Wesfarmers Limited
(ASX:WES) chief executive Richard Goyder says Australia's supermarket trade is not a duopoly and online retailer Amazon is a greater threat to local retailing.
Speaking at the American Chamber of Commerrce lunch, Mr Goyder mentioned the foreign ownership of competitors Aldi and Costco and questioned what tax contribution Amazon made in Australia.
Mr Goyder said Woolworths and Coles had a strong position in Australian supermarket retail but were not alone.
He said Costco was owned by a massive US company with a market capitalisation significantly higher than Wesfarmers, while Metcash had 3,000 outlets.
However Mr Goyder said there was a gorilla on the doorstep in the form of Amazon, which sells many items sold by Wesfarmers businesses such as Kmart, Target, Bunnings and Officeworks.
Wesfarmers generated a net profit of $2.26 billion in fiscal 2013.
