Down with Coles' big red hand

At first, that campaign drove me nuts.

By chance, I needed to drop into a supermarket, and Coles was the nearest. In I went, greeted by those big red "down down" hands... ugh.

Got what i needed, and decided to have a look around. I was a little staggered at how cheap some stuff was. As I noted on a comment to the Yardy Yardy Yardy 'Food Fight' blog piece about consumers in NZ's demanding the same be implemented over there, I noted a few of my "observations" at Coles.

I recently visited my local Coles, and was very surprised by the low prices. I know that will sound like an ad, but the essentials are dirt cheap.

Bread, milk, eggs... Hey, even those energy saving lighbulbs that typically retail for around $10-11 - the Coles brand is $3.99.

Even non-essentials, such as Coles branded junkfood like sweets and fizzy drinks, are all flat priced. A 1.25ml "Coles Cola" was 99c, and a 200g bag of "Coles" Snakes, was $1

Research does say that sales might be up on many essential items, but i think that reflects sales for the supermarket brands (Coles/or Woolworths), not the premium brands such as Cadbury/Burgen/McCain etc.

See for yourself. This is their online shopping website.

To go to my local Coles in Canberra, go to 'New Customers' and punch in my aera code 2604 then choose the Kingston store, then click 'Start Shopping' and take a look around.