Coles promises more ‘perfect orders’ for online shoppers

Coles customers across Victoria and NSW should start to see more “perfect orders” delivered to their homes, the company says after the delayed opening of two new robotic centres designed to fulfil online orders.

Chief executive Leah Weckert has promised fresher groceries and an expanded range of products as she prepared to unveil a new customer fulfilment centre in Truganina, 20 kilometres west of Melbourne, on Friday, with another in western Sydney’s Wetherill Park due to open three weeks from now.

Coles chief executive Leah Weckert at the customer fulfilment centre in Truganina, Victoria.

“One of the biggest pain points of ordering online is you order 50 things, but you only get 45. And then one of the things missing you needed to cook dinner tonight, and you got to go up the shops anyway,” said Weckert.

“Being able to improve those service metrics so that the customer can have confidence that they’re much more likely to get all 50 of the items when they’re ordering from the [customer fulfilment centre] – that’s a big step-change online.”

The warehouse openings mean that customers who make orders online will have them packed in the new fulfilment centres rather than in-store. An expanded range of products from local suppliers not sold in stores, such as vitamins, baby products and artisan pasta, will be available through orders packed in the fulfilment centres. There will also be an on-site bakery, with fresh produce cut and packaged to order.

‘One of the biggest pain points of ordering online is you order 50 things, but you only get 45.’

Coles boss Leah Weckert

Meat, fresh produce, seafood and milk will also have a minimum freshness guarantee, which will help customers better plan their week, Weckert added.

“Another pain point is, ‘I ordered all the food I needed to cook all the meals for the week, but all the meat that came in the online order expired by Wednesday’. So now you’ll be able to actually see how many days life we’re going to commit on the steak or the chicken or the mince and the like.”

A Coles supermarket in Melbourne.Credit: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

The COVID pandemic has precipitated a shift towards supermarket shopping online: Coles’ online orders grew by 30.1 per cent in the 2024 financial year and now represent nearly 10 per cent of total sales.

The Truganina site that spans over 87,000 square metres – bigger than four Melbourne Cricket Grounds and the equivalent of 40 new stores – will be able to process 10,000 orders a day at maximum capacity and is slated to help clear congestion in Coles’ supermarket aisles when staff pick up items for online orders.

The new customer fulfilment centres are powered by Ocado, a British grocery technology company, and represent a $400 million investment. Each centre is staffed by over 1000 workers and 700 robots that can complete orders of 50 items in five minutes. The Victorian centre was originally slated to open at the beginning of this year but was delayed by construction issues, adding $120 million in expenditure for the project.

The fulfilment centres will offer next-day delivery, though Weckert signalled she intends for them to eventually ramp up to offer same-day deliveries. Other delivery options, such as click-and-collect and rapid delivery, would continue to be fulfilled in-store, she said.

J.P. Morgan analysts have flagged “uncertainty around the economics” of the Ocado centres.

“In our view, Coles will not be able to fill these facilities given the shift to same-day delivery and click-and-collect,” analysts Bryan Raymond and Christina Kim wrote in a note.

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