Lately woollies been in the headlines for losing its market share because shoppers are going elsewhere.
Curious to know because I personally cannot be asked to drive an extra 20 minutes to Coles to save a few bucks,
But do people really feel woollies charge more and if so do you bother to travel that extra distance to save money?
It might be because of other options like Costco or Aldi as well.
True, as said by AznMitch. I stopped buying from coles or woolies (they are 300m from my place) and drive out to Aldi( 5km) from my place. Most of the time i found that quality of Aldi products are much better compared to woolies and coles.
Just perception.
Both have good / bad deals every week.
Professional tip: Don't get married to a single brand. Only buy the good deals.
Coles in my neighbourhood is much more expensive thnamy local Woolies. Or perhaps they just don't have the markdowns/reduced for quick sales that my Woolies has.
This.
Woollies marks down fresh stuff much more aggressively near me, and that is mostly what we buy.
I think Coles would be cheaper if we bought much frozen or packaged food.
Yes I love the woollies Quick sale markdowns. They have some sushi, salad and sandwhich options for lunch which are a bargain at quick sale prices and good quality too.
i just eat whats half price that week. it seems they have an 8 week cycle or so. i find coles n woolies no diff really
Yes. That's the method we have adopted as well. Whoever has things at half price, gets our dollar. And I stock up on whatever items I need. It generally lasts me till the next half price cycle
That's what I figured
If Frugal consumers on oz bargain don't feel a difference between the two
There's no doubt the media over sensationalized about the price difference is once again, over done
Cost isn't everything, I had a nasty experience at a Woollies Deli section - got my number and with a few others and waited my turn. Lady walks straight past us to the counter, asks to be served, gets her stuff and leaves. when queried about the number queueing system the sales person said "Idon't know I just work here". This is just one example amoungst others I've had
in Woollies (or maybe it's just me).
Bad customer service has put me off Woollies for life irrespective of whether I may save a few dollars there - never had a problem with Coles.
Woolies are suffering because they've failed to effectively differentiate their brand. Their brand position of being the 'fresh food people' is entirely meaningless.
Coles and woolies have done a great job of making themselves entirely interchangeable.
In the meantime the low price entrants, particularly Aldi, have done a great job of taking the value customer away whilst those who truly want fresh food seem to be content with paying more and heading to Harris Farm.
I don't know what their next move is. But I think woolies aren't clear either.
Woolies is getting a hammering. I'm young, but old enough to remember my franklins which did not sell fruit & veggies, flowers, smokes, alcohol, flowers, deli, etc. it closed early on weekdays and Saturdays, and never opened on Sunday. My corner shop was dearer but got all our after hour shopping. my mall had a successful fruit shop, tobacconist, bottle shop, bbq chook shop, delicatessen, etc.
Woolies was greedy. And unlike franklins, became dearer than the corner store. For many years woollies pushed the price of dairy farmers higher and higher, much higher than the corner store. Much higher than necessary. Apparently we like convenience. But really it was just woolworths tempting buyers to buy its own brand over dairy farmers. Dairy farmers later became foreign owned. Life was better then, in so many ways. And this is how I will forever remember woollies. No love for it.
Remember more to add:
Woolworths slyly adding permeate to its milk. Saving them about 10% of milk. Apparently harmless but they hid it and now their milk is permeate free.
Woolworths buying all the laundy pubs, wanting a cut of pokie cash. Profiting from gambling. Ruining lives.
Maybe 90% of my shop is Aldi, Costco, Ritchies and specialty shops. Colesworth used to be 90% of my groceries so I suspect Coles may be suffering too.
I feel there is a difference in the two In particular when it comes to coca-cola. Coles often has coca-cola at 55c per can and woolworths sales only has it 65c per can at the cheapest. I compare it week by week because i am addicted to cola and buy cases of it when it's around 55c per can.
I don't have a car and i live across the road from a woolworths so I mostly order online from coles.
3 weeks ago. From Coles, I got 5 cases of 30 pack of coca cola + 4 tubs or connoisseur premium icecream (Normally $8 per tub)
All for $80. Delivered.
Yep that's right.
That's 150 cans of coke + 4 tubs of premium brand icecream for $80 delivered.
I've always found Woolies to be more expensive when you average it out across the same items I would buy at Coles.
I keep a close eye on both catalogs that are in my letterbox each week as well, and often the Coles specials are much better value than Woolies.
For me, my locals are right next to each other but I still tend to do most of my shopping at Coles and only go to Woolies if they have a specific item I want on sale. Unfortunately no Aldi here yet so I really only have the choice of the duopoly, IGA, farmers markets for veggies and butchers for meat.
But in summary yes, I find Coles to be cheaper than Woolies here in Perth.
If there is something I normally use that is 50% off I will buy bulk, while my average groceries I will normally make a large order when there is a code going around for $10 off $100 spend etc and use my 5% off wish gift card, that way it's definitely cheaper than coles
The major problems with Coles and Woolies these days are the constant round the clock refills of the shelves, boxes and workers really do get in my way when i need to shop, what happened to night fills?
My local Woolworths seems cheaper on almost everything than my local Coles. This seems to happen every 4-6 years. It wasn't so long ago that everyone was ragging on Coles about how they sucked. They were accused of being overpriced, uncompetitive, the stores were poorly staffed, etc. Now, Woolworths is accused of being too expensive "…".
I am lucky because my Local shopping centre have the Aldi, Cole and Woolworths very close together so it is no inconvenience to visit another one if you think one is overpriced.