CO-FOUNDER and group director of Chemist Warehouse Damien Gance has joined the chorus of Australian chief executives and corporate leaders highlighting the intensifying pressure on business and consumers of mounting energy bills, with the national retailer working harder than ever to limit the impact on shelf prices, The Australian reports.
Gance said the issue of energy prices had "bubbled its way" through his management ranks and he was aware of the threat it posed to the chain's competitive offering as consumers became more cautious about discretionary purchases.
"Chemist Warehouse is a business grounded on passing the best prices to consumers so any input price that materially changes affects our capacity to continue to charge competitive pricing as we do," Gance said.
"We do what we can to offset any electricity price rises," he added, claiming along with other business leaders that energy security is a key threat and challenge to profitability, the economy, living standards, employment as well as to household budgets.
Gance said the retail environment now was as tough as the chain had experienced during the GFC and when it was first established.
"We have had multiple challenging periods, trading through the GFC, the initial building of the business was difficult and it is certainly an area we are finding that you need to continue to innovate, you need to continue to do more in order to get the same growth that was coming somewhat easier historically."
The co-founder emphasised that Chemist Warehouse was not for sale to private equity and there were no plans at this stage to float it in an initial public offering.
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