Woolworths’ new online shopping rule change, Coles has put limits on items

With supermarkets under supply chain pressure, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci has revealed how deep Omicron has hit, and how it will affect you.

With Australian supermarkets under immense supply chain pressure, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci has revealed just how deep Omicron has hit, forcing workers off the job.

As a consequence, he said they are experiencing Covid-driven absences of more than 20 per cent in distribution centres and more than 10 per cent in their stores.

He also said shopping online will change temporarily, to ensure customers get something delivered.

“If you’re shopping online, as a temporary measure we are automatically activating substitutions on all orders,” he said.

“We know this isn’t ideal, but it does mean there’s less chance of missing out on something you really need. We’ll revert to your preference as soon as possible.

When you’re shopping with us at the moment, you might unfortunately have noticed gaps on shelf, or substitutions in your online order.

Unlike the surge buying of early 2020 (who could forget the toilet paper), this is because of the number of people in our supply chain in isolation – from suppliers to truck drivers and distribution centre team members – which in turn is causing material delays to store deliveries.”

While Mr Banducci said NSW is currently the most affected, they are seeing impacts across the whole country “and it’s not yet clear how soon the system will come back into balance as we move through the Omicron wave”.

Woolworths at the Brisbane Race Club shopping centre is starting to runout of certain items on the shelves. Picture: David Clark

“We understand how frustrating it is when you can’t find the product you’re looking for and, together with our suppliers and supply chain partners, we’re working hard to get all products back on shelf as quickly as we can (including rapid antigen tests).

“In the meantime, we have more than enough stock in the system and plenty more coming. “We also have good supply within each ‘category’ of product (even if your favourite isn’t available, a good alternative hopefully should be), so it really helps if you can be flexible with the choices you make.”

The news comes as Coles placed limits on some products, including Covid-19 rapid antigen testing kits.

Customers will only be able to buy one pack of tests a transaction (excluding WA).

There is also a limit of two packs of chicken breasts or chicken thighs, mince and sausages.

This should help to deter the type of hoarding that occurred with toilet paper early in the pandemic.

At national cabinet, the Prime Minister said the government would be working with retailers to limit the number of testing kits that can be bought at one time. He envisaged a limit of one pack.

Coles has pleaded customers to “continue to respect and support our team members, particularly in these busier times”.

Shoppers have been scathing on Woolworths’ and Coles’ Facebook pages, complaining of online orders that haven’t been fulfilled or were late.

One Woolworths shopper posted: “Orderd (sic) 30 items online for the first time, 11 of the 30 were missing? not a good first impression Woolies”

Bare shelves are frustrating customers at Coles as well. Picture: Facebook

Another was also sour about incomplete orders: “I’ve placed two online orders in the past day and a half. Both orders were missing lemons. It’s annoying since I’m isolating and you have a limit of $50 so I can’t even orde (sic) just lemons. So not sure how lemons don’t make it into both orders.”
A third said: “So the delivery driver only delivers half of my shopping. Options? a refund. I can’t speak to a human, only a computer – and the driver is not allowed to back track. So I have no eggs, cheese, butter, sausages, steak, loads of dog food, bacon, ham or chicken. This is not good enough.”

Coles fared no better on social media.

One customer wrote on Facebook: “Coles, you need a better delivery checking system before it gets loaded onto the trucks and delivered to customers. I have wasted 45 mins trying to get it sorted and NO I do not want to keep other customers items as they are of no use to me. Would prefer to get what I ordered and paid for.”

Another wrote: “How, when I order delivery for all the things I need, and allow substitutions, do I keep missing out on basic necessities, instead of getting the substitutes?

Call me crazy, but I’m not sure how any store would be completely empty of so much as a single bag of powdered milk, when I’d simply ordered 2x 3ltr milk bottles.

Is it not pointless ordering deliveries when every other time I have to go out to the store anyway????”

Instore there also have been complaints about a lack of stock.

But the chains themselves are dealing with the disruption Covid-19 has had on their supply chains, and with the impact of staff shortages caused by sickness and the need to isolate.

Panic buying has caused previous stock shortages but this time it is supply chain issues and staff shortages causing problems. Picture: Mireille Merlet

Earlier this week, a Woolworths spokesperson said the company was “currently experiencing delays with some of our stock deliveries to stores due to Covid-related impacts on our supply chain operations”.

“The pandemic has delivered many challenges over the past two years and will continue to do so as we move into this next phase,” the spokesperson said.

“We have stock available within our network and our teams and suppliers are doing all they can to replenish stores as quickly as possible.

“We thank our customers for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience.

“We continue to serve our online customers through home delivery, Pick Up and Direct to Boot.

“If we’re not able to provide a particular product in a customer’s order, we’ll work to substitute it with a similar product to ensure customers still receive the items they need.”

As if the pandemic isn’t causing enough problems, difficulty in getting rapid antigen testing kits has also angered customers.

“We’ve been sending tens of thousands of rapid antigen testing kits to our stores each day, but they’re selling through very quickly with the recent surge in demand,” the Woolworths spokesperson said.

“We have a much larger order of stock on the way from our suppliers and expect the availability of kits to improve for our customers later this week.

“We understand it’s frustrating when our customers can’t get the products they need and we’ll continue to do all we can to meet the growing demand.”

Coles has also encountered supply issues, which have led to customer frustration.

A Coles spokesperson said: “We have been working with our suppliers and other stakeholders to address a number of supply chain issues, including availability of shipping pallets and transport capacity, to ensure we can continue to provide our customers with the food and drinks they need.

“We apologise to our customers if an item they wish to purchase is unavailable when they do their shopping, and our team are working hard to replenish our shelves as quickly as possible.

“We are also seeing an increased number of team members being required to isolate due to household exposure to Covid while they wait for test results.”

Aldi has had to deal with similar issues.

“Although the ongoing global Covid-19 situation has meant additional pressure to our supply chain, Aldi continues to do its best to minimise any disruption to our customers,” a spokesperson said

“The ongoing global Covid-19 situation has caused delays in our supply chain, including shipping.

“In some instances we have experienced some Special Buys not arriving in-store by the advertised on-sale date.”