"representing historically low growth of 5 per cent, as...

"representing historically low growth of 5 per cent, as Australia's biggest retailer is stung by soft food and liquor turnover, a decline at the apparel chain Big W and sluggish consumer electronic sales"

........................

This has been apparent for a while now, imo, because Woolworths along with others in the Retail and Hospitality sectors have been in cost cutting mode recently especially with Staff

Eg... Woolworths have been moving the hours of their Permanent staff from the front of the week to the backend,(clustering their hours to Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)which reduces the number of hours available for Casuals and the end result of a reduction in Wages costs.

Some permanents are now working ridiculous Rostered hours.

Woolworths see a slowdown in Consumer spending taking hold imo

Sm

Ps
Some may say Woolworths are entitled to cut costs, sure, but what Woolworths are doing with their permanent employees and their rosters is not ethical and they should be held accountable by the Unions.imo

Profits count for everything, Humans dont count for anything.imo

Thank goodness Workchoices was thrown out with the last Government because the pain some are feeling now would have been ten fold under Workchoices imo.