Coles has lifted its third-quarter food and liquor sales 2.1% to $8 billion, thanks in part to its latest kid-focused collectables campaign.
Supermarket revenue rose 2.1% to $7.27 billion, while liquor rose 0.9%.
The supermarket giant which was spun off late last year by Wesfarmers said on Monday its Fresh Stikeez campaign “drove high customer engagement” in the 12 weeks to March 24, mirroring the runaway success of last year’s Little Shop giveaway campaign
Following Little Shop’s success, Coles partnered with the Healthy Kids Association this year to release 24 mini-fruit and vegetable figurines dubbed ‘Stikeez’.
The incentive of children earning the food-themed mini figures helped their parents to lift Coles’ third-quarter comparable food and liquor sales 2.1% on the prior corresponding period – once the timing of New Year’s Eve is accounted for.
Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said in Monday’s statement “We delivered a solid outcome for the third quarter. We know that customer expectations are changing faster than ever, and we are resolutely focused on delivering our Fresh Tomorrow strategy.”
“We were also pleased to provide support for communities impacted by natural disasters such as floods in Far North Queensland, bushfires in Tasmania and Victoria, and Cyclone Veronica in WA.”
Coles said average basket size grew strongly over the period, underpinned by an increase in items per basket and price inflation in fresh categories.
That’s despite a sharp rise in fruit and especially vegetable costs in the quarter, as shown by last week’s release of the March quarter Consumer Price Index which showed a 7.7% rise in the cost of vegetables in the quarter
Coles shares edged up 0.3% to $12.64.
