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Coles and Woolies go head-to-head on collectables

Australia’s big two supermarkets will go head-to-head in a collectables battle over the coming weeks, as both kick off rival campaigns this Wednesday.

On Friday, Coles announced that it is bringing back its popular Little Shop for another run, with 30 new miniature groceries to collect.

Hours later, Woolworths announced its own campaign, once again teaming up with Disney, but this time on a Lion King-themed collection to celebrate the release of the blockbuster this week.

The Ooshies collection at Woolworths features 24 characters including nine favourites from the film. As at Coles, Woolworths customers will need to spend $30 in store or online to receive an optional collectable.

Woolworths Programs Manager Sarah De La Mare said the retailer is proud to partner with Disney to celebrate what is “arguably one of the greatest Disney films of all time”.

“We also know that many Aussies love Ooshies, and this unique Lion King collection is something that Lion King fans will want to keep and treasure for a long time. Ooshies are also a popular gift and we believe that this collectable program will provide customers with fantastic added value and excitement when they choose to shop with us,” De La Mare said.

As with Woolworths’ previous Disney campaign, Disney Words, the retailer has added a prize element to further entice parents to get involved. Customers will have the chance to win one of 116 trips for four to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida by purchasing any three participating brand products in a $30 shop.

Woolworths has been mindful of its environmental responsibilities with this campaign, after Coles copped a lot of flack from environmental groups during its first promotion for excess use of plastic, so soon after removing single-use plastic bags from its stores.

The retailer has partnered with TerraCycle to turn used Ooshies into plastic pellets which will be used to make outdoor products such as garden beds, decks, fences and benches. Customers can dropped any unwanted Ooshies back to Woolworths and from there they will be sent to TerraCycle for recycling. The bag the Ooshies come in is also made of FSC material and can be recycled via kerbside yellow bins.

Little Shop expands to Coles Express

One of the big differences with Coles new campaign is the decision to expand the promotion to Coles Express for the first time. Customers will be be able to collect a mini grocery item with every $30 spent on fuel or convenience store purchases. 

“Little Shop 2” includes Arnott’s Original Barbecue Shapes, Heinz Baked Beans, Tip Top bread and Campbell’s tomato soup as well as a Coles replica truck, toy cash register and new collector cases.

Coles Little Shop

Some of the brands in the first Coles Little Shop campaign including Pental’s White King, Freedom Foods and Messy Monkeys even reported a 50 per cent surge in products sales since the promotion began.

“We have worked with our suppliers to make this year’s campaign even bigger and better than ever before and we think customers will be excited to find out about additional surprises we have in store for them,” Coles chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson said.

Last week UK retailer M&S launched the UK’s first Little Shop campaign features 25 M&S Food products. The major difference between Coles Little Shop and the M&S version is that the UK retailer’s products are all own brand while Coles features popular Australian brands such as Vegemite and Arnott’s.

The first campaign was so popular for Coles that it decided to extend the promo beyond the planned finish date, and also introduced a Christmas version.

Despite only lasting for eight weeks last year, Coles Little Shop campaign helped the supermarket giant bag a 5 per cent jump in sales for the first quarter of 2019.

This isn’t the first time the ‘big two’ launched consecutive collectables campaign. Woolworths kicked off Disney Words in February, just weeks after Coles introduced Stikeez fruit and veg minis.

This Wednesday Woolworths is introducing a Disney-themed collectables campaign to rival Coles’ Stikeez which launched earlier this month.

Both retailers will be hoping that the new campaigns can help entice shoppers into their stores and a welcome boost to sales.

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