Australian supermarket chain Coles experiences a 30% increase in online sales

Australian supermarket Coles has seen a 30 percent growth in online supermarket sales and a 9 percent increase in digital liquor sales.

In the 2024 financial year, the grocery giant reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $1.1 billion (US$646 million), a 2.1 percent increase from 2023.

Total supermarket revenue increased by 4.3 percent to $39 billion, while liquor revenue climbed by 0.5 percent to $3.7 billion.

Coles acknowledged that liquor sales were affected by reduced customer discretionary spending and the shift away from bulk and affiliated sales.

In the 2025 financial year, Coles plans to open eight new stores, close five, and renew 50.

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The supermarket giant mentioned that 2024 had 53 weeks for reporting purposes, so the impact of this final week was excluded when reporting growth figures.

Coles Digital Growth

On the digital front, Coles experienced a 42.6 percent increase in monthly app users and a 30.1 percent growth in e-commerce sales at supermarkets. Liquor business online sales also rose by 9.2 percent compared to the previous year.

This entails partnering with a leading artificial intelligence (AI) provider for operational improvement, including assistance with rostering.

Coles has introduced a new cloud data platform and developed an intelligence edge backbone for the “swift deployment of computer vision solutions across our stores.”

Moreover, Coles has started implementing easy liquor ordering, described as an automated ordering system.

Coles has invested in two advanced milk processing facilities to enhance milk supply and acquired 20 liquor stores in Tasmania, noting that 30 percent of the state’s population now have a Liquorland within a five-minute drive.

Coles shares increased by 2 percent on the ASX on Aug. 27 following the release of these results. In comparison, Woolworths Group shares were down 0.78 percent in afternoon trade on the same day.

CEO Thanks Staff

Coles CEO Leah Weckert acknowledged the financial pressures on families and thanked the 115,000 staff for their resilience and dedication.

“The financial pressures on households and families have been at the forefront of our minds this year, and we have strived to provide value across our supermarket, liquor, and online offerings to help customers manage their household budgets,” she said.

“Simultaneously, we have made efforts to improve availability and quality, address loss, accelerate our digital offerings, and maintain a strong focus on costs …”

Discussing the future outlook, Weckert mentioned, “With ongoing cost-of-living pressures, we will continue to address the needs of our customers with a focus on value through everyday low prices, promotions, Flybuys, and Coles Own Brand.”

Group Chairman James Graham highlighted that 2024 marked 110 years since the first Coles store opened in Smith Street, Collingwood.

“Since that time, we have been dedicated to offering great value, quality groceries, and essentials to our customers,” he said.

“As a result of our constant focus on quality, efficiency, and value, we achieved a solid financial result, with group sales revenue from continuing operations of $43.6 billion and Group NPAT from continuing operations of $1.1 billion.”

Customers Shifting Away from Eating Out: Coles

Coles also mentioned observing a shift in customer behavior away from dining out.

The company’s “Finest” range and convenience meals were categories showing high growth.

In the liquor business, Coles noted a 1.4 percent decrease in sales revenue in the first eight weeks.

The July CrowdStrike outage had a negative impact as several liquor stores were unable to trade. Excluding the CrowdStrike impact, Coles stated that liquor sales revenue decreased by 0.3 percent.

Looking ahead, Coles stated that 2025 would be a critical year.

“This is a significant year for the business as we expand our second automated distribution center and transition our metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne next-day home delivery orders to our two automated customer fulfillment centers, and we are optimistic about the customer benefits these are expected to deliver,” Coles explained.

Construction of these automated CFCs in Victoria and New South Wales is now complete, and they began operating in July 2024. Coles is also ramping up a Queensland automated distribution center.