Australian shoppers have observed a Christmas miracle on their grocery runs in Coles this week, as the shelves of many of the chain’s supermarkets are lined entirely with yellow discount tickets indicating slashed prices. But what on earth could be the reason for this massive sale? Because it definitely has nothing to do with the upcoming senate inquiry into supermarket price gouging. [Warning: high levels of sarcasm ahead.]
When TikToker @ellaxthezoo, known as Bellzz, was shopping with her fiancé in a Coles this week the pair documented their bewilderment at wall-to-wall yellow discount stickers across the store — an unusual (and very welcome) amount of sales from the supermarket giant.
@ellaxthezoo #colespricesaredown #colesinquiry #pricegouging #costofliving #costoflivingcrisis #nationalinquiry #coles #woolworths #colesandwoolies #groceryshopping #colesboycott ♬ original sound – Bellzz
In the video which now has over 270K views on TikTok, Bellzz observes that the huge amount of price drops is on practically every aisle.
“This is not normal!” Bellz exclaims as she walks through the grocery store, bombarded by waves of discount stickers.
Are prices really “down down”?
In order to determine that this was not a one-off instance, I visited several Coles stores around Sydney to see if “down down, prices are down” had finally become true(ish).
Lo and behold, I was met with a sea of sales — as prophesied.
Shelves across all aisles in the store were lined with products boasting they were being sold at reduced prices. From produce to beauty products, it was hard to find something that wasn’t on sale.
I’m not proud to admit, but when I saw that chips had suddenly dropped from around $8 or more a bag to half, I was giddy.
Seemingly overnight it was almost as if Coles had decided that customers shouldn’t to take out a loan if they wanted groceries. Wild.
But all of this begs one massive question.
What could *possibly* be the motivation for Coles big sale?
Why would Coles, who only made a measly $1.1 billion in profit last financial year, decide to cut prices so drastically and suddenly?
And when you take into account the fact that Coles has been so pushed for cash this year that they had were forced to crack down on shoplifting with body cameras, and could only afford to give workers a water bottle for Christmas, you really wonder why a company would decide to massively change it’s prices overnight. Are they okay?
@kikispas #fyp #coles ♬ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – neozilla
In the viral TikTok Bellzz suggests that the reason for all these sales may have something to do with the fact that Coles is about to undergo a senate inquiry into supermarket price gouging, along with its competitor Woolworths.
Her partner Jack even goes so far to say that Coles putting everything on discount at this exact time is “just an admission of guilt” from the company.
But that’s totallyyyy preposterous, right?
Do you really think a billion-dollar company involved in one of Australia’s most powerful duopolies would intentionally put a tonne of products on sale to try and make people forget the massive price gouging they’ve been doing all year?
Sorry, I mean alleged price gouging.
This also happened to (totally coincidentally) occur the same week that the Greens launched a whistleblowing website for Aussies to snitch on expensive supermarkets.
It’s almost as if… there’s some kind of connection here…?
The upcoming examination of Coles and Woolies marks a historic step from the government into investigating exactly how the two companies, which own over two-thirds of their industry’s total revenue, have made such profit during.
The hopes from are that the inquiry will uncover if there have been unethical business practises that may have contributed to inflation and the cost of living crisis that affects millions of Australians.
Bellz shared in her TikTok that watching Coles drop prices in this way was has if the company is “publicly shitting their pants.”
“I wonder if they’re thinking that these sales will help them get out of looking so bad?” She pondered.
But hey, maybe we are all just jumping to conclusions. Maybe Coles aren’t just another money hungry company lusting for the unattainable exponential increase of corporate profits, and this is all a misunderstanding.
Perhaps this is a sign of holiday season goodness from the company that cares about feeding families for under $10.
I for one have loved spending ten bucks on Vegemite this year. It’s been a truly great time Coles, thanks a billion.
