00:00 Good afternoon. They're using a whole network of manufacturers and contract distillers.
00:08 I actually went inside one just a few days ago. Huge operation. They have massive tanks
00:15 that make private label wine. They have a cider bottling facility. They also have the
00:22 capability to tap in on the growing trends of things like seltzers and ready to drinks.
00:27 And that's really how the grocery giants like Coles and the Wooley spin-off Endeavor, which
00:33 operates liquor stores such as Dan Murphy's, are getting increasingly into private label
00:39 alcohol. We don't really have any firm figures on how entrenched home brand booze is in the
00:46 sector. Analysts say it's really hard. The company reports that I've looked at of things
00:51 like Coles and Endeavor don't make things particularly clear. Although Coles did say
00:55 that its exclusive label of alcohol products grew by 8.5% just last year alone. We're actually
01:02 about to get the company results of some of these companies soon, so I'll be keeping my
01:05 eye on this. As you mentioned there, it is getting increasingly controversial because
01:10 we have had so many stories in recent times of big corporations being alleged to have
01:16 been price gouging, to have had too much power over the market. Some alcohol brands say that
01:21 this is really the latest example of this happening. And why is this practice controversial,
01:28 Amelia? Well, as I mentioned there, it's because in some people's opinion, the latest way that
01:34 market power is being encroached on. We don't really know how much of independent brand
01:41 space is being taken up in bottle shops like the one behind me by private label products.
01:47 We don't know that Coles and Endeavor are releasing hundreds of these products every
01:51 year. And some of them are controversial because it's really hard to tell that that's what
01:56 you're buying. I just bought a bottle of gin from the liquor land behind me, which is owned
02:01 by Coles and it says Tasmanian gin, which is in fact where it's made. But it's really
02:06 hard to say that it's a Coles-linked product until you go to the very back of it and you
02:11 find its subsidiary company, or if you look up its trademark. I've actually been talking
02:15 to people along this street today, maybe 11 o'clock's a little bit too early for alcohol
02:20 for them, but they have told me they don't really care too much about home brand alcohol.
02:24 They care about price and whether it is good to drink or not. Although some customers I've
02:30 spoken to have said they are very concerned about this, that they don't know what they're
02:34 buying. So that's the gamut of ranges of opinion here, essentially.
02:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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