The Coles website and app have gone offline hours after a viral Reddit post highlighted a nearly 80% discount on 24-packs of premixed alcoholic drinks. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
For several hours on Saturday, both the Coles website and app displayed a message advising “we’re currently offline – but not for long”. The website and app came back online before the website went down again on Saturday afternoon. It was back up at about 4pm AEST on Saturday.
It came after a post by an Australian Reddit account on Friday about a discount on 24-packs of Jack Daniel’s & Cola 330ml bottles sold via Coles by subsidiary Liquorland, which were marked down from $130 to $27, a saving of $103, or just under 80%.
“Found this. I’m assuming it’s a mistake?!” wrote the account, which is run by the operators of price tracking website CW Scanner.
They subsequently noticed similar discounts, lowering the price of 24-packs of premixed drinks and beer to a price similar to that of discounted four- or six-packs.
The operators of CW Scanner told Guardian Australia that the post had received more than 180,000 views. Other users described ordering online with the discounts, which did not appear on the Liquorland website itself, with one having it matched at their local liquor store.
But on Saturday, Reddit users noticed the Coles website had gone down, while some later wrote that their orders had been cancelled by Coles. The Coles website and app came back online briefly again on Saturday afternoon, with the beer and premixed drinks categories removed. The website subsequently went offline again.
In a statement on Saturday afternoon, a Coles spokesperson said it was aware of a technical issue affecting its website and app, and “was working quickly to restore services”.
“Due to a technical error, select 24-pack beer and RTD [ready-to-drink] products were incorrectly priced on our website,” they said.
“The error has been corrected, and impacted customers are being notified. Any customers charged for the affected items will be refunded in accordance with our normal refund process. We apologise for the error and any inconvenience caused.”
The operators of CW Scanner told Guardian Australia they suspected the discounts may be a mistake made by AI integrated into Coles’ platforms.
“If the AI was deeply integrated into the system it might explain why they had to take the entire site offline,” a CW Scanner representative told Guardian Australia.
“It seems to be something like a wildcard term was used to search for all 4-packs which found 24-packs as well.”
CW Scanner identified at least 20 24-packs – or cartons – of beer and 46 cases of premixed drinks affected by the discounts, with the average discount on beer about $49, and premixed drinks $111.
The largest discount, on 24-packs of Smirnoff Crush Mango & Peach Zero Sugar 6% 440ml cans, provided a saving of $173, down to $29 from $202.
Using data from CW Scanner, the Guardian has reported that promotional prices switched on and off Coles and Woolworths largely in sync over the past two years.
Earlier this year, a court found Coles’ “Down Down” promotions in some cases falsely led customers to believe they were enjoying a true price reduction.