Yahoo Finance Coles ditches popular $200 million 'Little Shop' idea
The extremely popular Little Shop campaign which saw Aussies of all ages collecting miniature supermarket products has been ditched by Coles.
The campaign was launched in 2018 to widespread success with Facebook groups even set up for trading purposes and rare ‘mini’ products were auctioned off at sometimes high prices.
The decision to end Little Shop has coincided with Coles’ new advertising campaign which has a focus on the environment and being sustainable.
Coles chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson acknowledged the impact Little Shop had but said it was time to focus on the future.
“When you look back to Little Shop three years ago it was the first of its kind. It was pretty unique and there wasn’t anything else in the market so we did have very much a ‘first mover advantage’,” Ronson said.
“In a recent survey of 9,000 of our customers, reducing waste to landfill and plastic packaging was the number one concern when it comes to environmental issues in retail, with 69 per cent of those surveyed saying it was of high importance to them."
Ronson said Coles was focussed on listening to its customers and ensuring that they’re working towards a more sustainable future.
“We know that customers will understand the need to ensure our campaigns are more sustainable for future generations,” she said.
“We have seen that step up significantly over the last few years, I think there has always been a general concern for the environment and what we are particularly doing given our footprint in the country.”
Success of Little Shop campaign
Little Shop was so successful when it launched in 2018 sales at Coles sores rose 5.1 per cent and the chain saw its best quarterly performance in three years.
It is estimated the campaign added over $200 million in sales and $11 million in profits when it launched the collectables.
The surprisingly simple idea of giving away miniature replicas of popular household items like bread, coffee and cleaning products was aimed at kids but adored by all ages.
Due to its “overwhelming popularity” Coles extended the promotion in 2018 and then relaunched it with a new host of miniature products in 2019.
The success sparked rival Woolworths to launch its own collectables campaign Ooshies which was also highly successful.
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