A revamp of its fresh food offering has put Australia’s number two supermarket chain, Coles, back in the race against rival Woolworths.
The retailer announced first quarter sales growth of 6.2 per cent in food and liquor, contrasting against Woolworths’ first quarter Australian food and liquor sales growth of only 3.2 per cent, reported Bloomberg. First quarter sales at Coles supermarkets rose 5.9 per cent.
Those growth figures represent a turnaround for Coles, which has been running in second place in the Australian supermarket scene to larger rival Woolworths, which posts sales figures of A$9.29bn to Coles’ A$5.95bn.
Coles, acquired in 2007 by Australian company Wesfarmers, is in the middle of a five-year revamp of its fresh fruit, vegetable and meat offering, which has so far helped to bring back one million customers, according to Business Day.
“If you go back three or four years ago, people were bypassing Coles because there was a poor fresh offer, there was poor availability, there were long queues,” said Wesfarmers chief executive Richard Goyder.
“And, I think, customers are now discovering that at Coles the fresh offer is better. The value is strong, availability is good and the stores are looking good and we are looking after customers quickly.”
The revamp at Coles, which still has two to three years to run, is being achieved through hard work on the supply chain, operating standards and customer service, said the supermarket chain’s managing director Ian McLeod.
Australia’s grocery retail sector has been marked by declining costs so far this year, with locally-produced food prices falling on the back of good rainfall, and import costs declining as the Australian dollar rises.
