Coles admits plastic bag U-turns were a mistake: CFO reveals sales have plunged since the ban

CFO of Wesfarms Anthony Gianotti has admitted that banning single-use plastic bags at Coles Supermarkets has had a damaging impact on sales.

Wesfarms owns Coles and this is the first time the supermarket has spoken publicly about the plastic bag ban.

‘It is having an impact on sales, yes,’ Anthony told The Australian.

Coles CFO has admitted that banning single-use plastic bags has damaged sales

‘I’m not going to go into the specifics around the quantum but there was certainly an impact as consumers had to change their habits around shopping.

‘Overall, when we looked at the overall numbers there was definitely an impact and I guess it wasn’t uniform across the board, but there was an impact.’

In order to help customers adjust to the change, Coles has been handing out re-usable plastic bags for free.

The supermarket made this decision after customers complained about the initial single-use plastic bag ban.

However it has now confirmed that after 29 August it will be charging 15 cents for these re-usable bags.

‘Certainly one of the reasons why we extended the free plastic bags was because customers were taking some time to adjust to that and there was no doubt there was an impact (to sales),’ Anthony said.

Anthony dismissed claims that Coles would be making a profit from the sale of the reusable bags.

‘It would be marginal at best, absolutely marginal, and we certainly wouldn’t be doing this to make money,’ he said.

To help customers adjust to the change, Coles has been handing out re-usable bags for free

To help customers adjust to the change, Coles has been handing out re-usable bags for free

Anthony did accept that the whole situation could have been handled better, specifically noting the communication around how long to offer the free reusable bags to shoppers.

‘I think Coles was obviously trying to do what was right for customers, and I think there probably has been a bit of miscommunication through that,’ he said.

It is yet to be seen whether the loss of sales momentum will cause any significant damage as Wesfarm prepares to demerge Coles and list it on the Australian Stock Exchange as an independent company.



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