How Sundays became golden trading days for supermarkets

Chances are if you have work or a family you will probably wait until the weekend to do your grocery shopping, and Sunday is the ever-increasing day most people are choosing to buy their groceries.

According to The Age, supermarket giants Aldi, Coles and Woolworths are set to enter into a new battle and it’s all in a bid to attract you to spend your Sunday dollars in their stores.

Coles and Aldi have already attracted the weekend shopper, and Coles claims Sunday is its biggest trading day of the week.

Woolworth however, is looking to commit around $75 million to boost its staff levels on the weekends and its loyalty scheme, but while long checkout queues remain unchanged this action might prove futile.

“Our view is service is a really significant area that Woolworths needs to improve, it’s vital to winning back that premium customer,” says Shaun Cousins of JP Morgan.

You want to get your shopping done quickly and cost-effectively, so the whole ‘skeleton staff’ on a Sunday for Woolies means it has not moved with the times.

Cutting staff on the weekends might have been a way for the company to protect its profits, but it has also affected the supermarket chain’s competitiveness.

In addition to launching a price war on women’s sanitary products, Coles has also seized on the consumer shift that sees them abandon the once-a-week shop and take advantage of deregulated trading hours.

According to analysts though, more frequent shopping also leads to shoppers abandoning supermarkets for specialty items such as bread, meat, fruit and vegetables.

What day of the week do you do your grocery shopping? Do you venture to bakeries, butchers or green grocers or stick to the supermarkets for your shopping?