Coles Vs Woolworths Online / Delivery

Bren20 on 15/03/2021 - 21:15
Last edited 15/03/2021 - 21:19

I've used woolies online to get my weekly shop delivered for the last year or so, but I've recently switched to coles for cheaper delivery.

I'm thinking of changing back to Woolies, while it's more expensive it so much more user friendly.
My issues with the Coles website, in comparison to Woolies:

  • logs me out ever 30 mins or so
  • constantly sends me 2 factor authentication codes (and my partner when she logs in on her devices)
  • the search function is slow and bad. I searched for nut bars, the top 15 or so results had one relevant result, 14 results for peanut butter (yes I'm sorting by relevance)
  • specials/catalog are impossible to search
  • displays a splash screen every time I log in trying to get me to sign up for their monthly subscription

I wanted to love Coles, I used to work there, but I cant stand their online experience. Does anyone else have the same grievances? Or am I just not great at change!

Food & Grocery

Related Stores

Coles
Coles
Woolworths
Woolworths

Comments

  • Hybroid on 15/03/2021 - 21:17
    +12

    Yes, Coles' website is a pretty poor user experience all round. Particular pet peeve is the way it locks you into a local store and doesn't show you products that store doesn't have in stock.

    • Bren20 on 15/03/2021 - 21:21

      Yep, but I find Woolies does that as well so I didn't mention it.

  • mdsh on 15/03/2021 - 21:55
    +1

    The splash screen and frequent logging out annoy me too. One thing I do like about Coles is the substitutions list that allows you to store in your account your preferred substitute for each item you order.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/03/2021 - 22:57
    +3

    constantly sends me 2 factor authentication codes

    Companies are clueless in understanding how this utterly destroys the user experience. Somewhere a jobsworth got paid for "increasing site security" doing the absolute minimum which causes pain for so many.

    Flybuys added 2 factor SMS auth a year ago or so and I was permanently locked out of my account because I refuse to provide a mobile number (they don't need it and it has nothing to do with Flybuys).

    I'm glad people are voting with their feet and abandoning sites that are deliberately hostile to users.

    • Bren20 on 16/03/2021 - 09:30

      I do wonder how much thought goes into implementing 2FA, I wouldn't think supermarkets would do it lightly
      The cost to them of not implementing 2FA was probably very high, through lots of refunded orders

      • [Deactivated] on 16/03/2021 - 11:43
        +1

        There are ways of doing it without requiring a mobile phone number.

        Google auth application (or open source TOTP equivalent). Send a code to your email. Give customers the option of a hardware token.

        Demanding a mobile number for no other purpose is lazy and an overreach of information gathering. Plus the method won't work if you're off the network.

        • Yola on 25/03/2021 - 03:23
          +2

          Yes, Everyday rewards gives you the option of getting the code by email. I would just prefer that option before they send the code to the email not after.

  • corky on 16/03/2021 - 05:28
    +2

    I find the Coles website much easier to use than woolworths, delivery fees much cheaper also.

    • Bren20 on 16/03/2021 - 09:16

      what do you find better about Coles (apart from delivery fees)?

      • corky on 16/03/2021 - 09:50

        At least where I live, the fruit, veggies are much fresher than the stuff I've had from woollies, sites is also much easier to navigate, never have any pricing issues like "reallyoldfart" below seems to have done, always have a positive experience with Coles, very rarely out of stock items but all this may be dependent on local stores?

  • ReallyOldFart on 16/03/2021 - 09:29
    +4

    Don’t get me started on Coles online!
    Although I still occasionally use it for click’n’collect rarely do the prices displayed online transfer correctly when put in my trolley and then when I proceed to the checkout. I’ve learned the hard way to take screen shots of displayed prices, incorrect pricing processes along the line, and double check prices on my final invoice. Admittedly, this takes a lot of time and effort. Then, when I finally have the shopping items in my home I phone Coles Online and have a customer service representative go through my invoice in relation to each and every error and the corrected total is then used to determine an amount that gets credited to my account. The Reps are very supportive and acknowledge stuff-ups frequently occur in their system. Truly, I appreciate their efforts and support but Coles fails to recognise they have a serious problem. All head honchos at Coles should be required to do their personal shopping online with Coles and experience the disasters their customers face on a far too regular basis.

    • PAOK11 on 16/03/2021 - 11:00
      -2

      Username checks out

  • barbarella on 16/03/2021 - 09:45
    +2

    I find Woolies website much more user friendly

  • PAOK11 on 16/03/2021 - 10:59

    I had major issues with woolworths website and will never use online grocery shopping again. I couldn't put the payment through, so I decided to use gift cards. The system would not accept the gift cards and I was forced to call woolworths who didn't know what was happening. I mean, they fixed it relatively quickly (same day) but I swore to myself that I will never buy groceries online even if I save $20 on $100 spend or whatever the hell it was

  • emibel19 on 16/03/2021 - 19:28
    +1

    logs me out ever 30 mins or so

    I assume you mean after not doing anything for 30 mins. I just get my shopping done and logout.

    constantly sends me 2 factor authentication codes (and my partner when she logs in on her devices)

    What do you mean by "constantly"? I've only seen it once for each login; not a problem for me.

    the search function is slow and bad. I searched for nut bars, the top 15 or so results had one relevant result, 14 results for peanut butter (yes I'm sorting by relevance)

    Haven't noticed this.

    I do like the "bought before" listing, that I don't think Woolies has.

    Also Coles pricing is much more flexible, including $2 for a 6-hour slot and $6 for 4hours, versus Woolies atrocious minimum of $13.

    • mdsh on 16/03/2021 - 19:46
      +1

      I have found that you don't have to be idle for the website to log you out. I was logged out today partway through the checkout process.

    • Bren20 on 17/03/2021 - 09:25

      Yeah, I also like the 'bought before' function with Coles, Woolies try to replicate it but they just put everything you've ever bought into one list

      I've received six 2FA codes in the past 2 weeks.

      I've had the same experience as mdsh, where the Coles site logs me out when I'm actively using it.

      I just decided to be a bit more scientific in defining my issues with the search function

      • My first search was for nappies - woolies loaded relevant results in 3 seconds, coles never actually loaded the results - I waited a minute

      • Second search was cheese - 6 sec for coles, 2sec for woolies. Both sites didn't give particularly good results, cheese and bacon rolls for woolies, sweet chilli philidelphia dip from coles

      • Third search was nappies again, I thought I'd give Coles another go at it. 14 seconds load time, 2 seconds for Woolies

      • Fourth search was for 'devondale uht milk', 12 sec for coles and it returned good results, 2 sec for woolies but it gave me poor results, apparently i need to search 'devondale long life milk' to get what i'm after

  • drongobongo on 17/03/2021 - 12:46
    +1

    I've noticed that with Coles Online, sometimes items that you add to the cart will disappear.

    But Woolie's delivery is so much more expensive, so I put up with it.

    • Bren20 on 17/03/2021 - 14:04

      This definitely happened with my eggs!

      If I go back to Woolies it'll be with the $15/month midweek delivery
      I'll also combine with Woolies mobile for 10% off a shop each month

  • niknah on 17/03/2021 - 17:25

    The Coles website doesn't show you the backside of the wrapper with the ingredients & numbers.

    Woolworths always forces me to "substitute" if out of stock. If I disable substitution, and go back to the site to add some more items, they'll tick the "substitute" button again.

  • Yola on 25/03/2021 - 03:26

    I like that Woolies allows click and collect for $30 rather than $50 for Coles. Also that you usually earn the points at the time you order and can see how many you will get. With Coles they credit the points when they pack and charge the order and if items are OOS you miss out on bonus points offers and have to call them to adjust manually.

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