Last month, Vegan Australia joined other organisations in writing to Woolworths, raising serious concerns about the reduction and marginalisation of vegan products in supermarkets across Australia and Aotearoa.
We have now received an official response from Woolworths, where they acknowledge customer frustration, confirm that the issue has been considered at the highest levels of the company and stated that some new vegan products are planned for later this year.
While we appreciate this response, important concerns remain around the visibility, placement, consistency and long-term support of vegan products in stores.
Before we get back to Woolworths, we want to hear from our community. Tell us
Feedback and examples are incredibly valuable as we continue this conversation.
Our original letter was sent by Vegan Australia, the Vegan Society of Aotearoa New Zealand and Doctors For Nutrition. Below is the response received from Woolworths NZ on behalf of both Australia and Aotearoa.
Tena koe Amanda,
I'm the General Manager for Public Affairs and Sustainability here at Woolworths New Zealand. First, thank you for your letter to us here in NZ and our colleagues in Australia. I'm writing on behalf of all in response to your open letter to Woolworths.
Firstly, we acknowledge frustration felt by our vegan customers at not being able to purchase some of the products they want to in our stores. We're taking the Vegan Society's letter seriously, and have considered its comments at the highest levels of Woolworths Group.
While growth in the plant-based food category has slowed in recent times, Woolworths remains committed to offering a wide variety of fresh and frozen plant-based items to our customers.
Several suppliers have left the market in the last three years, limiting the options we could offer. However, we have some positive news - we've been working with suppliers to bring in some new vegetarian and vegan-friendly products and we're excited to share that these will be in our stores across the country later this year.
We are proud of the commitment we made to expanding our plant-based cheese offering, with three new dairy-free cheese brands launched into the health food aisle chillers in 60 of our stores. However, sales performance is poor and declining, with higher levels of unsold stock. Shelf and chiller space is precious in our stores and commercial reality means we have had to reduce the space we offer to these products.
More broadly, we want to also take a moment to highlight our Sustainability program and reporting. This work is deeply important to us and we invest significant resources into it. It focuses on Climate & Nature, Social Impact, Waste & Circularity, Health & Nutrition and Human Rights and outlines the priority work we do in all these areas, and the progress that we've made across the Group.
There is always more to do, and we are currently working through delivery programs for our 2030 Sustainability strategy. We also need to do more to share these stories with our customers and we'll look into how to improve that as well.
Thank you again for taking the time to write to us, we really do appreciate the time and perspective as we build the future Woolworths in Aotearoa.
Nga mihi nui,
Kate
Kate Eastoe
General Manager Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability | Woolworths New Zealand
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