Woolsworths Online VS Coles Online

 

If you live in Australia and want to do your grocery shopping online you have two giant retailers doing a great job at bringing everything you need to your doorstep. But, which one to choose? Well, I want to spill the beans. Actually, you decide. Here is my experience with the two giants, after dating the two. 

WHAT WHAT WHAT?	WOOLIES	COLES
Registration needed	Yes	Yes
Click and collect	Yes	Yes
Delivery to your door  =	Yes	Yes
Free delivery option	Yes	Yes
Minimum expenditure for free Delivery	300$ any time	Free every day when you select an 8 hr time slot and spend $150+.
Price for delivery	OK 11$ Depends on money spent	Good, 8-13$ depends on time slot chosen
Price of products	Good	OK
Easy to shop online	Very good	Very good
Variety of products online	Good	Good
Visual Design	Very good	Good
Functionality of store online	Very Good	Very good
Chat online to solve doubts	Yes	No
Update or modification of orders online before day of delivery	Only 3 hrs after order is placed	Yes
Replacements of products for sold-out products	Yes BUT They are lazy and sometimes don't replace, and send out of stock message and part of your shopping is not delivered, but the delivery fee is still charged, so you end paying a lot for what you buy	Yes, mostly works great, but sometimes they are lazy and replace a product with a different one, i.e. decaff coffee with normal coffee. Hello Hello, anybody in those heads?
Quality of products received	Very good	Very good
Shop by lists	Yes	Yes
Shop by recipes	Yes	Yes, but you have to go to a Coles subdomain
Catalogue specials available	Yes	Yes
Online-only specials	Yes	Yes
Variety of online-only specials Sells alcohol online	Poor No	Very good Yes
Order cancellation	Yes,  6pm of previous day if ordered for AM and 11pm if for PM	Yes, until 12am of previous day for orders AM, and 12pm previous day for orders PM
Cancellation fee	Yes, if after cut of time It depends	Yes, if after cut-off time Fixed, 30$
Minimum order	30$	50$
Tracking system	Yes	No
Detailed SMS info System	Yes	Yes
Availability of time slots	Good	Very good
Punctuality	Good	Good
Place of delivery	Door or block door	Door or block door
Friendliness of delivery guys	Excellent	Excellent
Helpfulness of delivery guys	OK	Very good
Mix-ups in deliveries	Yes	No
Samples given	Not yet	Sometimes
Payment by credit card	Yes	Yes
Payment by Paypal	Yes	No
Payment by Giftcard	Yes	No
Payment on delivery by EFPTOS	No	Yes
Request of feedback after delivery	No	Yes
Delivery-saver subscription	Yes	No
Purchases from businesses	Yes	Yes
Remote area delivery	Yes	Yes
What is the cheapest for online shopping?	I would say if you add up the prices of the groceries you get plus the delivery fees, the prices are very similar, perhaps a bit cheaper with Woolies if you do bulk shopping.
Which one I prefer for online shopping?	Coles for the variety of products and better organisation of the delivery, better replacement policies, delivery guys are usually more helpful and  less lazy, flexibility of payment and it is easier to get free delivery.

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Aldi Supermarkets

THE GOOD
> Excellent prices for most things. Some products are cheap and are great, while others are cheaper than in normal supermarkets. You can expend 100 bucks and will get a trolley fully packed with staples.
> Nice packaging and design.  
>  Aldi favours local manufactures and producers, so there are more chances of finding an Australian product that is actually Australian in Aldi than in other supermarkets.  
> You can find first-class brands at discounted prices, a la Reject Shop.
> International goodies available at decent prices, usually cheaper than in normal supermarkets. Perhaps not cheap, but affordable.
> Seasonal and special goods are sold at incredible prices as well, from TVs, garage stuff, tools, Christmas or Easter seasonal products, and what is not.
> Aldi liquor are very small sections, I would say, but their prices are amazing, and you find from the local Australian one to French wines. 
 > Products I like are their dish-washing liquid, their serrano ham, their speck and smoked ham, wafer crackers, some varieties of instant coffee, some of their cheeses, and some of their rubbish bin bags. 
> Very fast cashier lines. Their cash line are opened or closed depending on the number of people approaching, so more people cueing, more cashiers are opened immediately.  
 > If you are not happy with a product, they will exchange it and return your money, not problem.

THE SO-SO
> Aldi's organisation system is not the usual and will get you a bit to get used to it.
> The fresh veggies and fruit area is mediocre by all means.
> The meat section is mediocre by all means. 
> Although they have the basics, the variety and quantity of products is limited.  Sometimes I have found myself looking for a staple, and did not find it.  
> Products you love disappear for long periods of time or never come back. 
> The packaging of their generics is too similar to know brands, so its seems you are buying a known brand, but it is a generic. No problem if you give a dam about that you are buying. 
> Some of their cheap prices are more expensive than the specials or every-day-prices in Woolies and Coles. So if you are on a budget study the prices beforehand.  
> Although it varies from person to person, generally speaking customer service is never as good, friendly or attentive as in Coles or Woolies.
> Depending on the stores, you cannot take the basket outside the cashier, which forces you to pack your staff at the speed of light because nobody will do so for you, and they have a tiny space to move around, and the next customer is approaching dangerously.

 THE BAD
> The warehouse feeling of their supermarkets.  
> Their cold meat area. I have had some of their cold meats that, when fresh, are excellent. However, I have noticed that despite the expire date being quite long, some of them have grainy white dots that are not salt, they are something I don't want to see on any cold meat. It is not just once, it is many times that I found them. I even warned the manager in one of their supermarkets. Next time I visited they were still there. I think it has to do with the refrigeration chain being broken between the producer and the shop, or perhaps between the warehouse and the supermarket. I recommend you to inspect every single packet of cold meat you buy. I do so.
> Some products are cheap because they are crap. Period.  I hate their gourmet chips, they always taste of stale and are way too salty and anything but gourmet.
> If you pay with a card, they charge you a tiny commission fee, pro-rate, so the more you spend the more commission they get. 
> No express lines or cash-only lines.

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The Reject Shop

The Reject Shop stores aren't pretty fancy ones, but they are the sort of stores you want to have nearby if you are on a budget or just don't want to pay more than you should for anything.

I have bought many things from the Reject Shop in the past, from fancy gourmet salt, coffee, laundry soap, plastic containers, storage items, and party/seasonal needs. Except for a couple of times when I bought things that were not good, I was always satisfied with the things I bough from the RS and the prices I paid for.

My experience in these shops is that one can find:
> Items that although from good brands ended being so-so in quality due to faulty manufacturing  and or design /assembling.
> Discontinued lines of first class brands.
> End of batches of first class products that are being replaced by the "new" or "improved" varieties of the same.
> 2-dollar-shop kind of stuff.
> Products from good brands manufactured for/from other countries that fall short for the needs of preferences of Australians.
> Cheapies imitating good brands stuff.
> Party needs and seasonal celebration stuff. 

If you are lucky you can buy the same product, brand and model as in your supermarket for a fraction of the price. If you are unlucky, something you have bought, will break very soon! As a rule of thumb, I always advice to check the price of a product of a well-known brand in Coles or Woolies using your smartphone to see if what you are buying is a bargain or not. 

I tend to stick to known brands in the RS because, when I have found crappy stuff, were all unbranded. Having said that, many times I have been pleasantly surprised with unbranded products that were great at ridiculous prices.

Their catalogues are great to find extra-cheap items that you might need.

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