Tex Edwards: Monopoly Watch spokesperson on Z Energy expanding their grocery offering

Z Energy is looking to top up the supermarket conversation. 

Newsroom reports the gas station chain is expanding its grocery offering as part of a diversification push. 

Chief Executive Lindis Jones says it will target customers looking for convenience between their large shops – for snacks or staples. 

Monopoly Watch spokesperson Tex Edwards told Ryan Bridge it's still not going to solve competition between supermarkets, which is hurting the economy. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shedding eggs from the petrol station might be the new
normal of z energy gets its way. They're planning to
roll out grocery offerings to all of their two hundred
petrol stations around the country. They say this isn't to
compete with the big supermarket chains, but instead just top
up what they've already got available. Text Edwards is monopoly
watched spokesperson with us this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Text, good morning, Good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Do you think this is a smart move from them?
Because I think about my dairy and dairies all around
New Zealand where you know you've got parking problems now
because of cycle. There a whole bunch of reasons why
dairies aren't as hot as they used to be. This
might be a good solution if you just want a
couple of things to pick up.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I don't think it's a real significant move, Ryan. The
problem with that is at the supermarket competition economics review,
the dynamic of their monopoly and supermarkets is you need
what we call like for light competition. So to have
any impact on price, sustainability or nutrition competition, you need

(01:07):
like to light shops. This looks like a desperate a
tent by the supermarket operators and by the fuel industry
to pretend that the wholesale regime worked. Ironically, the fuel
industry had the same competition problem and it had a
market to study actually before supermarkets, and they had the

(01:29):
Fuel Industry Act of twenty twenty. So sure, it might
be a great place to buy some eggs and some bread,
but it's not going to solve the big clanger and
the economy called competition in the supermarket.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
But to be fair, they're not saying it is either
they're just saying or we sell a bunch of stuff
at the moment, we'll sell a bunch of more stuff,
maybe some fresher projects.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
It makes makes makes perfect sense because if we think
about it in twenty years time, the fuel that the
fuel distributors are going to have a problem as people
swap into electric cars, so then they're not have so
much traffic through But actually, if you do a deeper
dive into the announcement, a lot of it is about
the fuel industry trying to be goody two shoes with

(02:14):
the Commers Commission and pretend that their wholesale regime is working,
and that the wholesale regime that was suggested might work
in supermarkets could also work, but this just isn't the
case because the industries are quite different, and it's quite
a dangerous move to have the fuel industry if you're

(02:35):
an industry analyst, and this is a boten response, right,
so apologize for doing it so early in the warning.
But if you're the fuel industry, you're trying to persuade
the regulators that isn't a competition problem in fuel industry
because they have a wholesale regime where you have to.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Have Yeah, but what's they do with selling eggs?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Oh, what it's got to do with selling eggs is
that they think it's a solution that's that's similar to it, that.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
That use like a long bow. Text, are you doing long.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
It is a long boat for first thing in the morning, Ryan.
But what we bt the industry structures trying to do
is say, hey, we could have the wholesale regime similar
to what we had in the fuel industry, and now
we don't need to break up the supermarkets because we're
going to do just what the fuel industry did.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
I don't know, Text. I think a long bow not
just for Wednesday morning, but just a long bow is
a long Bow, but I appreciate you coming on the show.
It is seventeen after five News Talk said p.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Listen live to News Talks it'd be from five am weekdays,
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