Sharechat Logo

Dairy battle heads into cyberspace

By Michele Simpson

Friday 30th June 2000

Text too small?
GOING ONLINE: Anchor brand
The New Zealand Dairy Group is going head-to-head with listed rural services company Wrightson as the farmer's co-operative launches a new e-commerce retail venture.

Getting the nation's farmers into cyberspace is part of the Dairy Group's secret strategy to involve its 27 Anchor Mart stores around the country in a huge online project.

Wrightson is online already with a range of agricultural products and services, but the Dairy Group launch is expected to be based on the "clicks and mortar" model of e-commerce, a source within the dairy industry said.

In March, the Dairy Group registered a new site believed to be linked with the online agribusiness venture, RD1.co.nz.

"The industry is in a state of upheaval. Rather than go through the board [the Dairy Group] probably will do it this way and be in charge of their own marketing," a source close to the Dairy Group said.

An increasingly high proportion of farmers are turning to the internet for products and services. Younger farmers are much more technology savvy and use home computers to buy products. The Dairy Group, which owns the Anchor brand, has gone online with its milk production and milk quality data from its 8000 farmer shareholders.

"As farmers have turned to technology, we have moved to use the internet as a way of satisfying their increasing hunger for timely information," supplier services manager Steve Nelson said.

Kiwi Co-op Dairies, a competitor and fellow shareholder in the New Zealand Dairy Board, is also moving into e-commerce.

Chief executive Craig Norgate was keeping quiet on the venture but said it would be launched in August.

"You'll find [farmers] are pretty computer literate and have a high rate of net usage. For us we are embracing the opportunities in e-commerce with retail and other uses," Mr Norgate said.

Farmers cannot get enough of the internet and are fighting for better internet access.

Federated Farmers is lobbying Telecom and the government to guarantee internet access in rural areas because of low standards of telecommunication in some parts of the country.

Dairy Group project head Neal Murphy would not comment about the e-commerce venture. But the Dairy Group issued a statement yesterday saying a consortium of businesses was exploring e-commerce opportunities for farmers and their families.

  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report