Coles’ shopper slams the supermarket giant over ‘sneaky’ tactic after exposing special price fail on Vegemite

An Australian customer has criticized supermarket giant Coles after revealing a “sneaky” tactic used on the special price tag for Vegemite.

The young woman was shopping at a Coles supermarket when she saw the 350 gram Vegemite Squeezy special for $7.30.

However, the customer was more than shocked when she took out the ticket of the yellow special and discovered the original and cheaper price of $7.

In a video shared on TikTok on Tuesday, titled “amberjade316,” the angry customer called the pricing error a sneaky tactic by the supermarket giant.

The shopper captioned the video, “I’m sorry Coles, this is really f***ed that you would wear something so special like this.”

An Australian shopper berates Coles after discovering that the special discounted price for a 350 gram Vegemite Squeezy was more expensive than the original price

Special, $7.30. Regular price, seven goddamn dollars. That’s damned,” the woman says in the video.

The video has been viewed more than 665,000 times and has received more than 1,600 comments, with fellow Australians furious at the retailer using special tags to raise the price.

“Calling a price increase a ‘Special’ is deceptive or deceptive behavior,” one wrote.

“The special thing is that you’re going to pay an extra 30 cents for whoever put up that ticket,” said a third person.

Coles told Daily Mail Australia that the special tag was added in error and is working on a fix for the problem.

“Coles takes clear and accurate price information on tickets very seriously,” said a Coles spokesperson.

“We always strive to ensure that our specials represent value for our customers.

“We always strive to ensure accuracy within the thousands of rules we offer. If an error occurs from time to time, we work urgently to resolve it, including identifying the root cause.”

New Coles Group CEO Leah Weckert said high inflation has helped the supermarket giant as more people chose to eat at home rather than eat out.

“Eating out, takeaway and coffee from the cafe are increasingly seen as a treat for a special occasion,” she tells analysts.

“Customers are still looking for something tasty and a restaurant-quality meal and are increasingly looking to supermarkets to do more with their budget.”

It comes after Coles announced a $1.1 billion profit on Aug. 22 as millions of Australians battle a cost-of-living crisis

Coles, which operates more than 800 supermarkets across Australia, also hinted that there are customers with savings who can pay more for premium products.

The supermarket chain’s after-tax net profit for the year ended June 25 increased 4.8 percent to $1.098 billion, compared to $1.048 billion based on total operations.

It was revealed last week that Coles have also become 6.8 percent more expensive overall than since mid-2022, the Daily telegram reported.

Profits at Coles and Woolworths skyrocketed, with both supermarket giants making a combined half a billion dollars more in the past financial year.