Big W (Australia)
Big W is the second largest discount department store in Australia, with more than 120 stores located nationwide. It is a division of
Woolworths Limited, the largest retailer in Australia. Its slogan is 'We Sell For Less', and it's motto is "Everyday Low Prices".
The 1970's brought the separation of products from Woolworths variety stores to separate "Family Stores" - Woolworths and Big W. This process was completed in 1989.
Now Big W has, and still is, growing rapidly. They have over 200 000 share holders, 120 stores, and 25 000 employees. Their future plans are to revamp more than half their stores and build/develop new stores.
GST Dual Price Controversy
In 2000, shortly before the introduction of the
GST by the
Howard Government, a controversy over dual-labelling tickets arose during
Question Time in parliament. The then-Leader of the
Opposition Simon Crean produced a garment purchased from Big W
Wagga which indicated two prices: the current price, and a price which included a 10% mark-up to supposedly indicate the post-GST price. The government had promised that no product would rise by exactly 10% and that prices on consumer goods, on the whole, would drop as a result of the GST. Big W was subsequently instructed to remove the labels by the
ACCC and complied without hesistation.
Being a discount department store, Big W sells a wide range of merchandise at low prices. Big W's main competitor is
Kmart, owned by rival retailer
Coles Myer.
One of its key strategies is that of 'Everyday low prices'. The aim of this is to create a feeling amongst the public that thay may walk into a Big W store and buy a product at a low price anytime, without having to wait for a special offer. Thus, Big W never has storewide 15% off days as Kmart does. Nevertheless, Big W still has a weekly catalogue with specials, which generally runs from Thursday to Wednesday (coinciding with the period of Kmart's weekly catalogue).
Many of the techniques used by Big W in promotions are nearly identical to the US chain
Walmart, such as the in store "smiley face" and the "price rollback". Indeed, Woolworths CEO Roger Corbett has a mentor relationship with a Walmart executive.
Today, Big W has stores throughout Australia, in every state and territory. Traditionally, Big W stores have been located in suburban and regional locations. However, in recent years two stores have been opened in central business districts, at Macarthur Central (
Brisbane)
QV (
Melbourne) and also a new store being presently constructed at the
Canberra Centre in
Civic (
Canberra).
Each store is divided into four departments, which consist of the following:
*Leisure
**Books
**Toys
**Camping and Fishing
**Sporting Goods
**Leisure Furniture
**Home Entertainment
**Photo Lab
**Travel Goods
*Apparel
**Men's Apparel
**Women's Apparel
**Intimate Apparel
**Children's Apparel
**Footwear
**Nursery
**Cosmetics
*Consumables
**Confectionery
**Stationery
**Health and Beauty
**Household Cleaning
**Home Office
**Special Occasions
**Pets
*Home
**Small Appliances
**Kitchenware
**Manchester
**Haberdashery
**Light and Power
**Motoring
**Home Improvement
**Gardening
Services available at each store include:
*Layby
*Parcel pick-up
*Home delivery (fee applies)
Big W employees are known as 'associates'. Associates work in a wide variety of roles, including:
*Checkout Operators
*Service Associates
*Lay-by Attendant
*Courtesy Desk Attendants
*Service supervisors
*Nightfillers
*Recovery
Pay and conditions for associates are governed by the
Big W Certified Agreement 2003. This agreement was negotiated between the company and the union representing Big W employees, the
Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. An additional benefit of working for Big W is that associates can receive a staff discount card, which provides discounts of 5% at Woolworths Limited outlets (except for Woolworths Petrol where the employee may recieve 4c per litre off unleaded petrol). In addition, part-time and full-time employees may receive a second discount card, for use by a family member living in the same household as the associate.
Store Management
Big W associates report to persons within the Store Management hierarchy.
Store Management Structure
*
Store Manager**
Assistant Store Manager or ASM
***
Business Managers or BMs (Administration, Night, Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)
****
Night Department Managers or Night DMs (Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)
*****
Trainee Department Managers or Trainees (Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)While all associates and management are accountable directly to the Store Manager, there are smaller accountability threads for each level of management.
Operations (Executive)
* Store Manager
** Assistant Store Manager
*** Business Manager (Night)
*** Business Manager (Administration)
Operations (Day)
* Store Manager
** Assistant Store Manager
*** Business Manager (Administration)
**** Service Supervisors
***** POS Operators (Checkouts, Layby, Courtesy Desk)
*** Business Managers (Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)
**** Trainee Business Managers (Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)
***** Service Associates
Operations (Night)
* Store Manager
** Assistant Store Manager
*** Business Managers (Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)
**** Night Department Managers (Leisure, Apparel, Consumables, Home)
***** Nightfill Associates
***** Recovery Associates
Operations (Support)
* Store Manager
** Assistant Store Manager
*** Office Clerk
*** Invoice Clerk
*** Sales Clerk
*** Repairs Clerk
Although all employees are paid from Woolworths Limited's National Pay Office (NPO), Managers are remunerated by salary from the various Regional Offices located throughout Australia whereas Associates are paid in accordance with the SDA Agreement (detailed above) from the budget allocated to each store. Thus, the store management team is ultimately accountable to the management team at Regional Head Office, who in turn are accountable to Area Management, and then to the Big W Support Office (National). This hierarchy is implemented identically across all stores, however, it is not uncommon for some positions to be left unfilled due to budget limitations in some regional stores. If stores do not have a full management team, they are able to 'charge-off' the manager's position by increasing their staffing levels beyond the store's allocated budget while the position is left unfilled (ie in the absence of a Business Manager Home, an additional full-time Service Associate for that department may be allocated).
*
Big W - Official Site
*
BIG W - Refund policy
