Woolworths vs Coles - Choose Your Supermarket

Title says it all. Choose your favourite and explain why in a comment.

Ps Aldi and Costco were left out intentionally because they don't offer similar shopping experiences

Poll Options expired

  • 120
    Woolworths
  • 32
    Coles
  • 19
    Neither

Related Stores

Woolworths
Woolworths
Coles
Coles

Comments

  • Coles. It's downstairs and open till midnight daily.

  • +8

    Woolworths. 5% off with gift cards, 10% off once a month thanks to insurance policy, rewards, better checkout experience and store layout.

    • +5

      10 % off once a month if you have a mobile plan with them too

  • +3

    Woolies - Store layout and item location seems better compared to my local coles (personal preference). Partner is also an employee so 10% off, everyday rewards, discounted egift cards (readily available) and online shopping promo codes really do add up!

  • +6

    Why not both?

    • From my experience people tend to prefer one over the other. It's a bit tricky to find stuff when you're not sure where they are

  • +6

    Wherever the 1/2 price chocolate bars are.

    • +1

      Which ones? They both rotate brands (mars/cadbury/nestle) for half price every week.

      • My favourites are the Whittakers ones. So this week it was Woolworths.

      • The ones that are $0.85 😀

  • +3

    Woolworths - my dad worked for the head office for 25 years.. my sister and brother worked in stores. Family loyalty and ease of access makes it my choice.

    • +3

      "Family loyalty" meaning the permanent staff discount card given after 25 years of employment?

  • +1

    Coles: more opportunities to earn points, including topping up Opal

    • Which ones top up opal? Never seen one!

      • Broadway, Wynyard, I think World Square …

  • +2

    Aldi

  • +2

    Aldi

  • Costco

  • +7

    I aren't super market racists, I pick which ever cheapest or convenient (WW, Coles, Costco, Aldi, etc).

  • +1

    Used to work for Coles but always shopped at woolies or Aldi. Coles is a absolutely disgusting company. I’ve noticed that Woolies always do a little bit better in maintenance and repairs/refurbishments in stores, staffing, and just in general keeping on top of things; Coles is absolute chaos. Everyone hated each other, the store smelt like shit every evening because the company refused to repair a sewer problem, leaked like a sieve every time it rained, zero care or safety

    • +2

      I'm gonna have to agree with you here. Most Coles that I happen to go in to feel old and run down and aren't well maintained. Staff don't seem to really care about their job and it shows in their offering for customers like end stock builds, off locations and their general attitude.

      • Underpaying the salaried staff was just the beginning, it’s systematic, everyone’s stressed and getting pay snipped off here and there to meet KPIs, COVID has been the last straw for a lot of staff. There’s actually serious property damage that wasn’t fixed from a staff members mental health breakdown 2 years on.

    • +3

      I worked for Woolworths for 7 years. There were new cost-cutting measures introduced constantly. When I started we used to be allocated 25 minutes to get everything settled after the store closed, by the time I finished that had been reduced to 0 - as soon as trading stopped we were on unpaid time. The same went for rostered hours and training, anything that could be squeezed had every last drop wringed out.

      • Ah yes the classic ‘just do your modules at home’. RAFFWU pulled coles up on that for a member and they ended up having to pay them 3 hr shifts for each module, the manager even sent it in a text message…Yeah fkn ridiculous how they expected people to work for free, and they do…

  • +1

    Coles as their points structure is far better :)
    and FlyBuys has stopped charging me for FlyBuys Max :)

  • -1

    Woolworths can get 6% off eGift and their app reflects the balance in real time

    • How do you get 6%?

  • +1

    Title says it all. Choose your favourite and explain why in a comment.

    You've got a very formal way of trying to stimulate conversation OP.

  • My favourite places to get stuff, not necessary where I actually go…

    Fruit, fish, veg, nuts - Paddy's markets or Harris farms.
    Deodorant, soap, shampoo - The Reject Shop
    Cheese, Ice cream, strudel & other frozen things - Aldi
    Milk, lettuce & other things that expire quickly - Coles / Woolworths

    But according to these guys, people prefer Foodland…
    http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/8203-csa-results-supermark…

    • +2

      Our closest supermarket is a Foodland.
      'Regular' items are a little more expensive than Colesworth, however the fresh produce is priced well and the meat typically is cheaper.
      .

  • +1

    Woolworths- they have lists at the end of aisles to help me find things

    • +2

      Try their mobile app, it shows products by aisle

      • I cant see it in the app. I click on a product and can't see any option. Where is it listed?

        That's weird. It's meant to show in lists 'sort by isle' . I cant get that option?

  • +1

    They give out a lot more Flybuys points offers, so it's Coles for me.

    (At least until they start cracking down on people with multiple Flybuys accounts. :-)

  • +2

    Favourite: Coles.
    I prefer their homebrand and the store I would visit for 20 years was the largest within 10kms. We moved a few years ago, so our habits have changed.

    Most money spent: Woolies, including petrol via e-gift.

    We visit multiple stores throughout the catalogue week, and my estimation of percentage of total dollars spent is below.
    40 Woolies (including petrol)
    25 Coles
    20 Drakes
    13 Foodland
    0.5 ALDI
    0.5 IGA

  • +2

    Bit of a bias here but definitely Woolworths. The business is no doubt a leader in the grocery industry. Stores are more often than not cleaner than any Coles and have a better layout and offers for customers. Plus, access to 5% off egift cards for anyone is real nice.

  • It has always been based on my location.
    At my current place Coles is small, have a smaller range of stock and so run out of what is on sale that week.
    Woolworths wins as I can buy what is on sale.

  • +1

    Whoever has the best specials on shopping day gets my patronage.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/540209

  • they don't offer similar shopping experiences

    You go to a supermarket for an experience?

    I go to get the best value on food, groceries and necessities.

  • +1

    Shop at both and buy whatever's on special, same with Aldi.

    But I have two Coles closer to me than a Woolworths so if I had to pick one it would be Coles.

  • +1

    Specials
    my favourite is the one with the special i want
    i go to both

  • Woolies for me but I end up going to Coles more often over the past two years because of the Flybuys "$50 off when you shop for $50-70 each week for 4 weeks" offers.

  • Coles and Aldi they are about 1.1km from my house

  • +1

    There no companion on better gift card deals .
    Coles you can buy max 1 .
    Woolies you can buy till you run out of $ .

    Besides that Woolies is cheaper overall based on research .

  • +2

    Coles. Been with Coles since my high school years.

    Not many people aware but their spend $x (usually $50-$60) for 4 weeks 10,000 points means at least effective 20% more spending power. I always convert it to gift cards every 100,000 (not use it as Flybuy Dollars as I am finding it cannot be used to buy certain things but gift card you can).

    Using my Diners Citibank, that means 2 points per dollar plus 1 extra Flybuys point per dollar AND Citibank gives 15% extra Flybuys if you convert to them

    But I will confess 2 things. Woolies layout are much better and there are many things I found over there but couldn't in Coles.

    I also generally dislike Woolies for its social engineering push. Was the first to limit everything when pandemic start whilst Coles do it much later but I still couldn't find what I was looking for in both stores (eg: Jasmine rice) but heaps at Costco.

    This is part of the reason my order of preference to shop is Coles then Costco before Woolies and Aldi is absolute last (didn't spend a dollar in the last 2 years with them).

    Coles closes at midnight too

    • +2

      One more reason to add from shopping at Coles, shop-a-docket for Fuel Discount.

      Given there is a permanent 4c discount at Citylink OR if you join the Shell Racing Team, you get 5c (every now and then) plus another 4 cents from shopping at coles, you are assured 8c fuel discount that could potentially go up another 10c if you spend something over at Coles Express on things that priced the same as in store (eg: Toilet Roll). Thus, you will get at least 8c permanent discount and up to 18c or 19c with Shell Racing Team discount.

  • +2

    Coles wins vs Woolies (imho).

    Coles meat is better, especially the mince. I started grinding my own from chuck steak, but when I was buying it, even my cat wouldn't eat Woolies pink-worm meat or nearly white chicken/turkey mince.

    Coles fresh veg aways much nicer.

    Coles fuel voucher = I buy the cheapest fuel around my area.

    Coles has more mark-down food— every time.

    I've purchased a lot of great stuff using Flybuys. From kitchen knife sets to appliances, all great quality and free delivery. I bought everything when they offered triple value prices so paid less than you could buy retail by a fair margin.

    1+ for Woolies: end of day bread mark-downs. Everything else is substandard to Coles. Their home branded cheese is all oil when you try to heat it in any recipe- ugh.

    All of that being said, my personal favourite shops are Spud Shed & Farmer Jack's!

    • +1

      You forgot to say the bakery of Coles really puts Woolies to shame .
      About the only thing though :)

      • Woolworths sausages have slowly changed into something completely inedible. I think they're 80% fat and 20% sawdust.

  • Coles don't let you refund items

    Even when a price of an item was incorrectly labelled
    So I stood my ground and said this could happen to anyone
    It was my mistake but there was a label saying this price

    Then eventually got it refunded

  • Coles for convenience (Woolies is in a shopping centre), and flybuys giving me money off my shop every so often. And the Bakery of course.

  • Woolies - their fresh fruit/veg is typically better and deli too, 5% egift via Cashrewards, Bakery clearance in the evening, in NSW bottle/cans 10c refund for further savings :D

    Coles only looks good for MasterChef, picture doesn't match their produce…

    For catalog special both

    • Every, single, thawed fish I buy at Woolies is mush. I've reported it to them, no interest.

      Coles has the same fish (Blue Grenadier) & it's delish.

      • Maybe it is location based? I'm in NSW, you are WA? Perhaps it comes from a source depending on where you are?

        Raw prawns (au stock), I find Coles a few times mushy and looks a bit "flaky" and Woolies so far hasn't been "flaky" in my experience YMMV I guess.

  • For my main shop Woolies near where I live - bettered stocked and prices are lower for the items I regularly buy.

    For top up shops, near my work, Coles in Raine Square, Perth - because of Barry: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.perthnow.com.au/community-n…

    • Sounds like you are not the only one.

  • Coles has always been better in most aspects for us.

  • Spudshed or Woolworths for my main shop as I generally find Spudshed cheaper and Woolworths better kept.
    Ocationally maybe IGA or Farmer Jacks.
    Only go to Coles for utmost convenience for usually one or two items.

  • Wow, that's an impressive lead for Woolworths!
    In the duopoly that currently exists, that's a very large difference in popularity.

  • -1

    i go to woolies, i heard coles is only for bogans.

  • +2

    Coles makes m ee feel like they are tracking me endlessly. Woolworths doesn't feel that way but probably are.

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