AustraliaManaging Director
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1914 |
| Headquarters | Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia |
| No. of locations | 740+ |
| Key people | Ian McLeod Managing Director |
| Industry | Retail |
| Employees | 93,000+ |
| Parent | Wesfarmers |
| Website | www.coles.com.au |
Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers (formerly Coles Group before its acquisition on 23 November 2007). With over 740 stores nationally[1] and more than 92,000 employees,[2] Coles currently has second-largest market share behind Woolworths Supermarkets.[3]
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Coles was founded by George James (G.J.) Coles when what was called the "Coles Variety Store" opened on 9 April 1914 in Smith Street in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. Expansion to more stores occurred and the chain was regarded as leaders in providing value to Australian shoppers (G. J. Coles learned the retail trade working for his father's "Coles Store" business at Wilmot, Tasmania between 1910 and 1913).
In 1960, the first supermarket was opened in Melbourne suburb Balwyn North and by 1973 Coles had established stores in all Australian capital cities.
For many years, stores were badged "Coles New World" until they were renamed Coles Supermarkets in 1991 and given the trademark "orb" logo. This was replaced with the "circled tick logo" in 2005, having first appeared as a secondary logo in 2003.
From mid 2006, many BI-LO supermarkets were re-badged as Coles Supermarkets. Newmart supermarkets, under which BI-LO traded in Western Australia, were re-badged as Coles Supermarkets in 2002-2003. Newmart stores co-located with Coles in the same area or shopping centre were sold to Foodland and re branded as the now-defunct Action Supermarkets chain.
Coles reported very poor a trading result for the 13 weeks to April 29, 2007, sparking criticism from many commentators.[4] The failure of the rebadging of BI-LO stores to Coles was blamed in part for the poor results, and a general public consensus that it is cheaper to shop at rival Woolworths. The conversion program was put on hold at Easter 2007.[5]
On 2nd July 2007, Western Australian based company Wesfarmers agreed to purchase Coles Group Limited for AU$22 billion. The purchase was completed in early 2008.[6]
In August 2007, as Wesfarmers foreshadowed its plans for the restructuring of Coles Group following its anticipated takeover, it stated that one of three planned divisions would comprise supermarkets, liquor and convenience stores. [7]
In February 2008, Wesfarmers appointed UK retailer Ian McLeod as managing director of Coles Supermarkets plus liquor, fuel and convenience businesses. McLeod's previously headed UK car parts and cycle retailer Halfords and gained supermarket experience with Asda and Wal-Mart.[8]
Coles' advertising campaigns have employed a host of different names, slogans and logos.
The original slogan was "nothing over 2/6", when Coles was still primarily operating variety stores. The slogan "You'll find the best value is at Coles New World" was used in the 1980s during the Coles New World era. In 1991, it was renamed as Coles Supermarkets and given the trademark New World orb logo, which went on to be used for 15 years. In 1998, the capitalised "Supermarkets" text was removed leaving the business simply branded as "Coles". "Serving you better" was used as a slogan from 1998 to 2003 with an associated jingle from 2000. This was replaced with "save everyday", endorsed by actress Lisa McCune, and saw the circled tick logo introduced, replacing the orb logo for the most part in 2005. "Save everyday" was soon after changed to the more grammatically-correct "save every day".
In 2007, that slogan, the circle tick, and use of Lisa McCune ceased, with simply the Coles name as the new brand with no slogan in preparation for an entirely new red ball logo to match the new Coles Group identity, which was shelved later in the year amongst the sale of the business. Coles chose to remove the "save every day" slogan and employed "something better every day". In August 2008, the tag line "Proudly Australian since 1914" was introduced along with sponsorship of the Seven Network's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics.[9] Not long after, it was replaced with "Cutting the cost of your shopping", reminiscent of an older Kmart slogan "cutting the cost of living" that was used in 2003.
Coles has three levels of generic or private label brands, announced in 2005 to replace its existing brands such as Savings, Farmland, Persona and Reliance:
By 2006, 1,600 private label products had been introduced under the two cheaper brands.[11] Some adverse commentary was made about the loss of choice on supermarket shelves as private label brands started to dominate.[12]
Internal departments are organised along lines similar to Coles’ Australian competitors, structured into logical groupings such as service, dairy, bakery, delicatessen, fresh produce, grocery, meat, liquor, general merchandise and apparel and overhead. Many stores have their own bake house. Meat rooms (complete with onsite butchers) still operate in Western Australia and some older stores elsewhere. Liquor departments only exist in stores with 'Coles Liquor', as opposed to Liquorland. Liquorland stores operate with their own store manager and staff.
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