Supermarket Sleuths: Coles and Woolies launch dualling promotions in bid to win back customer loyalty

Analysis: Coles and Woolworths have pulled out the big guns in their bid to win back customer loyalty with dualling competitions and promotions.

Coles has announced the return of one of its most popular adult collections, the Curtis Stone Glass Container Collection, which gives FlyBuys members the chance to collect credits to redeem for glassware items.

This kicks off on May 27, days after the supermarket's KitchenAid cookware promotion wrapped up.

The Coles Fest 'peel and win' competition, which gives online customers the chance to win free groceries and bonus loyalty points via 'peel and win' cards placed in their online orders, is also back.

One includes possible prizes such as "$10 off your next online shop at Coles" by entering the "unique promo code at checkout for your next Delivery More order over $150", as well as free groceries and the chance to go in the draw for a year's worth of free groceries.

Meanwhile, Woolworths' Fissler cookware promotion continues, with customers able to earn 'cookware credits' until June 23, which can be used to redeem items until July 7.

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The supermarket also kicked off its 14th annual Big Night In promotion in partnership with Netflix. This gives Everyday Rewards members the chance to win "over $1.1 million in prizes from May 20 until June 30", including LG 65" Smart TVs and a trip to Dallas, by purchasing "participating products" and scanning or linking their Everyday Rewards cards.

Today money expert Joel Gibson told nine.com.au, on behalf of cost comparison app Zyft, the lure of prizes can't compete with the savings shoppers can find by paying the lowest price possible.

He has labelled Coles and Woolworths' latest efforts to entice shoppers to their stores as the "gamification of grocery shopping".

"Some people are really hooked in by this stuff because of the lure of the big prize," he said.

"It's very attractive, but just like a lottery or a poker machine, your chances of winning are very, very low."

Consumer expert Gavin Northey from Griffith University agrees. He sees the Coles Fest promotion as an attempt by the grocery retailer to increase its online shopping business, which has fallen behind Woolworths in 2026.

He says both supermarkets' latest promotions are "data activation campaigns" they can act upon whenever a Coles or Woolworths customers interacts with the promotion.

"Every swipe is a data point, and the supermarkets have engineered 'entry conditions' (buy three things; spend $50 or more) to generate specific behavioural signals that the retailers can act on."

Northey also explained the products featured in each promotion are "supplier trade marketing programs".

"Suppliers pay to be included in the promotional campaign because inclusion guarantees trial and purchase at scale," he said.

"This means a substantial portion of the prize and giveaway cost is borne by suppliers, not by Coles or Woolworths."

Of Woolworths' Netflix Big Night In, Northey sees this as a clever strategic step by the company to position itself as a "lifestyle brand, rather than just a grocery retailer".

RMIT Finance and Marketing expert Dr Nadja Dollisson doubts either grocery retailer's effort will result in a long-term change to customer behaviour.

In light of the recent ruling against Coles, which was accused by the ACCC of misleading shoppers with its 'Down Down' promotions, and pending the outcome of similar action against Woolworths, Dollisson would like to see a different focus from Australia's biggest grocery retailers.

"In a cost of living crisis, with both major chains under pressure over pricing, arriving with millions in prizes and Netflix holidays instead of obviously cleaner, lower everyday prices will, for many shoppers, feel more like gloss than genuine reform.

"The reality is that only a tiny handful of customers will ever see those headline prizes.

"Inviting households that are already cutting back to add one more item just to enter a draw that almost none of them will win a major prize in strikes many as ethically questionable: at best a distraction, at worst a nudge that exploits financial anxiety for incremental revenue."