expect to be back in full stock in the next few days and as previously, we’d ask you to only buy what you need.

Shopping online

Our online shopping services are all open with good availability of ordering windows. A reminder that there are a number of ways you can shop online with confidence:

• Woolworths Direct-to-Boot or Community Pick up, which allows you to pick up for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

• Woolworths Priority Assistance for the elderly, people with disability and those in mandatory isolation. To register for Priority Assistance click here.

• Contactless Home Deliveries for groceries delivered to your doorstep.

Notifying customers of positive cases in local stores

We have had stores impacted over the last week, with cases of customers returning positive tests. We’ll continue to be as transparent as possible, including posting notices online and in-store when we learn of confirmed cases.

All impacted stores have had a deep clean since we were notified of these positive customer cases and have since re-opened. As per the Government advice, please check for details on testing if you have visited these stores on these dates.

NSW Health

Queensland Health

Western Australia Health

Northern Territory Health

We know the impact that COVID, including these latest restrictions, is having on our collective mental health. It is more important than ever to look out for ourselves and each other. Thank you again for your ongoing support, patience and understanding.

Be safe and take care.

Brad Banducci

CEO Woolworths Group

Dear NSW Customers,

With the current Lockdown across Greater Sydney, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour and restrictions introduced in regional NSW, I wanted to provide you with an update from Woolworths.

We know these are once again uncertain and anxious times for all NSW residents. Incredible as it might seem, it is now over 16 months since Australia had its first COVID case and keeping our customers, teams and communities safe remains our top priority.

Supporting our team

We remain deeply appreciative of our team members on the front line, whether in our stores, distribution centres, or out making deliveries. Please show kindness to our team as they continue to work to have essential items available for you. They are feeling the impact of these restrictions just as much as you are, and I don’t think I can emphasise the need for mutual respect strongly enough.

Helping you shop COVIDSafe in our stores

• Health & Safety Ambassadors are positioned at the entry of all Woolworths Supermarkets in Greater Sydney between the hours of 9am- 7pm. These dedicated team members are here to help with QR code check-in, cleaning baskets and trolleys, and are also monitoring customer numbers as needed.

• When shopping in store, please wear a mask, sanitise your hands and practise social distancing.

• We strongly encourage you to check in each time you visit our stores using the NSW Government QR code to assist with contact tracing requirements. There are multiple locations throughout the store to check in. If there is a line up please be patient and maintain social distancing between yourselves and other shoppers.

• A reminder to get tested and isolate if you have any COVID symptoms. Please refrain from coming into our stores if you feel unwell.

Product update

We have plenty of stock of most essential items, with more continuing to flow through from our distribution centres. Frustratingly, we currently have a 2-pack per shop limit on toilet paper after we’ve seen surge buying leading to some shortages in store and online. It seems the almost primordial urge to pantry stock toilet paper is still symbolic of these times. We expect to be back in full stock in the next few days and as previously, we’d ask you to only buy what you need.

Shopping online

Our online shopping services are all open with decent availability of ordering windows. A reminder that there are a number of ways you can shop online with confidence:

• Woolworths Direct-to-Boot or Community Pick up, which allows you to pick up for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

• Woolworths Priority Assistance for the elderly, people with disability and those in mandatory isolation. To register for Priority Assistance click here.

• Contactless Home Deliveries for groceries delivered to your doorstep.

Notifying customers of positive cases in local stores

We have had a number of stores impacted over the last week, with cases of customers returning positive tests. We’ll continue to be as transparent as possible, including posting notices online and in-store when we learn of confirmed cases.

All impacted stores have had a deep clean since we were notified of these positive customer cases and have since re-opened. As per the NSW Government advice, please check here for details on testing if you have visited these stores on these dates.

We know the impact that COVID, including these latest restrictions, is having on our collective mental health. It is more important than ever to look out for ourselves and each other. Thank you again for your ongoing support, patience and understanding.

Be safe and take care.

Brad Banducci

CEO Woolworths Group

Working together to keep all Victorians safe

To all our customers,

We’re more committed than ever to working together to keep our customers, teams and communities safe.

The Victorian Government has advised that it is now mandatory for everyone in our stores to check in via QR codes. We support the Government’s position and ask you to do the right thing to help keep Victorians safe by checking in via the Service Victoria app, using the QR codes available in multiple locations in our stores. Our team members can help you if you need assistance.

It’s important that you don’t come into a store if you feel unwell, should be in mandatory isolation or have been in contact with a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19. All our Victorian team members have also been asked to not come to work if they feel unwell.

Please continue to treat our teams with the respect and courtesy they deserve. We thank you for your ongoing patience and support as together we do all we can to keep our communities safe.

Download the Service Victoria app for easier check-in here:

Stay safe,

Brad Banducci
CEO, Woolworths Group

A message from our CEO to our Victorian communities

Dear Victorian Customers,

With the current lockdown across the State and the ongoing reporting of new COVID cases, I thought it timely to provide you with an update from Woolworths.

We know these are once again uncertain and anxious times for all Victorians and I especially feel for those of you in Melbourne, who have now had more than 160 days in lockdown and many more days of various restrictions since the start of the pandemic.

Helping you shop COVIDSafe in store

Health & Safety Ambassadors are positioned at the entry of all Woolworths Supermarkets in Victoria. These dedicated team members are here to help with cleaning baskets and trolleys, and are also monitoring customer numbers as needed.

When shopping in store, please wear a mask if you can, sanitise your hands and continue to practice social distancing.

We encourage you to check in each time you visit our stores using the Victorian Government QR code to assist with contact tracing.

A reminder to isolate and get tested if you have any COVID symptoms. Please refrain from coming into store if you feel unwell.

Notifying customers of positive tests in local stores

We have also had a number of stores impacted over the last week, with cases of customers returning positive tests. We’ll continue to be extremely transparent, including posting notices online and in-store when we learn of confirmed cases.

All stores have had a deep clean since we were notified of these positive customer cases and have since re-opened. As per Victorian Government advice, please check here for details on testing if you have visited these stores on these dates.

Supporting our team

We remain deeply appreciative of our team members on the front line, whether in our stores, distribution centres, online delivery hubs or out making deliveries. Please show kindness to our team, they are feeling the impact of this lockdown just as much as you are.

Product update

We have plenty of stock of most essential items, with more continuing to flow through from our distribution centres. Frustratingly, there is currently a 2-pack per shop limit on toilet paper after we’ve seen surge buying leading to some shortages in store and online. It seems the rush to buy toilet paper is still symbolic of these times. We expect to be back in full stock in the next few days and as always, we’d ask you to only buy what you need.

Shopping online

Our online shopping services are all open with good availability of ordering windows across Victoria. A reminder that there are a number of ways you can shop online with confidence:

Woolworths Direct-to-Boot or Community Pick up, which allows you to safely pick up for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

Woolworths Priority Assistance for the elderly, people with disability and those in mandatory isolation. To register for Priority Assistance click here.

Contactless home deliveries for groceries delivered to your doorstep.

Incredible as it might seem, it is now over 16 months since Australia had its first COVID case and keeping our customers, teams and communities safe remains our top priority.

We know the impact that COVID, including this latest lockdown, is having on our collective mental health. It is more important than ever to look out for ourselves and each other, and as a business, we will continue to find ways to make sure we’re playing our part.

Thank you again for your ongoing support, patience and understanding.

Stay safe,

Brad Banducci
CEO, Woolworths Group

A message from our CEO to our NSW communities

In light of the current challenging weather conditions impacting NSW, I thought it appropriate to write to you directly with an update from Woolworths.

We understand how unsettling and stressful this time is for many NSW residents, especially in the context of the last 12 to 15 months, and want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to help keep both our customers and team safe.

Store Opening Hours

At this stage, the Woolworths Taree Supermarket is operating with reduced hours and the Woolworths Kempsey Supermarket and BIG W Kempsey are currently closed until further notice. This is to support the safety of our team and customers as weather conditions continue to impact access to and from these stores. For your local Woolworths trading hours, click here, for BIG W click here, for Dan Murphy’s click here and for BWS click here.

Impact to stock availability in-store and shopping online.

With weather conditions causing some delivery delays due to road blockages or extended travel times, you may notice your local store is experiencing partial out of stocks, and reduced online shopping window availability. I need to stress that we have plenty of stock and any out of stocks are purely delivery related. We apologise and thank you for your patience as we continue to re-route deliveries from alternate locations and send trucks via safer routes due to dangerous road conditions in some parts of the State. For the latest updates and details of our online shopping options (including Delivery, Pick up and Direct to Boot), head here.

Helping those who need it most.

Our S.T.A.N.D program was specifically created to provide support to communities impacted by Australian natural disasters. In partnership with you, our customers, we raised $5 million for our S.T.A.N.D Charity partners (The Salvation Army, Lifeline, Foodbank and Rural Aid) in 2020. These funds help these charities to act quickly in times of natural disaster.

For example, the Salvos are currently operating across several evacuation centres across the state with a key presence between Taree and Nambucca Heads on the Mid North Coast. Utilising funds raised through the S.T.A.N.D program, The Salvation Army have been able to support those evacuated from their homes, as well as emergency service crews and have provided more than 1,640 meals to those impacted since Friday afternoon. Lifeline has fielded thousands of calls for help across their crisis support lines including 13 HELP, a dedicated hotline for natural disaster support and counselling.

If you’d like to help further support our S.T.A.N.D partners in the important work they do, you can donate at any Woolworths, BWS or BIG W store or through the Woolworths website. Click here for more information.

You can also donate your Everyday Rewards dollars* to any of our Woolworths charity partners, including S.T.A.N.D in the form of an eGift card. To send an eGift card to charity, simply login or register at Woolworths Gift Cards.

Looking after our team

We are deeply appreciative of our team members during this time, whether in our stores, distribution centres, online hubs or out making deliveries.

To support our teams we have partnered with Sonder who can issue emergency updates and alerts to team members with the app in impacted areas. They are also able to provide emergency assistance to team members needing help.

Some of our team have also been directly impacted, with their homes damaged or destroyed by the floods. Currently we know of 7 team members that have lost or had significant damage to their homes. We have financial assistance, counselling and physical support options available to all team members who have been impacted by flooding.

Thank you for your ongoing support, patience and understanding as we all work better together to help keep our communities safe.

Stay safe,

Brad Banducci
CEO, Woolworths Group

*You can donate your balance in multiple of $10 if your Rewards choice is Auto Savings or Bank for Christmas.

A message from our CEO to our Community - An important Northern Beaches COVID-19 Update

Dear Customers,

With the recent escalation of COVID-19 cases on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, I wanted to write to you directly with an update from Woolworths.

In terms of specifics, we have had three customers who have subsequently tested positive for COVID following visits to our Avalon store between Sunday 13th and Tuesday 15th December and our Mona Vale store on Sunday the 13th. Further details are available on our COVID Safe updates page.

Given this, we have taken the following measures;

• As per NSW Health advice, all store team members who are required to isolate and be tested have been advised to do so. As I write, 111 members have been tested with no positive results at this stage.
• We have also deep cleaned both the Avalon and Mona Vale stores.
• We have activated our Level 2 COVID practices across all 9 of our Northern Beaches stores. This includes wearing face masks, health screening for our team, supporting vulnerable team members with leave options and providing wellbeing support. This is in addition to all our standard COVIDSafe practices, such as hygiene measures, cleaning and social distancing.

We understand this may be an anxious time and want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to keep our customers and team safe. All our stores remain open and we are busy implementing elevated COVIDsafe measures.

Looking after you in all our Sydney stores

Extra measures added to our existing COVIDsafe social distancing and hygiene practices include:

• Store greeters regularly wiping down trolleys and baskets
• Team members monitoring customer numbers in store
• Additional monitoring of social distancing in store and around the checkouts
• Health ambassadors in all our Northern Beaches stores
• If you visit one of our Northern Beaches stores, we ask that you wear a mask. Following government advice, we also strongly encourage you to wear a mask when visiting any of our Sydney stores.

We have also been clear with our team that if they feel unwell, they should not come to work – and we have put provisions in place to accommodate this. It is also important that you shouldn’t come into a store if you feel unwell either, or have been in contact with a confirmed or suspected COVID case.

Shopping with confidence online

Delivery, Direct to boot and Pick up are both open as usual with good availability of order windows across the state. A reminder that we have a number of ways we can help you shop online with confidence:

• Community Pick upand Direct to boot, which allows you to pick up for yourself or on behalf of someone else
• Priority Assistance for the elderly, people with disability and those in isolation
• Contactless home deliveries with groceries delivered to your doorstep

We are all in this together

As before, we’d ask you again to keep shopping as you normally would and only buy what you need. Our stores are fully stocked for Christmas and there is enough of everything for all of us (including some terrific Christmas specials).

This week’s events are an unfortunate reminder that COVID is still very much part of our lives. Rest assured that the whole Woolies team is committed to making this an inspirational but COVID safe Christmas for all.

The Northern Beaches covers around 60 suburbs from Palm Beach to Manly, to Terrey Hills and Balgowlah. For further details on the Northern Beaches Local Government Area, see here

Stay safe,

Brad Banducci
CEO, Woolworths Group

For the latest updates and details of our online shopping options (including Delivery, Pick up, Priority Assistance and Community Pick up), see our website here.

A message from our CEO to all South Australians

COVID-19 Update - Lockdown Restrictions

Dear Customers,

We were all collectively surprised by this week's announcements on the community transmission of COVID in South Australia and we know these are uncertain and anxious times. On the back of the new restrictions within South Australia, I was keen to write to you with an update from Woolworths so you can hear first hand what we are doing to help during the lockdown.

Store Opening and Shopping Hours

Woolworths Supermarkets stores in South Australia remain open as essential service and we have worked with the South Australian Treasurer who has granted extended trading hours to supermarkets, including additional hours on Saturdays and Sundays, which will be a great help in supporting physical distancing in our stores. Weekend opening hours will be 7am-8pm on Saturday and 9am-8pm on Sunday. Check here for your local store’s trading hours.

BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores in South Australia remain open. You can check trading hours on their websites.

All BIG W stores in South Australia will temporarily close for at least 6 days. At this stage, customers will not be able to place or collect Pick-up orders. Lay-by collections will also be unavailable while our stores are closed. At this stage, Home Delivery orders can still be placed, however to avoid any disappointment, please expect some delays. Despite the store closures, all BIG W team members will remain employed for the duration of the lockdown. We look forward to welcoming customers back safely once restrictions have eased.

Product Limits and Stock Availability

In Woolworths, some buying limits are in place across South Australia to once again help make sure everyone has fair access to fresh food and essential products during the course of the restrictions. This includes the usual suspects of Toilet Paper, Paper Towels and Tissues. The details are subject to change, so it’s best to check the latest on our product limits page.

Planning your shop

It’s critical that we all do our best to maintain social distancing in store. To help you better plan when to shop, we’d like to remind you of Q-Tracker, which allows you to see how busy a store is almost in real-time (it’s updated every 5 minutes), and when the busiest times normally are. You can check out Q-Tracker here. It is also available via the Woolworths app.

Health and Safety

The safety and wellbeing of our customers and team members is our top priority. We strongly encourage all customers entering our stores in South Australia to wear a face mask as per the government's guidance. Face masks have been readily available to Woolworths team members nationally since April 2020 and we will likewise work to ensure our team wear their masks too.

You may see posters with a QR code as you enter (similar to what you may have seen in cafes and restaurants). Where you do see these, we’d encourage you to check in to help with COVID-19 tracing. We’ll only share this information with the health authorities for contact tracing, and to let you know if you may be impacted by a confirmed case in a store.

We also ask our customers to adhere to all social distancing and hygiene measures while shopping in our stores. We have Health and Safety Ambassadors at the front of every store to wipe down trolleys and hand sanitiser is readily available for our customers. We also ask customers to be kind to each other and to treat our team and each other with respect as we work through this unsettling time.

Shopping Online

As more of you choose to shop online for Home Delivery, Direct to boot or Pick up, we have increased our number of delivery trucks and on-demand delivery drivers to try and meet the increased demand and are taking additional steps this week to further increase capacity.

An important reminder that we have a number of additional ways we can help you shop online with confidence:

• Priority Assistance service offers dedicated online windows for the elderly, people with disability and those in mandatory isolation. You can apply here
• Community Pick up or Direct to boot, which allows you to pick up an online order on behalf of someone else
• Contactless deliveries with groceries delivered to your doorstep

These are challenging and unsettling times, please rest assured of Woolworths’ commitment to do whatever it takes to support South Australia. We will also update you, as and if, circumstances change.

Stay safe,

Brad Banducci
CEO, Woolworths Group

For the latest updates and details of our online shopping options (including Delivery, Pick up, Priority Assistance and Community Pick up), see our website here.

A message from our CEO

Getting into the Spirit of Christmas

Dear Customers,

It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year already, with Christmas less than 45 days away. With the launch of our Christmas program in-store and online this week, it’s time to get into the spirit of Christmas. It has been a challenging and extraordinary year for us all, so it’s more important than ever that we at Woolies do all we can to make this Christmas season inspiring, affordable and, of course, safe.

Getting into the spirit of Christmas

This is always an exciting week at Woolworths as we decorate our stores for Christmas. A few things to look out for are Santa cut-outs at the front of our stores, oversized Santa sleighs in some of our stores, and team t-shirts that this year feature some of our most iconic and loved Australian animals - - koalas and kangaroos - with a fresh Christmas spin.

Nothing gets me more into the Christmas spirit than our Christmas ads and I was very moved by both the Woolworths and BIG W ads this year. If you’ve haven’t seen them yet, check them out below (and don’t be embarrassed if you want to watch them more than once):

Looking for Christmas inspiration?

This will be a very different Christmas season in many ways, but not so in others. We’ll still be celebrating with friends and family, and this week we start releasing many of our Christmas product ranges:

• Our amazing seasonal range of Australian-made Gold products are all about Australian twists on Christmas Classics, with native Australian ingredients like wattleseed in our Gold cheesecake and lemon myrtle in our Gold meringues.
• We’re seeing great growth in Australian craft beer, whisky and gin, with expanded ranges at both Dan Murphy’s and BWS – the perfect opportunity to support Australian producers. Zero-alcohol options are also gaining in popularity with our range of non-alcohol gins a highlight.
• More than ever this year, we’re also doing what we can to help your Christmas kitty go further – with the new Christmas Season Saver Range at BIG W. A watch-out though – BIG W shoppers look like they’re planning earlier than ever this year, with both Christmas trees and decoration categories up over 70% on this time last year.
• We’ve just launched a great range of glass storage containers to collect free with Container Credits with Everyday Rewards and Woolworths. They’re the perfect way to cook and store food this Christmas, helping you waste less, so your food and money go even further.
• I couldn’t resist providing an update on Australian fruit and vegetables for Christmas. Mangoes are looking amazing, and we’re set to have good availability of cherries. But availability could be patchy on stone fruit as a potential labour shortage could impact growers.
• Finally, for Christmas inspiration, we have more Fresh Ideas than ever. Check out thousands of recipes online or pick up a free copy of our Christmas Fresh Ideas magazine.

Planning your Christmas shopping...

Our customer research suggests that while 40% of our customers plan to shop early this Christmas and over half intend to use online, 60% still plan to shop in the final week. So here are a few practical tips to help you plan your shopping:

• We have introduced My List on the Woolworths website and in the app to help you automatically build shopping lists for different shopping occasions. Remember that the Woolworths App lets you locate products by aisle in your local store to save you time.
• We’re working hard to make sure we have online shopping options available if you choose not to go into store this Christmas – including Delivery and Pick up – and we’ve now added Direct to Boot to many more stores (so you don't need to get out of the car) plus on-demand delivery across a large number of Woolworths, BWS, Dan Murphy’s (arriving in 2 hours or less).
• As Woolworths stores get busier in the lead-up to Christmas, try Q-Tracker. It shows you how busy your local store is in real time, so you can choose a quieter time to shop in store.

Ensuring our stores are COVIDSafe this Christmas

We’ve been working hard to ensure our stores remain COVIDSafe for Christmas, with a range of measures in place for the busiest time of the year including:

• COVIDSafe cleaning
• Monitoring and counting customer numbers to avoid crowding
• Queuing systems outside the store at busy times and in high traffic areas (like the seafood counter) as we get closer to Christmas Day

We will also monitor the COVID situation closely and respond with measures as needed. For example, you may see Health Ambassadors at the front of some stores, particularly in Victoria and NSW. As always, please remember to sanitise your hands, maintain social distancing and be kind to our team members and fellow shoppers. We also have a page on the Woolworths website where you can find more ways to help each other be COVIDSafe this Christmas.

Sharing the spirit this Christmas

It’s a sad reality that a growing number of Australians are facing food insecurity this year – with our food relief partners reporting a 50% increase in 2020. So we are planning our largest ever OzHarvest Christmas Appeal, with a target of raising $3 million over Christmas (you can donate at Woolworths stores). That’s enough for OzHarvest to provide a staggering 6 million meals next year.

Keep an eye out too for Reindeer Carrots in the run-up to Christmas. For each pack you buy, we’ll donate 10c to WIRES to support the rescue, care and feeding of sick, injured and orphaned native Australian wildlife. Last summer’s bushfires were a stark reminder of the impact on our wildlife and underlines our commitment to being The Fresh Food People for all Australians, even the furry ones.

Finally, I hope you take some time to enjoy the season - we at Woolies are getting into the spirit of Christmas and I hope you are too.

Stay safe,

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

For the latest updates and details of our online shopping options (including Delivery, Pick up, Priority Assistance and Community Pick up), see our website here.

An update on face coverings to our NSW community

Dear Customers,

The recent increase in positive cases in Victoria, and to a lesser extent NSW, is an unfortunate reminder that we continue to live with COVID. We have learned a lot from our experience in Victoria over the past few weeks and with the situation very fluid in NSW, I thought it was timely to provide you with a status update on three key issues:

Face masks are increasingly becoming part of everyday life

If Toilet Paper was the symbol of the first phase of COVID, then Masks are symbolic of this phase. In Greater Melbourne, face coverings have now become mandatory when people leave their homes (unless they have an official exception). With face masks fast becoming part of everyday life in Victoria (and indeed in many parts of Europe and the United States), it feels prudent to prepare for the same in NSW.

With that in mind, we have updated our advice in all our stores in the Local Government Areas of Fairfield and Liverpool with a close eye on other areas as the situation evolves. This is true for all Woolworths (including Metro), BWS, Dan Murphy’s and BIG W stores.

In these areas, we strongly encourage customers to wear a face covering when coming into any of our stores.

This is the same guidance we have given to our teams working in store in these areas, and we have provided them with masks to wear. We fully support all customers and team members who choose to wear a face covering.

For the latest COVID-19 case locations in NSW, see the NSW Government website here. And for helpful details on face coverings, have a look at the World Health Organisation site here.

I should also add that, as always, it’s interesting to see Australian ingenuity in action. We’ve seen a huge increase in the number of people searching online for how to make their own face masks, with searches for elastic up 250% on the Woolworths website and searches for sewing machines more than doubling on the BIG W website.

Notifying customers of positive tests in local stores

In July, a small number of our stores in NSW have been impacted by positive COVID tests.

When we do learn of a confirmed case, we think it’s important to be fully transparent to the local community, including posting notices on our website and in the affected stores and sending messages to Rewards members who shop in those stores.

If a team member has tested positive, these notices include details such as the last shift worked by the team member and the number for the Department of Health's Coronavirus Hotline should anyone need to seek health advice.

We are also working as quickly as possible to leverage our digital assets to increase both the reach and speed of these notifications and this includes our digital in-store screens, apps and the use of SMS.

Continuously improving our social distancing and hygiene standards

We’ll also continue to work with the Health Department to make sure our safety protocols and procedures are the best they can be. The single most important aspect of which is social distancing and with that in mind, we have introduced a new tool which lets you see how busy a store is almost in real-time, and when the busiest times normally are. It’s called Q-Tracker and you can check it out here.

The safety and wellbeing of our customers, teams and communities remains our top priority.. Thank you for your ongoing support as we all work together to keep our communities safe and limit the spread of COVID-19 in New South Wales.

Stay safe,

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

For the latest updates and details of our online shopping options (including Delivery, Pick up, Priority Assistance and Community Pick up), see our website here.

An update on face coverings to our Victorian community

Dear Customers,

With the ongoing community transmissions of COVID-19 and the introduction of mandatory face coverings, we understand how unsettling and stressful this time is for many Victorians.

Face coverings

If toilet paper was the symbol of the first phase of COVID then masks seem to be symbolic of this phase. We have certainly learned a lot about face masks in the last few weeks.

In line with the updated directive from the Victorian Government earlier this week, we have now updated our policies on face coverings. We expect customers to wear a face covering when they come into any of our stores in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire.

This is true for all stores in the Group – Woolworths (including Metro), Dan Murphy’s, BWS and BIG W.

Tens of thousands of boxes of masks will start arriving in Victorian Woolworths stores this weekend for customers to buy – with a limit of one box per customer.

We’ll also provide a mask free of charge until Sunday evening if you arrive at one of our stores without a face covering.

There are some official exceptions and if you’re unable to wear a face covering for any of these reasons, we’d strongly encourage you to avoid coming in to store and order online for Delivery or Pick up (including Community Pick up which allows others to pick up on your behalf).

For details from the Victorian Government, including how to use masks, how to make your own mask, what other face coverings are acceptable and what exceptions apply, visit dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus/updates.

Optional masks have been available to our team nationwide since April. Now, our teams in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire have also been directed to wear face coverings unless they have a valid exception in line with the Government's directive.

Two distribution centres suspended

For the safety of our teams, we had no choice but to suspend operations at our two Mulgrave distribution centres in Melbourne last weekend after a number of team members tested positive to COVID-19.

Although the surfaces subsequently tested negative for COVID-19, we made the decision to temporarily close these sites as a precautionary measure to protect the wellbeing of our team.

This has regrettably led to a poor supply of fresh fruit and vegetables in some Victorian stores and our sincere apologies for this. We are doing all we can to restore the supply of fruit and vegetables to normal.

Home delivery

I’m pleased to share that our West Footscray online fulfillment centre has started picking orders again after it was cleared to re-open by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. With the fulfilment of many orders also moved to local stores, delivery windows will now be widely available across Melbourne.

Notifying customers of positive tests in local stores

A number of team members have returned positive COVID tests in the last week – at Woolworths Supermarkets in Airport West, South Yarra, St Albans, Keysborough, Tarneit Gardens and Victoria Harbour, Woolworths Metro in Abbotsford, Big W in Doncaster and Dan Murphy’s in Sunshine.

We’ll continue to be transparent, including posting notices online and in store when we learn of confirmed cases, including details of the last shift worked by the team member. We’ll also continue to work with the Health Department to make sure our safety protocols and procedures are the best they can be.

It is very hard writing this note from Sydney to imagine the stress and anxiety of the Victorian community. Suffice to say that we remain absolutely committed to doing whatever it takes to help keep our team and customers safe in Victoria and right across Australia.

Stay safe,

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

A message from our CEO to all Victorians

Dear Customers,

With the recent rapid escalation of COVID-related cases in Greater Melbourne, I thought it was appropriate to write to you directly with an update from Woolworths.

Product Limits

With the Stage 3 restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, and after we saw increased demand on Tuesday afternoon, we decided to reintroduce buying limits to a number of products across Victoria. (For the latest details, visit our website here.)

Unlike in March and April, we currently have good stock levels across our Victorian stores with more product on its way. So the decision on limits was taken out of a combination of caution and to make sure everyone has equal access to the products they need. As before, we’d ask you again to keep shopping as you normally would and only buy what you need.

We also understand it might be frustrating for customers in regional Victoria to have the same product restrictions as Greater Melbourne. But we’d like to avoid encouraging customers travelling long distances to regional stores to load up on groceries, which would not only be unfair to regional customers, but also pose a public health concern.

Looking after you in store

- All Victorian stores remain open as usual, with extra measures added to our existing COVID social distancing and hygiene practices:

- Store greeters regularly wiping down trolleys and baskets

- Team members monitoring customer numbers in store (to comply with the Victorian Health Department’s mandatory limits)

- Monitoring social distancing in store and around checkouts

At this stage, we haven’t seen the need to bring back Community Hour (with both Community Pick up and Priority Assist in place to support vulnerable customers), but we will continue to monitor the situation.

To help you better plan when to shop, this week we introduced a new tool which lets you see how busy a store is in real-time, and when the busiest times normally are. It’s called Q-Tracker and you can check it out here.

As well as these customer-facing measures, we have introduced new measures for our teams. These include compulsory daily temperature checks for all team members and the introduction of nurses in many of our stores and distribution centres in hotspot areas, to support our teams with both the temperature checks and health advice.

We have also been very clear with our whole Victorian team that if they feel unwell, they should not come to work – and we have put provisions in place to accommodate this.

It’s also important that you shouldn’t come into a store if you feel unwell either, or if you should be in mandatory self-isolation or have been in contact with a confirmed or suspected COVID case.

Shopping with confidence online

Delivery and Pick up are both open as usual with good availability of order windows across Victoria. A reminder that we have a number of ways we can help you shop online with confidence:

- Community Pick up, which allows you to pick up for yourself or on behalf of someone else

- Priority Assistance for the elderly, people with disability and those in isolation

- Contactless deliveries with groceries delivered to your doorstep

You may have heard that unfortunately we had 3 confirmed cases of COVID at our West Footscray Online Distribution Centre this week. With the wellbeing of our team the priority, we had no choice but to cancel some online orders on Monday and Tuesday while we worked through the isolation and testing of all team members on this site. At the time of writing this on Wednesday evening, the site remains closed but we have increased the online capacity of our Supermarkets in the area. (It’s worth noting that almost 80% of our online orders in Victoria are normally filled from within our stores.)

Helping communities in the ‘Melbourne Towers’

This week, we’ve been working hand-in-hand with the Victorian Government and our longstanding food rescue partners Foodbank and FareShare to provide much-needed fresh meals and supplies to the Melbourne public housing residents in lockdown.

So far, we’ve provided 4,500 bags containing essentials like pasta, fresh fruit & vegetables, oats, cheese, yoghurt and biscuits. We’ve also provided FareShare kitchens with enough protein and vegetables to prepare over 14,000 meals for the local residents. We’re committed to continue supporting these Victorians throughout the restrictions.

We have learned a lot from the previous Stage 3 restrictions, which means we are now better prepared and have so far done a better job of making sure our stores are in-stock and we have enough online capacity.

However, this week’s events are a timely and unfortunate reminder that COVID is still very much part of our lives. So as well as providing you with the service you need from us, it has reinforced that we need to work hard on how we respond to positive cases of COVID so we can do everything we can to protect the wellbeing of our customers, team and communities.

Stay safe,

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

A Victorian COVID-19 Update from our CEO

Dear Customers,

With this week’s outbreak of COVID-19 in Greater Melbourne, it’s been a challenging and anxious week for many Victorians and a timely and sobering reminder that the pandemic is still very much part of our lives.

Earlier this week we also began to see signs of increased demand for some products in some of our Melbourne stores. So as a precautionary measure, we have brought back some product limits in Victoria to help prevent a surge in buying and, just as importantly, help us maintain social distancing in stores.

While this increased demand has only been in a limited number of our Melbourne stores, we made the decision to apply these limits across the whole of Victoria. This might seem like an extreme measure, but we have decided on taking a conservative approach to do whatever we can to support all Victorian communities.

Product Limits in Victoria

That means there is now a 2 pack per person, per shop limit in place for the following categories when you’re shopping in store or online:

• Toilet Paper, Hand Sanitiser & Paper Towels
• Pasta, Rice & Longlife Milk
• Flour, Sugar & Eggs
• Mince

It’s also worth noting that we have excellent stock levels in our distribution centres to meet demand, with more than enough to go around. We’re closely monitoring demand across Victoria (and indeed the country) and we’re hopeful this is a temporary measure and we’ll be able to lift these restrictions quickly.

Social Distancing and Hygiene in Store

As always, the safety and wellbeing of our customers and teams is our #1 priority – just as it was during the peak of COVID-19.

All our stores are open as usual and we have social distancing and hygiene measures in place throughout Victoria, with greeters regularly wiping down trolleys and baskets, team members monitoring social distancing around checkouts and hand sanitiser stations at the front of every store.

Shopping with confidence online

Online shopping is currently fully operational with good availability for orders of both Delivery and Pick up. With higher demand this week (and to help reduce how much travel customers at home need to do) we have boosted online orders by expanding our Victorian fleet of more than 200 vehicles and through our existing on-demand delivery partners Sherpa and Drive Yello (which are similar to the food delivery services you might be familiar with).

Community Pick up (which we introduced at the height of COVID) is available in most Victorian stores, allowing you to pick up groceries both for yourself and on behalf of someone else – you can check your local store here.

Priority Assistance deliveries also remain available to help the elderly, people with disability and those in isolation. To apply, please complete the form at www.woolworths.com.au/priorityassistance.

I wanted to remind everyone that all our deliveries (including Priority Assistance) remain contactless, with your groceries delivered to your doorstep in reusable bags. You can order your Delivery or Pick up using the Woolworths App (download it here if you don’t have it) or on our website here.

BIG W, BWS and Dan Murphy’s

All BIG W, BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores are open as usual, with the same high standards of social distancing and hygiene measures in place across the network, whether you’re shopping in store or online.

We have re-introduced some product limits in BIG W, with a 2 pack per person, per shop limit on Toilet Paper and Paper Towels (with limits on Hand Sanitiser being lifted this Friday morning).

Thank you for your renewed patience as together we work through what we all hope will be a short-lived setback. We are working closely with the Victorian Government, relevant authorities and the wider industry as the situation evolves and will keep you updated. As always, we remain committed to supporting every community in Victoria and across Australia.

Stay safe,

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

The Start of Winter and World Environment Day

Dear Customers,

With winter upon us and today being World Environment Day, I thought it was a good time to talk about some of the key things we’ve been working on.

Committed to a greener tomorrow

Something that really surprised me during COVID was the continued relevance of the environment – with 70% of Australians saying that taking care of the planet and making sustainable choices remained important to them, even at the height of the crisis.

It’s now two years since we phased out single-use plastic bags. While this was a big step, with more than 6 billion bags removed from circulation since then, we’ve always been clear that it was just the first on our journey towards a greener tomorrow.

So with that in mind, I’m proud to be able to report on some of the progress we’ve made:

• From this week, paper shopping bags are available to buy as an option in all our Supermarkets and Metro stores. They are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, made from 70% recycled paper, have been tested to hold up to 6 kg of groceries and can be easily recycled through household kerbside collection. We also plan to start rolling out paper bags online as an option, starting with Sydney deliveries today.
• We have introduced reusable nylon produce bags in more than 200 stores, which are specially designed to be compatible with our checkout scales, as an alternative to single-use plastic.
• We’ve removed more than 890 tonnes of plastic from our fruit, vegetable and bakery packaging in the past two years. That includes trays for sweet potatoes and organic apples, which are now made of recycled cardboard.
• Finally, we received a lot of negative feedback over the last two year on the plastic packaging on Fresh Food Kids apples, pears and bananas and have commenced a trial where we will switch from plastic packaging to easy-to-recycle cardboard boxes.

Supporting Australian made

As we start to recover from COVID-19, we understand how important it is to support Australian businesses and in turn our communities.

That’s why, to support Australian dairy farmers, this week we announced that we will extend our existing dairy contribution payments for Woolworths branded two and three litre fresh own brand milk varieties until June 2021. This extension is expected to contribute more than $30 million to dairy farmers, on top of the almost $50 million we, together with you, our customers, have already contributed. Thank you for your continued support for this key initiative.

This is in addition to our commitment to an Australian-first sourcing policy for fruit, vegetables and meat and supporting local products where possible.

We have also heard your feedback on how to make identifying Australian products easier when you’re shopping – it's a challenge we’re up for and one we are working on.

Winter inspiration and entertaining

In previous emails, I talked about how our cooking behaviour changed during COVID-19 and how we were becoming more adventurous in the kitchen. This trend has continued with strong growth in all forms of vegetables, with eggplant up a massive 38% on last year, herbs are also up 28%, ginger up 18%, garlic up 26% and chillies up 36%.

What strikes me at the moment, though, is how we are slowly getting back into home entertaining as restrictions ease. Premium entertaining products like specialty cheeses, olives and premium crackers have grown by 23% on last year and baking and desserts are up 34%. Perhaps it’s because we’re now able to invite people over again and show off our new baking skills?

Equally, as we continue to eat more at home, we’ve just launched a new range of options to make life easier in time for winter – delicious stir-fries, tray bakes and vegetable packs with a lot of the hard work already done for you. Look for our COOK and &Veg ranges next time you’re shopping.

And we’re not only getting comfort from food. We’ve sold almost 200,000 pairs of slippers, 100,000 sets of pyjamas, 20,000 electric blankets and 40,000 heaters at Woolworths over the past 5 weeks.

COVID-19 update

I wanted to share some updates as restrictions further ease across the community:

• We are returning to packing your bags at the checkout, including bags you’ve brought from home. (Also a reminder of our ‘Bag for Good’ program, where we’ll replace damaged reusable bags for free.)
• Almost all product limits are now lifted and I’m pleased to say we have plenty of stock of toilet paper and paper towels! Toilet paper sales are actually 9% down on last year as people use what they already have at home. The only limits remaining are on antibacterial wipes, hand wash and frozen fruit.
• Keeping our customers and teams safe is our top priority, so hygiene and social distancing measures remain in place.
• The acceleration in digital continues, with almost three quarters of a million Australians having already downloaded the new Woolworths Rewards App. (I highly recommend it – it helps you never miss your personalised offers and keeps track of what you spend with eReceipts). You can download it for free here.
• With readership of our weekly online catalogue growing strongly, we’re able to get even more into the digital version than the printed one – with recipes and inspiration for easy dinners, desserts and back-to-school lunchboxes. You can view this week’s catalogue here.

Recognising those who have gone above and beyond

Finally, thank you for all your positive feedback on our team. It has been very inspiring to read your various comments and we have been reflecting on how we can recognise their extraordinary efforts.

We’ve decided the best way would be to invite them to become shareholders in Woolworths, so this week we announced that more than 100,000 of our permanent (full-time and part-time) team members would be rewarded with shares in Woolworths Group before the end of June.

I hope you agree that this is appropriate recognition and we are excited to welcome them to our shareholder register.

It’s another reminder that it’s only by being ‘better together’ than we can live our purpose of ‘creating better experiences together for a better tomorrow’.

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

Being Better Together in the New Normal

Over the last 9 weeks, it has been both interesting and gratifying to see how we, as a community of grocery shoppers, have adapted to this time of dramatic change. It shows just how resilient and resourceful we are.

These are some of this week’s highlights for me:

We are becoming healthier and more adventurous in our cooking

While the slow cooking movement continues, we’re also becoming increasingly adventurous. Ingredients such as cardamom, saffron and dried sesame seeds have doubled in sales. Roasted peppers are up 65%, Asian and hot chilli sauces are both up 40% and capers are up 35%.

We’re also well into soup season. What's interesting this year is the explosive growth of dried soup mix packets (up 200%) as people make more warming soup at home.

It’s also interesting to see customers think about their health, with a big rise in vitamin sales, plus ground ginger and turmeric sales up 120% and sauerkraut up 76%. On a related topic, sales of cough and cold products are much lower this year compared to last year.

We are well and truly in the safe shopping groove

Over the last few months, we’ve made some material changes and investments for the health and safety of our customers and teams. At the moment, we don’t foresee the need for any significant new social distancing or hygiene initiatives, but we do continue to fine tune and adapt what we already have.

• To help with customer flow and social distancing in some of our smaller stores, we’re introducing one-way aisles, which you’ll start to see in many Metro branded stores from this week.
• We had some teething issues with some of the hand sanitiser units in stores this week (with too much dispensing), which we’re fixing as quickly as we can.
• We continue to make masks available to those team members who want them and our voluntary temperature checks for team members are a big hit.

As shopping patterns become more predictable, we’ll be going back to our regular trading hours across most of our Woolworths stores from Monday. We’ve also now brought back extended hours for late-night Thursday shopping at BIG W. You can check your local Woolworths store’s updated hours here and BIG W here.

That means we’ll phase out the Community Hour we introduced at Woolworths during the demand surge, but after receiving a lot of constructive feedback, it’s something we wouldn’t hesitate to bring back if required. In parallel, later today we will start offering a permanent 10% discount on Delivery Unlimited for over-60s. See details here.

We have become “digital natives”

In a previous email, I talked about how much the Woolworths App can help you plan your shopping trip – and it now also includes the full digital catalogue. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can here.

In addition to the Woolworths App, the first version of our new Woolworths Rewards App is coming soon. It’s packed with features to help you get the most out of your Rewards and easily track your points – so keep an eye out for it when it launches.

Finally, the Department of Health’s COVIDSafe App. I have personally downloaded it and have encouraged our 190,000 Australian team members to do likewise. The app offers a simple and practical way for each of us to help prevent further outbreaks. You can read more about it here.

We are still planning on celebrating Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day may well be a little different this year. Whether you’re together or apart, you can still show Mum how much you love and appreciate her with a bunch of flowers, some chocolates – or take inspiration from our wonderful Mother’s Day ad (see it here) and cook together with your Mum on screen. There is also lots of Mother’s Day recipe inspiration on our website, here.

Finally, we are increasingly back in supply of everyday essentials

I am very pleased to report that sales of most products are back to pre-COVID-19 levels. This easing of demand means we’ve been able to lift the product limits on essentials like rice, pasta sauce, noodles, cleaning products, sugar and eggs. Just 6 categories still have limits in place (down from 45 at the height of the surge) and we’re hoping we can lift more next week.

On the critical issue of toilet paper, sales dropped by 4 million rolls last week, now below the sales of the corresponding week last year! This week we are on track to sell between 9m and 9.5m rolls, well down on our peak of 39.7 million rolls a week in mid March or 11m rolls this time last year.

Living in the new normal

Thank you for letting me be part of your lives over the last few months by opening, reading and in many cases responding to my updates. It’s been a privilege. But as we are now living in the new normal, it feels like the right time for me to sign off on the regular emails and provide updates a little less frequently.

I think this email that I received from a customer this week says it all:

“Hi Brad, Thanks for the updates over the past few weeks.

I have noticed toilet paper stocked up at my local Woolworths branch, very pleased to see this. I have also seen hand sanitizer that wasn’t behind the counter.

Since things are largely back to normal I don’t think it is necessary for the weekly updates anymore, but if anything changes then you know how to get in touch with me.”

I continue to be humbled by the tireless work of our teams, the positive collaboration of our partners and the wonderful Australian spirit in each of our communities.

It’s a reminder that we are all in this together, and it’s only by continuing to be better together that we can succeed in the new normal.

Take care

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

Woolworths Catalogue
Stock Level Updates

Dear Customers,

As we enter a kind of “new normal”, it’s incredible to see the changes to how we all live and shop. And in turn, we at Woolies are working hard to adapt our business to meet these changing needs.

Getting into the groove on Social Distancing and Hygiene

We are all getting better at managing social distancing, so thank you to everyone for keeping a trolley-length apart, and for your patience as and where we have to manage customer numbers in store.

The Woolworths App can really help here, by showing you where to find products in your local store, and by organising your shopping list by aisle. You can download it here and join 1.2m other active App users.

New customer hand sanitiser stations will be in the entrance of 95% of Woolworths Supermarkets by this Sunday, with the remainder coming next week.

And 200 stores will have new clear screens between self-service ‘assisted’ checkouts by early next week, with others to follow soon after. These are in addition to the well-received screens at our staffed checkouts.

We continue to work on additional ways to keep us all collectively safe, with more to come on those as we roll them out.

Getting better every day on product availability

We’ve been able to remove more product limits this week, including on canned vegetables, canned legumes, canned tomatoes, serviettes and most baby products (excluding wipes).

Another 1.5 million units of hand sanitiser will come in this week, plus another 500,000 packs of pasta. These are big quantities but with demand still high, supply will remain patchy in parts.

It wouldn’t be an update without mentioning toilet paper. Supply isn’t back to normal yet, BUT it continues to improve as demand tapers, with ‘only’ 11.5 million rolls sold this week (versus 15m last week and 20m the week before) and lots more coming.

The changing habits of a nation at home ‘24/7’

Australians are shopping less often, but buying more when they do. We are shopping more locally, more in the mornings and less on Saturdays and Sundays.

The use of the Woolworths App is up 320%, driven by viewing our digital catalogue, planning a physical shop and online shopping itself. Traffic to our website has more than doubled, especially by those looking for recipe inspiration. And in April so far, cash payments in store are down 35% as we increasingly tap-and-go.

Product demand for breakfast, baking, cleaning and looking after ourselves are all trending materially up. With that in mind, it’s worth checking out this week’s digital catalogue on our website or App, with great specials on many of these categories.

Meeting the needs of online shoppers

Waiting times for Priority Assistance home deliveries are down dramatically. Phone wait times are down to 30 seconds from 27 minutes two weeks ago, with approval typically within the hour once the form is submitted.

We have significantly more windows available for Home Delivery, but demand remains high, especially as we prioritise our most vulnerable customers. Please check our website as we’re adding more windows every day.

Community Pick up is off to a terrific start with around 30,000 orders this week, allowing someone in the community to pick up an order on behalf of someone else.

We’ve partnered with PFD Food Services to better support essential services like day care centres, schools, disability services and nursing homes with home delivery. These critical businesses can now place bulk orders for delivery from the PFD range through woolworths.com.au.

The Woolworths Basics Box is now available for anyone to order for themselves or as a gift. This week, we also made 5,000 boxes available to Indigenous communities in the NT and NSW.

Finally, our partnerships with OzHarvest, Fareshare and Foodbank are building further momentum, as we work together to provide food for the increasing number of Australians who need it most.

As we collectively confront the “new normal”, I am continually reminded that we are all in this together, and that it is only by being better together that we can succeed.

Stay Safe

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

Woolworths Catalogue
Stock Level Updates

We are all in this together.

As we head into the Easter long weekend, it’s now Week 7 since we experienced our first surge in demand.

Thank you for the feedback on last week’s email. I thought I’d try the same approach this week and again try to answer some of the key questions on your mind.

Where are we with toilet paper and other essential products?
We’re working very hard to keep up with demand for all the products that remain challenging, and we’re also starting to see some pleasing improvements.

Demand for toilet paper finally appears to be tapering, with this week’s sales expected to be around 15-16 million rolls. That’s still 45% up on last year, but with supply up 70% on last year, there is increasingly more on-shelf. But like every week so far, I’d still ask you to only buy what you need.

We do still have some issues on paper towels and tissues, with sales up 60-80%. That’s a staggering 2.75 million rolls of paper towels and more than 1.6 million boxes of tissues a week. These are big numbers and we’re working with our suppliers to bring in even more supply.

We’re also working hard to secure large volumes of hand sanitiser. Just this week we brought in 700,000 units, which is what we’d normally sell in 40 weeks. More will arrive in the coming weeks, but we’re still seeing limited stock in stores. We’ve also doubled our supply of cleaning and disinfectants, and you should see availability start to improve in the next few weeks.

Pasta sauce is still in short supply, despite an extra 850,000 units this week, while pasta itself has been improving. This week we’ve secured an additional 1,000 pallets – that’s another 500,000 packs.

The good news is that as things start to improve, we’ve been able to lift the 2-product limit on several products. This week, we lifted restrictions on oats and oral care, in addition to a longer list last week including fresh milk, packaged meat and breakfast cereals. You can check the full list online.

We’d especially like to apologise for the extra pressure product limits have placed on our customers in rural communities, who spend much more time getting to a store. This is critically important to us and we’re working hard to address it.

What about prices and why don’t there seem to be as many specials?
At the height of the surge in demand, we had no choice but to withdraw our printed catalogues and reduce the number of specials. This was simply so we could prioritise getting essential products to stores without our supply chain having to cope with the extra volume of products needed for a full program of specials.

We have still been running a digital catalogue (see below for a link to this week’s). We’re working hard to increase the number of specials in the digital catalogue, plus looking at when we bring back a printed version. I would also call your attention to this week's Easter specials, including 6-pack Hot Cross Buns for just $3 per pack and Australian Tiger Prawns for $27 a kilo.

Outside of specials, we have seen some fluctuations in price. In fresh food, some of these are normal seasonal variations and some, like cauliflower and broccoli, are still seeing the longer term impacts of drought and unseasonal growing conditions. Truss tomatoes, on the other hand, are starting to come down in price after improved weather in growing areas over the last two weeks.

We are incredibly sensitive to the financial pressures and uncertainty in Australia right now. Making sure everyone can ‘get their Woolies worth’ is a big priority for us, especially on everyday essentials.

What is Woolworths, and the broader grocery retail industry, doing to make shopping safer?
As grocery retailers, we’ve been working together on things like social distancing and hygiene. This includes agreeing guidelines across the industry, plus openly (and legally) sharing good ideas. The focus this week is ensuring the safety of movement through our stores during Easter, which in some cases means managing the number of customers in store at any one time. We’re also working on additional ways to improve customer and team safety, and you should expect more on this in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your feedback on packing your own bags in store. As a result, we’ve changed our guidelines so our team can pack your bags for you when you buy new reusable bags with your shop.

Thanks also to the payments industry for further helping reduce physical contact in stores. Amex and Mastercard have lifted their transaction limit that requires a PIN to $200, with Visa and their card issuers working to do likewise.

When will online shopping be back up and running?
The good news is that Pick up is open again and we’ve opened significantly more Home Delivery windows. With demand so high, we continue to prioritise our most vulnerable customers. With more delivery windows opening up every day, please check our website for regular updates.

One of the initiatives I’m most proud of is Community Pick up. This allows someone in isolation to order online and for someone else in the community to pick up on their behalf. This is now available in more than 100 stores for drive-thru and 600 stores at the service desk.

We’re also going to extend the Woolworths Basics Box so it’s available to anyone in need, either for themselves or for delivery to others in the community. This will be available in VIC, NSW, SA, TAS, the ACT and SE Queensland from today, with WA, NT and the rest of QLD to follow at the end of next week. And at $80 for two weeks’ of essential supplies, including delivery, we’ve made this the lowest price we can.

And finally, as well as providing free hot beverages to healthcare workers in our Metro stores, we’re bringing a little Easter joy to those on the frontline. We’re donating over 20,000 Easter eggs and 20,000 Easter bunnies to healthcare workers in a number of hospitals across the country.

It’s a reminder that we’re all in this together, and if we continue to be better together, we will succeed.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter and Passover.

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

A little better every day.

It’s only 6 weeks since we saw the first wave of surge buying in our stores, following the reports from Northern Italy. So, I now wanted to give you an update on some of the questions I’m hearing most from you, and even from my own family.

When will you be back to normal on toilet paper, pasta, wipes and other products?
Amazing as it might seem, we are still seeing almost double our normal demand for toilet paper. Just this week, that was over 20.5 million rolls. So despite much more stock coming in, we’re still not where we need to be. It is slowly improving, but please help everyone by only buying what you need.

With pasta, we have an extra 1,000 pallets a week coming in, which is more than half a million extra packs. It will still be patchy for a while, but we are expecting much more stock on shelves next week.

We’re doing our best to keep up with the extraordinary demand for cleaning wipes, including securing extra supply from alternative sources in the short term, much of which will start to arrive in stores in the coming weeks.

And an interesting fact. Two of our highest growth categories this week have been cake mixes and household cleaning products. A lot more kids are baking and parents cleaning as we all spend more time at home.

How are you making shopping as safe as possible, and why aren't all of your team wearing gloves and masks?

We’ve put many new measures in place to help make our stores a safer place to shop, many as a direct result of feedback from store teams and customers. These include:

• A store greeter wiping down basket and trolley handles as you enter
• Asking customers to keep 1.5m between each other in store
• NewPlexiglass screens across our staffed checkouts
• Packing your own bags at the checkout
• Our checkout team now rotate every 2 hours to limit face-to-face interaction
• A significant increase in cleaning of ‘high touch’ surfaces and daily deep cleaning
• And coming next week, more focus on managing the number of customers in our stores

The current guidance from the Department of Health is that it’s not necessary for our teams to wear masks and gloves in store. However, we know that many of our team feel more comfortable wearing gloves, so we are providing them as an option if they choose.

When will online Delivery and Pick up come back?
And when will you clear the long wait for Priority Assistance?

We are making good progress reactivating home delivery, area by area. We’re hoping to have all areas operational immediately after Easter.

The number of Priority Delivery Hubs will go from 50 to over 200 by the end of this weekend. Some of these stores have reduced opening hours to allow us to provide thousands of extra delivery windows a week.

From Monday, Priority Assistance Partner Pick Up will start to be available, allowing customers to place an order online for someone to pick up on their behalf. That will be in more than 100 stores for drive-thru and 600 stores at the service desk.

We’ve delivered thousands of the Woolworths Basics Box to help the growing number of people in self isolation. They are already in NSW, ACT, VIC, SA and TAS with more states rolling out shortly.

Our customer care team has now doubled in size and we are answering 60% more calls than we were last week. And whilst the average phone wait time for Priority Assistance home delivery is still too long at 27 minutes, it is coming down rapidly with more people on our team to support you.

Most importantly, is Easter still coming this year?

That’s the easy one, yes it is. Easter at home will be different this year, but you should still be able to get your Easter favourites at Woolworths.

In summary, we are making progress. In partnership with our customers, the broader industry and State, Territory and Federal Governments, we are getting a little better every day.

Stay Safe

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

Looking after each other

We have collectively experienced another week of changes that are having a significant impact on how we all live.

Our team is working hard to keep our stores open, safe, clean and stocked with products. This of course includes our teams in our whole supply chain and support network.

Helping those who need it most

Now more than ever, I want to assure you that we remain focused on supporting the most vulnerable in our community.

We have reduced the trading hours at 41 stores across the country to 11am-6pm, so that we can use them as Priority Home Delivery Hubs.

In the extra hours these stores will be closed to the public, our team will pick online orders for Priority Assistance deliveries to the elderly, people with disability, those with a compromised immune system or people in mandatory isolation.

Our dedicated early morning shopping hours for the elderly and people with disability will also continue and we will look to refine and adjust it going forward.

To check store opening hours or register for Priority Assistance, visit woolworths.com.au/updates

Our partnership with Meals on Wheels has allowed us to supply over 75,000 packs of toilet paper to the elderly. And we’re also pleased to increase our commitment to our hunger relief partners OzHarvest, Foodbank and FareShare at a time when they are seeing a huge surge in demand for meals and basic essentials for those most in need.

Additional safety measures in stores

Safety starts with social distancing and hygiene, and in addition to the guidelines we announced last weekend, we are continuing to introduce some new measures to support the wellbeing of our customers and team. These include:

• A team member at the front of each store to wipe down baskets and trolleys and to help customers with our social distancing practices, trading hours and product limits.
• Some checkouts in the self-serve and express area will now be closed to allow additional space between customers.
• The installation of plexiglass screens at our checkouts has begun and additional hygiene processes have been implemented.

We expect to roll-out further measures in the upcoming week, many of them a direct result of your feedback and suggestions.

Creating jobs

We realise these are uncertain times and know that Woolworths has an important role to play in keeping as many Australians employed as possible.

We are looking to hire up to 20,000 extra people across our business to help us meet the needs of customers in stores and expand home deliveries in the months ahead.

Our immediate focus will be the redeployment of team members from our ALH hotels business impacted by this week’s mandatory closures. Plus we’re working with many other businesses including Qantas, Village Roadshow, Cotton On and others to help find their employees roles. We are of course hopeful that these businesses will bounce back strongly once this crisis passes and in the meantime we all get the benefit of their teams’ collective experience.

We know there’s so much more we can all do, and if we continue to work together and look after each other, we will get through this stronger than ever.

With thanks and appreciation

Brad
CEO, Woolworths Group

We can only do this together

Dear customers,

These are undoubtedly testing times for all Australians, given the impact COVID-19 is having on the way we live. And if you believe the experts, we still have a long way to go.

At Woolworths, we accept that this is no longer business as usual. In the last four weeks, we have seen a huge surge in demand, which inevitably means you’re seeing material product shortages on our shelves.

Like all Australian grocery retailers, our aim is to provide the food and essential products all our customers need. This absolutely remains our focus, but we need your help.

In the spirit of fairness for all Australians, especially those who need our help the most, we have made some changes. These include:

New product limits

We ask you to please respect these limits and only buy what you need. If we all do this, there is more than enough to go around.
For the latest details on limits, please visit woolworths.com.au/stockupdates

Priority deliveries

We have also introduced Priority Assistance home deliveries to help the elderly, people with disability and those in mandatory isolation. To apply for Priority Assistance delivery, please complete the form at woolworths.com.au/priorityassistance.

Dedicated shopping hour

This week, we introduced a Dedicated hour for the elderly and people with disability to shop between 7am and 8am before we open to everyone. It was a “rocky” start, but it is getting better. And because we want to do whatever we can to help those most in need, we’ve decided to extend it for at least another week.

Online orders for Pick up and Delivery

To help our stores cope with the huge increase in demand, we have had to suspend Pick up in all stores, and have paused home deliveries in many areas. However, we know that home delivery will only become more important, so we are working hard to ramp this up as much as we can.

The health and wellbeing of our customers and team will always be our top priority. With that in mind, we have made some changes intended to protect everyone. These include:

Social distancing

We have introduced some sensible guidelines for social distancing in store. These include using the size of your trolley as a distance guide between you and other shoppers, following markers on the floor at the checkouts and using tap-and-pay whenever you can. We’d also ask that you wash or sanitise your hands before you come into a store.

Contactless deliveries

We have moved to a contactless delivery service with all orders delivered to your front door only. All orders will be placed in reusable bags and we’ve also suspended our crate to bench service.

Cleaning and hygiene

As an extra precaution, we have significantly increased cleaning across all our stores with many stores doubling their cleaning time from 5 to 10 hours every day. We’ve also upgraded to hospital-grade disinfectant and are focusing on regular cleaning of counters and other surfaces. And as well as thorough hand washing, you’ll start to see many of our team - including checkout operators - wearing protective gloves.

Our teams are working incredibly hard to support the communities we are proud to serve. We ask that you continue to treat them, and each other, with the respect and kindness everyone deserves.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you for your continued patience, support and compassion. We can only do this if we work together and look out for each other. If we do this, I have no doubt we will collectively overcome this once-in-a-generation challenge.

Brad
CEO Woolworths Group

To find out more, please visit woolworths.com.au/updates

An update from Woolworths

Dear customers,

These remain challenging times and with the situation evolving, I'd like to share what Woolworths is doing to support our customers, team members and the community.

Helping you get access to what you need

We've been working hard to keep our shelves stocked and Delivery and Pick up windows available. However, as you are no doubt aware, demand is still very high and products are being bought more quickly than usual when they arrive in store.

To help everyone access the essential things they need, limits are now in place on toilet paper, wipes, paper towels, serviettes, rice and some other items.

It also, unfortunately, means that toilet paper won't be available for Pick up orders for the time being, but our team will be happy to see if toilet paper is available in store when you come in to pick up your order.

Our toilet paper suppliers continue to work on meeting increased demand, and we're working with some suppliers to prioritise the production of smaller pack sizes, so we can make more packs available to you this week.

We're actively helping seniors in our community

We've now partnered with Meals On Wheels to begin the delivery of toilet paper directly to seniors in need. The first deliveries were made in NSW today and we're doing what we can to expand this service in the weeks to come.

Our stores are being cleaned more than usual

As a food retailer, we already have very high standards of cleaning and hygiene in place. However, as a precautionary measure and out of care for everyone's wellbeing, we've added an extra 4 hours of proactive deep cleaning in each Supermarket every day.

Keeping you updated if there is a case in one of our stores

If one of our customers or team members is confirmed with COVID-19, we'll let you know in that store. We continue to take advice from the Department of Health to make sure we're taking all the necessary steps to ensure ongoing safety, including additional detailed cleaning in store where necessary.

Looking after our team members

This week we announced a number of extra ways we're supporting our teams during this time. This includes making sure we look after anyone impacted by the outbreak, whether they are full-time, part-time or casual. We will, of course, keep our focus on our team members as the situation changes.

In the meantime, I'd like to thank you for your continued patience and for showing respect and support for our team as they work hard to support you and our local communities.

Brad Banducci
CEO
Woolworths Group