Coles Liquor has released its Q1 results, which show that while bricks and mortar sales revenue declined by 4.3% year-on-year as the business cycled COVID-19 lockdowns, eCommerce sales revenue grew 3.9%.

Coles Liquor also celebrated three-year sales revenue growth in eCommerce of 348%, with the continued expansion of on demand services, now available in more than 560 stores.

Three-year headline sales growth was 15.2% for liquor.

Coles Group CEO Steven Cain said: “Despite record levels of hospitality expenditure in Australia, we are pleased that a strengthening sales trajectory is being driven by improved availability, new value campaigns, and the unwind of local shopping as consumer shopping behaviour normalises.”

Liquor sales revenue of $836 million for the first quarter was affected by COVID-19 lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. Excluding these states and their bulk sales, liquor sales grew in the first quarter.

During the quarter, Liquorland was the strongest performing banner with the 300th Black and White Liquorland renewal completed in Armstrong Creek, Victoria.

At a category level, Ready-To-Drink (RTD) was a key driver of growth.

During the quarter, range reviews in key categories such as RTDs, cider, white wine and rosé were delivered with 94 new Exclusive Liquor Brand (ELB) and over 680 new local lines added. In addition, 30 new low and no alcohol products were also added to the Liquor portfolio during the quarter.

More than 130 awards were won across the ELB portfolio, including Tinnies Pale Ale awarded the World’s Best in its category at the World Beer Awards.

Outlook for second quarter

Coles said cost price inflation was expected to increase in the second quarter, given the ongoing level of supplier CPI requests as well as further flooding impacting supply volumes.

Despite these challenges, we are looking forward to delivering our most sustainable Christmas ever, with an extensive
range of Coles exclusive products in supermarkets and liquor, which the company said would provide customers with great value, easy entertaining and gifting ideas.

A recent survey of more than 2100 Coles customers found that two out of three will spend Christmas either at their home or the home of friends or family, indicating that entertaining at home will continue to be an important theme this year.

Coles Liquor General Manager Mia Lloyd said this Christmas Australians are going to want to get together bigger and better than ever before.

“Whether that means celebration or relaxation, we’ve got options for all events and occasions. To ensure you don’t turn up empty handed, we’ve got the Winton Road range available in a gift box, ready to hand-over at the door, or for a bit of fun the Veuve Clicquot Smeg Fridge Gift box, could be this year’s premium collectable,” Mia said. 

“We also have extended our range of healthier options for customers to cater for increased demand in the category.  We’ve introduced a range of low and no alcohol drinks across all categories including from our award-winning beer label Tinnies. We also expect our new no sugar ready-to-drink Just Vodka Soda Black to be very popular as our customers want to cut back on unnecessary sugar, but still enjoy a celebratory drink during the festive season.

“My top pick for Christmas lunch itself, is the Beyond The Wilderness Pinot Rosé 750mL, crafted from premium pinot noir grapes from Tasmania, complementing the 100% Australian Coles Christmas Juniper Berry Seasoned Ham.”

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