Coles customers' major gripe with new supermarket promotion
Coles’ latest promotion has left some customers “annoyed” and “disappointed” over the lack of variety in the limited edition collectables.
Coles Little Treehouse promotion launched on July 29 with the promise of one mini book offered to customers for every $30 spent in one transaction.
Customers jumped on the opportunity to encourage their children to read with many keen to collect all 28 titles in the series but some people have complained the books are not distributed properly, leaving shoppers with multiple copies of the same book each time they shop.
“I don’t usually post moaning about this stuff but seriously this is just lazy. You run promotions for young children which is commendable but when the little ones wait all week for a big shop and they get double after double, it’s pretty frustrating,” one shopper commented on the Coles Facebook page, along with a photo showing five copies of one titles and three of another.
Each of the mini books is sealed in a non-transparent pack leaving the title inside a mystery until children open the packets.
“Every time I do my shopping and spend an average of $200.00 and get my books I always end up with at least four of the same number. You need to put them in a bag and shake them up!” one customer suggested showing an image of multiple copies of the same two titles.
One online shopper said they received eight of the same titles in one order and suggested it was a clever marketing ploy to encourage customers to spend more so they could complete the series for their children.
“Do you even mix up the books in the bags? Or just do it this way so people have to spend more money to collect all the books?” the frustrated user wrote.
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Dozens of customers posted images of their duplicate copies on the Coles Facebook page, pleading with the supermarket to ask staff to shuffle the items before handing them out.
“Can you please tell your staff to mix the books up before they start giving them out as this has happened a number of times - twice this week,” one person wrote.
Coles apologised to customers who had received duplicate copies on Facebook but said the collectables are designed to be a “lucky-dip” style promotion.
“Coles Little Treehouse as a campaign is modelled on a ‘lucky dip’ blind selection process, with this built in at point of production,” a Coles spokesperson wrote.
The supermarket also encouraged fans of the books to swap with other collectors.
“You have the option to swap with other book collectors in your local store, but we would advise to follow any government advice within your state and area,” a Coles spokesperson commented.
Yahoo News Australia contacted Coles for comment.
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