Coles Vetoes Online Pricing

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In an interesting move this week, supermarket giant Coles has decided to stick with its current policy not to publish its online prices. Christopher Zinn, spokesman for Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE say this is very “disappointing” and that Coles should reconsider its decision.

In an interesting move this week, supermarket giant Coles has decided to stick with its current policy not to publish its online prices.  Christopher Zinn, spokesman for Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE say this is very “disappointing” and that Coles should reconsider its decision.

While Coles does not allow its online shoppers to see the total cost of shopping baskets until checkout, competitors ALDI and Woolworths have begun to display grocery item prices.

“We have a pretty ordinary offering from Woolworths, but in all fairness it is a start,” Mr Zinn told the Australian Associated Press.

Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said the supermarket’s customers aren’t interested in online pricing, and therefore the cost and complexity of integrating such a feature aren’t worth it at this stage.

However, online pricing options, or a lack thereof, do raise questions surrounding the issue of transparency – something more companies move to embrace, rather than dismiss, in the current e-commerce climate.

And this gives Woolworths a distinct competitive advantage over Coles.  As Mr Zinn put it, Woolworths now has the opportunity to say “We are fair dinkum about having prices online, we are prepared for you to see our prices but Coles don’t want you to see theirs”.

What do you think of Coles’ decision – is it a smart, calculated move or does it demonstrate a lack of e-commerce understanding?

Article by Elisabeth Lambert

Elisabeth is an editor and content creator for The Media Pad, publishers of Power Retail. As a writer and blogger, she is rapt that she is able to channel her passion for online retailing into Power Retail. She also loves writing about rugby, pop culture, travel and anything baby related. Having spent most of the last decade in Japan, Elisabeth still immerses herself in as much Japanese crazy as possible, and when she has time, Elisabeth likes to cook, ski and train for triathlons.