Leaked emails reveal for the first time the tactics Coles employs when a supplier seeks a price increase and how it has taken advantage of inflation to boost profits.
I’ve never found the local markets to be cheaper. Lots of niche hipster items that cost an arm and a leg, but if I want something like bread or milk there is zero chance it’ll be cheaper at the local market. They’ll sell you 2L for $10 before you’ll be able to buy for $5.
Milk is a poor example, as Colesworth sells Milk as a loss-leader to get you in the door.
Your local markets don’t sell processed grocery items (think cereal, biscuits, sauces etc). When I lived in Melbourne, I made use of the Preston Markets. My sequence was Fruit/Vegies > Eggs > Cheese & Smallgoods > Nuts & seeds > Meat & poultry > Asian Supermarket. That took care of about 75% of my shop. I then went over the road to Woolies for the remainder. Yes, I bought milk at Woolies.
In all the above examples, the markets were cheaper than Woolies. Doing this took extra time, but I saved on average about 20% (nah, it can’t have been that much. It’s been too long to remember. But it was a significant amount) on the items I bought at the markets.
I no longer have access to markets like this. I am very sad about that.
I’m not sure what that person meant by “local markets”, but supermarket competitors are no cheaper for the people at the bottom buying the cheapest stuff (who are the ones actually at risk). Maybe in the middle and upper tier products you might start to see a difference but for homebrand/off-brand items Colesworth is as good as it gets.
If they meant wholesale/farmer’s markets then I would definitely agree that you can save tons of money. Fruit and vegetables are the absolute worst, I would never buy those at Colesworth unless I was desperate. They are ridiculously expensive and often poor quality.
It’s now cheaper to shop at the local markets, and the difference is enough to make up for the time spent shopping.
Coles and Woolworths can rot.
I’ve never found the local markets to be cheaper. Lots of niche hipster items that cost an arm and a leg, but if I want something like bread or milk there is zero chance it’ll be cheaper at the local market. They’ll sell you 2L for $10 before you’ll be able to buy for $5.
Milk is a poor example, as Colesworth sells Milk as a loss-leader to get you in the door.
Your local markets don’t sell processed grocery items (think cereal, biscuits, sauces etc). When I lived in Melbourne, I made use of the Preston Markets. My sequence was Fruit/Vegies > Eggs > Cheese & Smallgoods > Nuts & seeds > Meat & poultry > Asian Supermarket. That took care of about 75% of my shop. I then went over the road to Woolies for the remainder. Yes, I bought milk at Woolies.
In all the above examples, the markets were cheaper than Woolies. Doing this took extra time, but I saved on average about
20%(nah, it can’t have been that much. It’s been too long to remember. But it was a significant amount) on the items I bought at the markets.I no longer have access to markets like this. I am very sad about that.
I’m not sure what that person meant by “local markets”, but supermarket competitors are no cheaper for the people at the bottom buying the cheapest stuff (who are the ones actually at risk). Maybe in the middle and upper tier products you might start to see a difference but for homebrand/off-brand items Colesworth is as good as it gets.
If they meant wholesale/farmer’s markets then I would definitely agree that you can save tons of money. Fruit and vegetables are the absolute worst, I would never buy those at Colesworth unless I was desperate. They are ridiculously expensive and often poor quality.
I’ve found that recently IGA and Foodworks are cost-competitive and in many cases cheaper that Colesworth.
Because they can’t get the contracts with larger producers, they often have better quality niche products from local independent producers.
The best tasting bacon I have ever had was purchased in a Foodworks and was from a piggery a few towns over.
Ah that’s fair, I’ve never considered that. I only usually check out the branded stuff which is usually more expensive.
Didn’t actually know they did local stuff, will have to check it out. Cheers!