See how Coles ramps up activity to keep shelves filled after hours
Watch what goes on behind closed doors when Coles shuts to the public each night to respond to the coronavirus crisis.
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Coles stores may be closed to the public for an extra five hours each day but this is when activity really hypes up inside.
Two major areas of reform for the supermarket giant in response to the coronavirus crisis have been increases in staffing and cleaning across their 821 stores nationally — both of which are visible in a behind-the-scenes clip supplied to News Corp (above).
Coles Victorian Tas South head of operations Jo-Ann Kerr said with the new arrangements and hiring of 5000 new casual staff taking place, stores would have workers in them at all hours.
This is despite trading hours now operating between 7am until 8pm instead of 6am until midnight.
“We’re replenishing the store now without customers actually in the store,” she said.
“Usually our fill teams are working while we’re still trading.
“So with the reduced hours they’ve now got the ability to work at a more efficient pace and get the store ready and recovered for customers the next day.”
She said restocking now finished at 3am, with bakers then arriving to start work.
Ms Kerr said toilet paper was still the most in-demand item but recently meat had seen a significant increase in sales.
“We are now seeing a day’s worth of meat stock selling out in less than two hours,” she said.
Coles Prahan store manager Troy Kennedy said while demand for stock had been increasing in the past two months, the past two weeks had seen a significant spike.
He said with the new changes, they expected on-shelf availability to improve.
“Don’t get me wrong, there is some frustrations out there with customers because we aren’t where we were a month ago, we don’t have the full range,” Mr Kennedy said.
“What we’re really focusing on is getting the core basics on the shelf and having it on shelf for most of the day.”
With fear of spreading the coronavirus also increasing, Coles increased store cleanings to two to three times per day, meaning the stores are cleaned every 4.3 hours of trade.
The nights are also used to sanitise the deli, bakery, fresh produce preparation area, specialty trolleys (including parental, additional needs and wheelchair trolleys) and the floors.
Originally published as See how Coles ramps up activity to keep shelves filled after hours