Yahoo Finance Coles’ latest move in the supermarket war: 75 new items with ready-to-eat menu
Australian culture and an obsession with smashed avocado on toast go hand in hand.
And now Coles is getting in on the action.
It plans to refurbish 100 supermarkets over the next six months to stock more ready-made-meals.
And among the 75 new ready-to-eat options the supermarket giant will roll-out this week are two smashed avocado options, one with tomato, fetta and toast and the other with egg.
It’s part of Coles’ strategy to win time-poor shoppers.
“Our customers are increasingly seeking to reclaim their time, but with minimum compromise on freshness, quality, and flavour,” a Coles spokesperson said in a statement to Yahoo Finance.
“Coles research has found that 33 per cent of customers don’t know at 5pm what they’ll be having for dinner that night, and around 50 per cent say they don’t have time to cook from scratch – so we are developing more fresh, innovative products including food-to-go and meal solutions.”
“In stores where we have identified strong demand for fresh food on the go, Coles will this week roll out a range of new convenience products including nine fresh prepared breakfast lines at $4.50 each.”
In addition to smashed avocados, the new Coles Fresh Kitchen breakfast products range will include:
· Homestyle Beans, Bacon & Egg
· Coconut Chia with mango & passion fruit
· Granola & Yoghurt
· Acai, Banana & Oat
· Apple Bircher with cranberry & coconut
· Mexican style bean salsa with Egg
· Hot Smoked Salmon, Brown Rice, Egg & Spinach
The spokesperson said Coles is also increasing the instore space given to fresh convenience in the stores with high demand, and an expanded range of convenience products will be available in store by the end of the year.
As reported by the Australian Financial Review, Coles has seen sales increase by more than 10 per cent in its Eastgarden store in Sydney after it began testing the convenience format. Here, products like sushi, salad bowls and lamb shanks have been on offer.
"We see the convenience market as being an opportunity to grow another billion in sales over the next five years," Coles managing director Steven Cain told The Australian Financial Review.
"It's high growth and it mainly happens outside supermarkets at the moment.”
Coles is set to reveal a major new strategy next month, which the AFR reports will include changing 200 Coles supermarkets in total.
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