Woolworths adds one million new online shopping delivery slots to ease the festive rush
Woolworths knows it must deliver this Christmas and resuscitate its sales growth. It has added one million online delivery slots across Australia to dominate on the road, and unlocked free delivery for big shops. Will it be enough?
Woolworths boss Amanda Bardwell is elevating Christmas online shopping and delivery as a key battleground in her bid to revive the supermarket’s sales and wrest back market share from Coles.
The No. 2 supermarket is outgrowing Woolworths in sales terms by the biggest margin in almost 20 years.
This festive season, Woolworths will be vying for the baskets of households seeking convenience, with the chain offering an extra one million online delivery and pick-up slots and free delivery on orders exceeding $150 from midday on Monday.
Woolworths believes it will be rewarded for the significant increase in delivery capacity as shoppers try to manage the busy holiday period, with the investment allowing them to do their Christmas shop online and have it delivered or ready for pick-up from their local store at a time that suits. The extra capacity will be available across Woolworths Delivery, Direct to Boot and Delivery Now.
More and better home delivery windows, faster speeds and free delivery charges are being deployed to seek the upper hand against Coles, Aldi and the independents.
Resuscitating the supermarket’s lethargic sales growth will be the first step investors want to see before Woolworths can address improving its earnings margin.
Investors have been pressuring Ms Bardwell since she took the reins at Woolworths last year to reclaim its traditionally superior performance against Coles, with this Christmas now framed as a “must win” for Woolworths to set itself up for a better 2026.
The Coles chain, under chief executive Leah Weckert, has posted superior growth over the past seven quarters and is on track to extend that momentum into the new year unless Ms Bardwell can stage a comeback.
To date, Ms Bardwell has invested more than $100m in lower shelf prices and extended discounts to more than 800 grocery items to tempt back shoppers to her stores and change perceptions about Woolworths’ value proposition. She is using her online platform to press the strategy.
“This investment is about making the Christmas shop that little bit easier for our customers,” she said. “We know Christmas is an exciting but incredibly busy time, as families juggle end of year commitments with preparing for their festive celebrations.
“By opening up an extra million order slots, we’re giving our customers more flexibility to choose a time and way to shop that works for them. Whether it’s planning the big shop in advance with a delivery or Direct to Boot slot, or getting those last-minute forgotten ingredients via Delivery Now, we’re committed to helping our customers shop for Christmas their way.”
Over the season, Woolworths expects to fulfil more than four million online orders, including 2.4 million delivery orders and 1.6 million pick ups. In the latest quarter, e-commerce sales grew year on year by 12.9 per cent, while faster delivery under two hours with Delivery Now increased by 39 per cent as customers sought greater convenience.
In October, Ms Bardwell labelled the supermarket’s first-quarter sales performance as “below our aspirations”, and warned it would take some time to turn around the company and return it to the type of growth investors expected. This has raised the stakes for Christmas 2025.
“We’ve brought through all of our great Christmas-season lines, and Woolworths is really at its best at Christmas,” Ms Bardwell said in October. “And so that’s what we’re focused on in building on the modest momentum that we have achieved over the quarter and into quarter two.”
Originally published as Woolworths adds one million new online shopping delivery slots to ease the festive rush
Join the conversation
Cafe owner takes on giants with new payment system
Read more
Goodman Group poised to pour billions into data centres
Read more