Melbourne inner city location. At my local Woolworths supermarket, the shelf is consistently empty, I check every day. They restock only every week or 2, with 6-12 cans of random stages. It’s pathetic, been like this pre-covid, but that’s on the supermarket and their ability to order and restock. They replenished yesterday. 24 tins. 1,2,3,4 x 6. Today at 11:30 am they had sold 1 tin of stage 2. I'll continue to monitor it and will let you know how fast it is cleared.
But no stress if you really need formula and that Woolies shelf is empty, as right next door at Chemist Warehouse, it’s always fully stocked, with every stage, 1-4. I move the tins and find them in the same place the next day, which shows it's not flying off the shelf there and not being replenished every day.
The Chemist Warehouse shelf is always fully stocked, which shows how a picture of one empty shelf next door doesn’t represent what is or isn't happening.
Down the road, the Coles shelf is usually half-stocked with all stages available at any time.
I dont see obvious Daigou like I did. So far, nobody is waiting for the doors to open and cleaning the shelves methodically like the glory days. Chinese nationals abroad are currently focused on sending medicines, like panadol and masks. They don’t need to focus on a2's formula as anyone can now buy all the a2 products they need through the a2store website or through mother-baby stores.
Purchasing through a2store here in Australia is easy and much more efficient IMO, and, what I find very interesting, is you can pay with WeChat pay and AliPay.
For research, I just bought a tub of a2's new powdered full-cream milk. The product is excellent, I always turned my nose up at long life and powdered milk, but, if you can't get fresh a2 milk or if you don't use much milk you can keep it on hand in the pantry. I can see it being a big winner, especially for Daigou.
The order for the tub went in on Monday morning and I received it Wednesday. It was sent from Sydney to Melbourne. 6.4 litres of milk in a tub, for $20, manufactured on 03/11/22 and expires on 03/05/24.
So, here's my thoughts, I think if international consumers desire stock straight from Australia, they now set up an account with a shipping agent, pay with AliPay or WeChat, and have a2 ship whatever formula or powder they need to their agent here, in Aus, skipping the Daigou - it's much faster, factory fresh and they don’t need to have the middle-man running around and marking up the price exorbitantly for the effort. http://www.transrush.com/ or http://www.changjiangexpress.com/
Otherwise, they have Tmall, JD etc and the local mother-baby stores on the ground in China, so it’s not the same low supply and big demand environment as it used to be for amateur Daigou cashing in. The scarcity that drove the mass buying and the markups is over, so without the profit for the amateur Daigou, it's not worth their time camping out at the supermarket.
Below, photos taken from a recent WeChat video, of a fully stocked mother-baby store in China. BUT - I am sure there are still professional Daigou here, as evidenced by the daily activity I monitor on WeChat - but they have moved on to more efficient methods. The videos on WeChat show deliveries of pallets directly to their garage door. Here is a photo of a couple of shipping agents in Melbourne CBD i took last week.At every agent in Melbourne, a2 signage is prominent. Static and digital. They are advertising the new tubs of full cream milk in-store, but I haven't seen it on a supermarket shelf yet. I feel the agents and big-time Daigou are getting all the products they need directly and there is no longer a need to go to the supermarket floor for the 2 tin limit when they can obtain it by the pallet. So photos of supermarket shelves don't reflect what's really happening. Peel Street, West Melbourne 271 Swanston Street
IMO, I think returning tourists and students will give a2 a bump, they still have a valuable role to play, but Daigou have evolved, and dont need to buy from the supermarket shelf any more. I'm relieved a2's distribution channels still support them and have evolved with them. They still call a2m the Herme's of formulas.
(20min delay)