Panic buying delivers Coles record sales spike
Coles has revealed the whopping impact panic buying has had on its sales, but it’s predicting a dramatic shift in what Australians will be buying next as things slowly return to normal.
Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Panic buying has delivered Coles a record sales spike but the supermarket giant is preparing for tougher times as shoppers ditch impulse items, switch to own-brand products and buy in bulk.
In the first hard numbers around the scope of panic buying, Coles yesterday announced supermarket sales surged by a whopping 13.8 per cent to $8.23 billion for the 12 weeks to March 29 compared to the same period a year earlier.
While supermarket shelves were stripped bare as the nation entered a COVID-19 lockdown, Coles chief Steven Cain said sales growth had begun to trend back to normal over April.
The virus outbreak has produced an “extraordinary” change in the sales mix as shoppers purchase less convenience and impulse products and cook and bake more items from scratch, Mr Cain said.
“I think we have seen more changes in the last six weeks than we have seen in the history of shopping,” he said.
Mr Cain said the Melbourne-based grocer was preparing for a severe economic downturn and was working to expand its range of own-label product and ensure it is getting the best deal from suppliers.
“There will be a flight to value and that is what we are focused on at the moment to make sure we recover the trading program with suppliers as fast as possible and make sure we continue to develop our own-brand program,” he said.
“We will certainly see trading down which will mean a combination of people buying bigger packs, it will mean more private label and it will mean more specials.”
Coles will also ramp up its efforts to combat shoplifting, Mr Cain said.
“We are cautious about what impact higher unemployment and poverty might have on stock loss in relation to theft – we are doing a lot of work on products where that might happen,” he said.
Coles is also juggling how best to deal with “destocking” – items where demand is falling sharply after mass buying – which was already happening with pet food, Mr Cain said.
Like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of stores opening and closing, were up 13.1 per cent at Coles for the 12 weeks to March 29 thanks to the panic buying surge.
The sales leap was almost double the previous like-for-like sales high of 7.3 per cent growth posted in the December quarter of 2009.
Woolworths will announce its numbers today.
Total like-for-like sales at Coles, a measure which includes its liquor and petrol station outlets, rose 12.4 per cent to $9.22 billion for the latest reporting period.
Like-for-like liquor sales at Liquorland, First Choice and Vintage Cellars rose 7.2 per cent to $740 million.
Coles lifted purchase restrictions on items such as toilet paper and paper towels on Tuesday while Woolworths lifted purchase limits on toilet paper and rice from one pack to four per shop today.
CORONAVIRUS PANIC BUYING DELIVERS UNPRECEDENTED BOOST
COULD THIS BE THE MOVE THAT SAVES TARGET
Originally published as Panic buying delivers Coles record sales spike