Australian Supermarket Coles To Reformatting Stores For Convenience

Leading Australian supermarket chain Coles is reformatting 200 of its retail stores to focus more on convenience, with the brand said to be targeting growth in sales on the back of "food-for-now" and "food-for-later" products.

The strategic move is reported to mean that Coles will convert a few hundred supermarkets into a more premium, convenience-focused format, while adapting 200 lower-volume stores to a more value-centric format. Coles will also be adding around 75 new product lines to its existing ready-to-eat meal range, such as breakfast foods, curries, soups, roast vegetables and stir-fry kits.

When talking about eh convenience market, Coles chief executive Stephen Cain told the Australian Financial Review: "It's high growth and it mainly happens outside supermarkets at the moment. Some of it will come from other players in the convenience market, but because it's value-added it's also growing the market as well."

In our foodwatching Australia & Asia February 2019 report we took a deep dive into Better Convenience, looking at the rising trend of convenience down under, a trend that Australia has gradually been picking up on behind the likes of the UK and the U.S.

Read the full report here.