The Australian Woolworths is by the far the largest retailer of this name, coming in at #17 on the global retail rankings. This firm has never had a formal connection to any of the aforementioned firms. The gentlemen who started it in 1924 were simply opportunistic in using the brand name. Legend has it that they telegraphed the US firm in New York and told them that they were using the name, and that the Americans replied saying “That’s fine. We aren’t going to expand down there anyway”.
The Aussie firm was also originally a variety chain, but expanding into supermarkets in 1960. It is has subsequently extended its reach into a wide variety of offerings and formats. Its stable of brands includes Safeway, which was previously an internationalisation effort by the US firm of that name (#25 retailer in world) but was bought by Woolworths in 1985. This Woolworths has not been an overly ambitious internationaliser until very recently. It did enter New Zealand in the early 1930s, but sold the brand on in 1979 and only bought it back in 2005.
And finally, we get to the South African business. It has been in existence since 1931.
Founded by Max Sonnenberg and his son Richard, the firm had no connection to the US or UK businesses. By 1947 it had signed onto a distribution relationship with UK retailer Marks & Spencer which is maintained to this day. It sells clothing, groceries and homewares and is one of the more geographically dispersed retailers in Africa, operating via franchise in countries such as Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, as well as the United Arab Emirates (it pulled out of Nigeria in November 2013). The firm also owns Australian fashion retailer Country Road.
Intriguingly in this complex world of retail doppelgangers, none of the firms had really trod on each other’s turf until now, reflecting the limited internationalisation of retailers generally. As the South African Woolworths has no intentions to bring its eponymously branded stores to our shore, I guess it’ll just be the business pages that get more confusing.
Dr. André Sammartino is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management & Marketing at the University of Melbourne, and Director of the Master of International Business programme.
This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article
