Supermarket chain giant Woolworths will open 39 new stores in Australia and New Zealand in fiscal 2012 and create 10,000 new jobs, the company announced Tuesday.

The additional supermarkets, which will increase the total number of Woolworths to 117, aim to increase fresh food sales by up to $2.5 billion and record high single-digit sales growth and 10 per cent earnings per share, Woolworths chief executive Grant O'Brien said during an investor day in Sydney, according to Adelaide Now.

Woolworths will also open seven Big Ws and 15 Masters home improvement stores. The Masters stores will compete with Woolworths' rival Wesfarmers' Bunnings Warehouse, Australia's largest hardware chain. Wesfarmers also own the Coles Supermarket, the country's second largest grocery chain.

Aside from the store expansion, Woolworths will improve its online business to make the supermarket chain the leader in multi-channel retailing or shopping in store and online. A mobile platform that will connect directly from its supermarket smartphone app through to the online store will go live early next year.

"The future demands that we provide the opportunity for customers to shop as they do today, but also shop online, either from home or on their smart phones, and that they can literally tap and take, or have it delivered," Adelaide Now quoted O'Brien as saying.

The Woolworths investor day coincides with the opening of a supermarket, BIG W and Dick Smith outlet in Murray Bridge.

Woolworths will have 39 new stores in 2012.