Well-known Australian entrepreneur, Dick Smith, does not blame Woolworths for its decision to abandon its contract with SPC Ardmona (SPC) to seek another source for its own brand of canned tomatoes.

He made the comment in an interview published on SmartCompany.

Smith repeated earlier comments that our society has reached a stage of extreme capitalism which will see Aldi and other international giants like Lidl and Walmart dominate the Australian food market.

He believes that Dick Smith Foods, the company he established to support Australian farmers and workers, will eventually be sold as it becomes increasingly difficult to source food products within Australia due to high labour costs.

He warned that unless Coles and Woolworths abandon their “full service” model in favour of Aldi’s “deep discounter” model, they will be unable to compete.

Aldi offers restricted choice and sources its products worldwide to sell them under its own labels at the lowest prices.

The Aldi model will require the two local giants to cut the number of their lines dramatically and sack large numbers of staff to lower their overheads. Aldi has a further advantage – as a privately-owned company it has none of the expenses of listing.

According to Smith, food has never been so cheap in Australia and the quantities purchased are increasing. He thinks this may be linked to the growing problem of obesity.

Smith believes that the end point of extreme capitalism will be a bleak place in which approximately half of the population will be unemployed.

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