Coles or Woolies - which is cheaper?

rack on 24/03/2011 - 06:49

So all my life i have done my shopping at Coles. It's mostly out of habit. I am so used to knowing where each item is and i find it so much faster to shop there. But i have been told time and time again coles is more expensive. Comparing their catalogues i can see that woolies is cheaper but most of their sales are 2 for this , 5 for this etc. We are only 1 couple and it doesn't suit us to buy in bulk all the time. Atleast coles has 50%, 30% off etc on individual items. What do u guys reckon?

Also am thinking of going to IGA for a change but do they stock brand items. I hate going to aldi as i just can't seem to find that their items meet my standards. I only buy 1 cleaning product from there. Last time i went to aldi i got their paper towel and orange juice in gallon. Paper towel was useless. Not absorbent AT all. Orange juice felt so watery it almost felt like drinking diluted orange juice. At least the bigger supermarkets gives you choice from cheaper to expensive.

Any comments.

General Discussion

Comments

  • bemybubble on 24/03/2011 - 08:49

    Had a friend of mine who worked as an auditor for the big chains. He said no joke if you were to shop and buy the same items each time from 1 grocery store to another, it would all work out pretty much the same in the end :S

    hope that helps

    • mxyzptik on 24/03/2011 - 09:46

      It is no joke because they are both expensive, apart from specials. He was only looking at Coles & Woolworths. He would have to say Aldi is MUCH cheaper.

  • alebox on 24/03/2011 - 09:28
    +2

    just go where the bargains take you :)

  • mxyzptik on 24/03/2011 - 09:40

    Sounds like an ad for the "out of control" fat twins. I'd put it another way: "Where would you prefer to pay more than necessary (excepting specials): Coles or Woolworths?"

    I love Aldi … their premium orange juice is great … their quality control is renowned … as for cleaning stuff and the like, at Coles & Wolworths you are paying more for the packaging than the contents. IGA is not in the frame - expensive.

    My motto: The fat twins for the specials - Aldi & the market for the rest. Thats the way to save money.

    • rack on 24/03/2011 - 09:52

      i don't think it's paying for more then necessary. I thinks its the quality. You get what you pay for. I always buy handee ultra paper towels. You only need about 2 sheets of these towels to actually soak up a reasonable amount of spill but with the Aldi ones you need maybe 6-8 to actually soak the same amount. And it still leaves streaks behind.

      Aldi doesn't offer a choice.

      • retiredfeline on 24/03/2011 - 10:53
        +3

        Buy the stuff that works for you at Aldi and the rest elsewhere. I don't like the Aldi tomato ketchup for example, and their fizzy drinks are neither here nor there. But their wheat bikkies are as good as Sanitarium (in fact I think I once saw Sanitarium on one of the packing cartons).

        • mxyzptik on 24/03/2011 - 11:34

          Agreed.

  • stralya on 24/03/2011 - 10:00
    +2

    Coles and Woolies are pretty much line-ball when it comes to full shelf price for most branded items. The difference lies in 3 areas: specials, private label and rewards.

    Specials - Depending on what is on sale, and whether you really need what is on sale. There are some interesting gimmicks being tried out now. In our local Woolies, they have $2 bags of produce (where you can stuff as much produce as you want into a bag and pay only $2). However, this lasts only for about 5 minutes and is at a random time during the day…so you have to beat the grannies out of the way to get to the shelves.

    Private Labels - Woolies have a 2 tier private label structure (Home Brand / Select). Coles is moving towards 1 tier. Aldi has always been 1 tier. So, if you are looking for price comparisons, you must compare Aldi to Home Brand or Smart Buy. My view is Woolies provides better value through Home Brand than Coles or Aldi.

    Rewards - Woolies gives you frequent flyer points and discounts at their petrol pumps. Likewise with Coles / Flybuys/ Shell. My view is that the Woolies offer is better at the moment.

    • quop on 24/03/2011 - 16:27

      I saw my first $2 woolies fill-a-bag sale yesterday - just happened to be at the right place at the right time and my wife was first to the shelf they rolled out. I think there was an announcement about a minute before (I wasn't really paying attention). The system they use to mark the $2 bag is ripe for abuse though… but I suppose they don't really care about any losses that might come of it.

      • A Banana4scale on 07/04/2011 - 11:07
        +1

        wait they have those?
        where oh where…2 years of everyday shopping at Woolies and never seen such a sale

        • quop on 07/04/2011 - 12:38

          I doubt they have them everywhere, probably stores that don't move their stock fast enough. The one place I've seen it is in suburban Brisbane. My wife got another bag last night - she said she asked the staff who told her they usually wheel out these specials around 5pm, which was about the same time as when I first saw it a few weeks gack, but gsri9's comment/experience above suggests other places may be more random.

  • BuyoTheCat on 24/03/2011 - 10:37

    Some things are cheaper at cole and some at woolsworth.
    I was looking a a loaf of sourdough olive bread and it was cheaper at coles. (by almost 40 cents)
    the coles/woolworths branded toasted muesli was cheaper at woolies than coles (by almost 50c)

    These are the 2 things that I do buy and that I noticed

  • whiteflame on 24/03/2011 - 11:14
    +2

    if u really wanna save money u hav to shop in both and look through both of their weekly catelogs and compare

  • altomic on 24/03/2011 - 13:59
    +1

    I buy my fruit and veg at the local greengrocer (literally half the price of the supermarkets), then proceed to Aldi and then go to woolworths. This is a round trip of about 5kms (before anyone starts on about petrol) and as for time spent doing this? -I'm not sitting on the couch watching TV.

    There is also an IGA nearby that I monitor for specials.

  • rack on 24/03/2011 - 15:54

    my local green grocer are thiefs. The over charge you for everything. Their scales don't seem to work and you can't argue with them. 4 medium size banana's weighed at 1.09kg. 3 oranges were a full kg and a handful of grapes were 1.2kg. You must be kidding. They are so fast at scanning things you don't even get the time to see the weight. When u ask for the reciept they don't print them. You ask them to weigh it again there's no time.

    idiots.

  • finance on 24/03/2011 - 16:32

    my green grocer is good too. stuff are quite cheap, not the freshest but i just buy what i eat for couple of days and then go back.

    only thing i'm missing is a butcher.

    I usually shop at safeway and cole for specials or reduced items. personally i prefer safeway for reduced items. they start reducing 2 days before due date. where as coles only do it a day before and only 20% instead of 50% at safeway. coles rarely have 40% reduced items, maybe my coles is just crap!!!

    they've reduced their milk so i buy it at coles as its closer.but still buy bread and egg from aldi much cheaper.

    I find most of the full price meat stuff is quite expensive. i could afford takeout instead of buying and having to still cook it!

  • 7Alice7 on 25/03/2011 - 18:48

    I only buy the loss leaders at Coles and Woolies then go to Foodland for the rest of my shopping - much prefer to support an independent. Fruit and veggies at an independent too, don't care if they are more expensive, Coles and Woolies fruit and veg is poor and not worth buying.

  • leafie116 on 06/04/2011 - 20:28

    Their fruit and veg might be poor quality compared to markets and fruit shops…but at least they open til late.

    It is so good to be able to buy groceries after normal opening hours and not having to live on instant noodles

  • hindes83 on 07/04/2011 - 21:46

    it could be good if you buy from both.. it might be a hassle if you keep going to Coles then going to Woolies but buy whats cheap in Woolies at Woolies and buy whats cheap at Coles at Coles.. different stores get different things at different prices, this maybe because they stock different amounts for a certain good.. which is easier to get to and from to is also a big factor.

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