Coles launches budget homewares range, with pieces starting from $2
The supermarket giant has launched an exciting new range, but the items are unlike anything you’ve ever seen in Coles aisles before.
Step aside Ikea and Aldi, there’s a new budget homewares destination on the market.
Coles has just launched 101 fresh homewares pieces under the supermarket’s new ‘Your Home Collection’, today.
The range, which will run from today until August, 25, features everything from cushions, lamps and throw rugs to picture frames, flower pots and vases.
But the best part about this new range is by far the price point, with nothing in the collection exceeding $30, and the cheapest items starting at $2.
Coles Chief Executive for Commercial and Express, Greg Davis, said the new range will give customers the chance to style their home with unique and affordable pieces.
“We think customers are going to love the new homewares range …(because it) goes beyond what they expected when they walked into our store,” Mr Davis said.
The chain stores design team developed the range in modern tones like grey, sage and coral, but a spokesman warned that not all 101 items will be available in every store across the nation.
MOST POPULAR ITEM
It may only be day one of the Your Collection homewares launch, but a Coles spokesman told news.com.au the stylish Maya Table Top Lamp, on sale for $25, is already proving to be a popular item among customers.
The lamp is a chic, minimalist piece, Scandinavian in design and resembles something straight out of the aisles of Ikea, rather than a grocery store chain.
CHEAPEST ITEMS
Despite the contemporary vibe of the range, Coles has kept prices as low as possible.
The cheapest items customers can nab on their way down the Your Collection aisle is in the pet section of the range.
For just $2 each, customers can grab a stylish pet food scoop, silicone pet food can covers or a two-pack of pet food.
Other cheap items include $5 succulents in glass pots, $6 ceramic and wood canisters and the $6 Mahala Jar, which is a ceramic pot with a leather handle.
MOST EXPENSIVE ITEMS
Customers always want to know how much they’ll be expected to fork out when a new homewares line is launched.
But, it’s a good day if you’re trying out the Your Collection, because you’ll only need $30 to secure the most expensive piece on the list.
A spokesman told news.com.au the range features just one $30 item — a 10-pack of LED Festoon Lights.
Other more expensive items in the range include a round wall shelf for $25, a $15 plush throw and the increasingly popular $25 Maya table top lamp.
A report by A Current Affair compared the Coles Your Collection range against a selection from homewares giant Ikea, and found some customers preferred the supermarket’s offerings.
A Scandinavian style clock — usually $30 at Ikea — is just $15 at Coles and got the tick of approval from one mum.
“I would be happy with either of these in my home,” she told ACA.
A Coles spokeswoman told the program that their aim was to make the range affordable.
“So 70 per cent of the range is $10 or less, and 96 per cent of the range is under $20,” the spokeswoman said.
THE REACTION
So, how are the products stacking up for Coles customers?
Many people claimed the Your Collection range was simply “copying” Aldi’s regular Special Buys deals.
“Hasn’t Aldi already done this?” one man asked online.
Others said they loved what was on offer, and were planning to kit their homes out in the pieces as soon as possible.
“I already started buying,” one woman said.
Other’s weren’t as keen to embrace the new homewares range.
“Coles is getting too greedy,” one man wrote.
“It’s a no from me.”
Another person said the new range was filled with “more plastic (that will end up) in land fill, job well done.”
Another, particularly perturbed woman, declared the extra homewares section was going to ruin her grocery run.
“All I want is to grab my milk and bread and get out of there,” she said.
“Now I have to go through aisle after aisle of this junk to find what I need.”
Continue the conversation @Rhi_lani or email rhian.deutrom@news.com.au