Buy Aussie wobblers strike a chord in Maleny

Rob Outridge with the eye-catching Wobblers that are making buying Australian easy.

In recent months there has been an upswing in consumer interest  in Australian made products from Australian owned companies.

Maleny IGA owner Rob Outridge came up with an eye-catching new way to mark products that are produced by Australian owned companies. 

The ‘wobblers’ created quite a storm on Social Media after being posted on the store’s Facebook page late last month. 

“In the early days of the Coronavirus lockdown I spent a lot more time ‘on the floor’ of the shop, overseeing our social distancing protocols and checking on product supply,” Mr Outridge said. 

“And more and more people were openly looking and asking for Australian made products.

"The funny thing is that we have been actively marking Australian products as such for 20 years. But our ticketing was just not cutting through as effectively as we would have liked. By nature, supermarket shelves are very ‘busy’ to the eye and the ticketing we have used in the past was getting lost with everything else.

“I put the problem to Wayne at 4CP Printing in Woombye, and he came back to me with the first prototype of the ‘wobbler’. The first one was a bit big, but he had another go and sent me the one that is in use in our shop now. It is impossible to miss,” said Mr Outridge.

“We were blown away after Samantha posted about our ‘wobblers’ on Social Media. The post received 160,000 plus views and was picked up and shared on au.news.yahoo.com with a plea to Coles and Woolworths to follow suit.

“In reality, compiling this type of information for our customers is not actually that straightforward or easy to do. There are layers involved in the production and manufacturing process and any aspect of it can involve ingredients, processing or ownership by overseas companies,” he said. 

“As we see it, it is our job to direct people to products that are owned by Australian companies and then they can read the label and compare in a more informed way. Supporting Australian owned companies is something that we believe is most important because the profits stay in Australia.

“In the end, it’s up to the consumer to drive the demand. I think what recent events have highlighted is the importance of Australia being more self sufficient in many product lines, especially food and medical supplies.”