'So wrong': Coles shoppers stunned to see Christmas item already on shelves
Just days after announcing hot cross buns being sold all year round, Coles has decided to bring a Christmas favourite out, 127 days before Christmas.
“Mince Pies in August? You betcha,” Coles announced on Facebook.
“Celebrate Christmas in August from today at Coles.”
The idea to stock the shelves with fruit mince pies 19 weeks before Christmas came when the bakery team noticed more than half the pies sold last year at Coles were purchased before December.
“People clearly don’t want to wait for a little taste of Christmas, and we believe this season’s pies are the supermarket’s best yet,” Cole Product Developer, Liz da Silva.
“We’re so proud of these fruit mince pies we just had to let our customers try them as soon as possible – not only to enjoy early, but we know that people like to spread out their costs by buying what products they can further out from the big day,” she said.
Apparently Coles sold 11.5 million mince pies last year and a pack of six can be bought at any Coles in Australia for $2.
Although it was officially launched on August 19, it appears some people were able to get theirs hands on the mince pies as early as August 15.
The announcement of mince pies in August was met with mixed opinions.
“What for?” one person wrote. “You are ruining all of our holiday traditions.”
It's 15 August, and Coles is selling mince pies. So wrong. pic.twitter.com/cxaUOz7yGp
— Mark Asser (@mark_r_asser) August 15, 2019
“Soon there will be nothing special about Christmas or Easter, just same old same old,” another person said.
“No one complains that Anzac biscuits are sold year round. Why complain about mince pies and hot cross buns,” one person said in defence of the decision said.
The decision to have hot cross buns all year round left some shoppers angry too.
Customers warm to Coles selling hot cross buns year-round
According to a Coles survey, 53.6 per cent of customers voted in favour of bringing hot cross buns to shelves out of season.
“Coles has been delighted by the response to our delicious Hot Cross Buns, packed with 100% Aussie fruit, being available in stores early,” Coles Category Manager for In-Store Bread, Freddie Hancock, said in a statement to Yahoo News Australia.
“We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers who have been enjoying our buns toasted with lashings of butter on frosty, winter mornings!”
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