Coles accidentally cut A$130 alcohol cases to A$27; the deal went viral before orders were cancelled

An extraordinary pricing error at Australian supermarket giant Coles turned a routine online shopping trip into a rush for heavily discounted alcohol. Cases of drinks normally selling for more than A$100 suddenly appeared on the supermarket's website for a fraction of their usual price, with one A$130 case marked down to just A$27. The mistake was quickly spotted online and shared on Reddit, sending shoppers towards Coles' website and app. Within hours, the bargain had spread widely, with customers reporting successful orders and even getting some of the discounts matched at local stores. Then Coles' website and app went offline. The supermarket later confirmed that a technical error had incorrectly priced selected 24-packs of beer and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. While some customers were charged, Coles said affected customers would be refunded, leaving shoppers who had rushed to secure the extraordinary bargains disappointed.How did A$130 cases of alcohol fall to just A$27?The pricing error involved selected 24-packs of alcoholic drinks sold online through Coles' Liquorland subsidiary. One of the most eye-catching examples was a 24-pack of Jack Daniel's & Cola 330ml bottles, which had been reduced from A$130 to A$27. That represented a saving of A$103, or just under 80%. The unusual prices were spotted on Friday by the operators of CW Scanner, an Australian price-tracking website. They shared the discovery on Reddit with the question, “Found this. I’m assuming it’s a mistake?!” The post quickly gained traction. According to The Guardian, it had received more than 180,000 views, while other Reddit users began reporting that they had managed to place orders using the discounted prices. The discounts were not necessarily visible on the Liquorland website itself, making the discovery particularly dependent on Coles' online pricing data and the Reddit community spreading the information.What other products were mistakenly discounted?The Jack Daniel's case was far from the only product affected. CW Scanner identified at least 20 different 24-packs of beer and 46 cases of premixed drinks that had been affected by the pricing error. The average saving was approximately A$49 for beer and A$111 for premixed drinks. The largest discount identified was even greater than the Jack Daniel's deal. A 24-pack of Smirnoff Crush Mango & Peach Zero Sugar 6% 440ml cans was reduced from A$202 to just A$29, representing a saving of A$173. The apparent pricing system error effectively made some full cartons cost roughly the same as discounted four- or six-packs, creating an obvious incentive for shoppers to place orders before the prices were corrected.Why did Coles' website and app go down?As the deals spread online, shoppers began attempting to access Coles' digital platforms. On Saturday morning, both the Coles website and app went offline, displaying a message saying they were temporarily unavailable. The services briefly returned later in the day, but the website subsequently went down again before returning at around 4pm AEST. The timing of the outage came shortly after the viral Reddit post drew attention to the heavily discounted cases. Coles confirmed that it was dealing with a technical issue affecting its website and app and said it was working to restore the services. However, the company also confirmed that the unusually low prices were not intended promotions.What did Coles say about the A$27 alcohol deals?Coles acknowledged that the prices were caused by a technical error. A spokesperson said selected 24-pack beer and ready-to-drink products had been “incorrectly priced” on the company's website. Coles said the error had been corrected and that affected customers were being notified. The supermarket also said that anyone who had actually been charged for the affected products would receive a refund through its normal refund process. That meant that successfully placing an online order did not necessarily guarantee that the customer would receive the discounted products.Were the discounted Coles orders cancelled?Some shoppers later reported on Reddit that their orders had been cancelled by Coles. The website and app briefly returned with the beer and premixed-drink categories removed. Customers who had managed to place orders subsequently began sharing updates about cancellations. Coles' statement made clear that customers who had been charged would be refunded, rather than suggesting that the accidental prices would necessarily be honoured. The episode therefore ended very differently for different shoppers: some managed to get orders through, while others found their orders cancelled or their purchases refunded.How did the pricing mistake spread so quickly?The incident shows how quickly an obscure online pricing error can become a major shopping event once it reaches social media. The original discovery came from a price-tracking service rather than from Coles itself. Once the information appeared on Reddit, shoppers were able to test the prices themselves, share screenshots and report which products were still available. Some shoppers even had the discounted prices matched at local liquor stores, further extending the reach of the unusual deals. For retailers, this creates a difficult situation. A pricing error that might previously have been noticed by a handful of customers can now reach tens or hundreds of thousands of people within hours. By the time the retailer identifies the mistake, customers may already have placed orders based on the displayed price.What happens when an online retailer makes a pricing error?The Coles incident also highlights the complicated question of whether an online price mistake must be honoured. A retailer may have policies covering obvious pricing errors, particularly when a product is displayed at a price dramatically below its normal value. In this case, Coles treated the discounts as a technical mistake, corrected the prices and said affected customers would be refunded. The scale of the discounts made the error particularly conspicuous. A A$130 case selling for A$27 was not a small promotional adjustment; it represented a reduction of more than 79%. For shoppers, however, the sudden appearance of such prices created a powerful sense of urgency. Once people realised that the discounts might disappear, the incentive was to place an order immediately. That combination of a genuine technical error and rapid social-media amplification turned an ordinary supermarket pricing glitch into a major online shopping frenzy.A viral bargain that exposed the risks of digital pricingWhat began with a few unusually cheap cases of alcohol quickly escalated into a much larger problem for Coles. A price-tracking website spotted the mistake. Reddit users spread the information. Thousands of potential shoppers were alerted to cases worth more than A$100 selling for less than A$30. Coles' website and app subsequently experienced outages, while some customers reported that their orders had been cancelled. Coles ultimately confirmed that the prices were the result of a technical error and said affected customers would be refunded. The episode is a reminder that in an era of real-time pricing and social media, a single misplaced number can travel extraordinarily quickly. For a retailer, changing A$130 to A$27 is a technical mistake. For shoppers who spot it, it can look like the deal of the year, at least until the website goes down.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.