A luncheon meeting was organised by the Consulate General of Malaysia, Melbourne with Mr. Chris Mara (Head of Government & Regulatory Affairs – COLES Corporate Affairs) at the Marriott Hotel this afternoon (Wednesday, 11/6/2014). Ms Noor Hayati (Trade Consul) was also in attendance.
Coles Supermarkets, commonly known as Coles, is an Australian supermarket chain owned by the Wesfarmers Group. Founded in 1914 in Victoria, Coles operates more than 750 stores throughout Australia, including 45 BI-LO Supermarkets. Coles employs over 100,000 employees and together with rival Woolworths, accounts for 80 per cent of the Australian grocery market.
Discussions during the lunch, with a view to promote Malaysian products to penetrate the market in Australia and Victoria via the Coles Market Chain, were on among others:-
i. Understanding Coles Sourcing Policy;
ii. The channel of communication in Coles;
iii. Possibility to hold in-store promotions in Coles; and
iv. Possibility to supply for Coles Home brand.
We were informed of the following:-
i. Coles will be glad to deal directly with supplier from Malaysia or through an agent here in Melbourne. The ideal is to deal directly with the supplier from Malaysia;
ii. The modus operandi of how the Malaysian products i.e. food and drinks can be promoted in Coles directly by suppliers from Malaysia would be by promoting their products to the 90 plus buyers of different product categories (there are about 26,000 to 30,000 products in sale at Coles depending on the size of each outlet). If and when the Product Category buyers agree to buy the products then the promotions will take place;
iii. Mr Chris Mara will be willing to host such a meeting between the Coles Buyers and Malaysian Suppliers;
iv. That as of right now although Coles promotes “Buy Australian”, many items especially the non-fresh products are still imported;
v. Promotion of Malaysian Products can be held in Coles via a Malaysian Product Week for example that will take place for at least a week from Thursday till Wednesday;
vi. That should the Malaysian Fine Food Exhibition Melbourne (scheduled in September 2014) take place, a meeting between interested Malaysian suppliers and Coles can be arranged via Mr Mara’s office.
We were glad that such a meeting took place to determine where we could assist in promoting more Malaysian products in Victoria and Australia. Dr Mohd Rameez also promoted AgroMas Products to Mr Mara, and enquired of the possibility of AgroMas participation in such collaborations with Coles in the near future.
