Never pay full price: why the special is the real price at Coles and Woolworths
Same product, same regular price at both chains. The savings come from buying it where it's on special.
· Edited on
Prices are correct as of 2 October 2026 and change over time — check the shop before you buy.
We took 100 branded products sold at both Coles and Woolworths — same brand, same size — and checked their prices on both websites on 2 October 2026. At regular price there was almost nothing between them. The difference was the specials.
Same product, same regular price
Of the 98 products whose regular price we could see at both chains, 94 had the same regular price (two were on a Coles special that didn't show one).
The price on the shelf that day was a different story. Only 30 of the 100 cost the same at both. Coles was cheaper on 42 and Woolworths on 28 — in nearly every case because one chain had the product on special and the other didn't.
An example from 2 October 2026
Two products with the same regular price at both chains, checked on coles.com.au and woolworths.com.au on 2 October 2026:
- Arnott's Tim Tam Original 200g: half price at Woolworths at $3.00, full price at Coles at $6.00.
- Cadbury Moro 50g: half price at Coles at $1.50, full price at Woolworths at $3.00.
Buy each where it's on special and you pay half. Buy both at either chain and you pay full price for one of them.
What it adds up to
Buying one of each of the 100 products at whichever chain was cheaper that day came to $739.71. All 100 at Coles would have cost $820.81 (10% more), and all 100 at Woolworths $918.95 (20% more than the cheaper-chain total). That week Coles had more of these products on special; another week it could be the other way round.
You don't need to shop at two supermarkets every week to get some of that. Stocking up on the things you buy often when they're on special does much of the work.
How to use it
- Don't pay full price for branded pantry items. Popular brands go on special often.
- Stock up at half price on things that keep: biscuits, cereal, cleaning and household items.
- Check both chains. They often run different specials in the same week.
- Shop from Wednesday, when the new weekly specials start.
Mai Pantry compares every retailer's current price for your list and shows each product's recent price history (the last 30 days free, a full year with Mai Pantry Pro), so you can tell a real special from a regular price.
Figures are from a live check on coles.com.au and woolworths.com.au on 2 October 2026 of 100 branded products, chosen at random from the products we track at both chains with the same brand and size (east-coast online prices; fresh produce and store brands not included).