Coles has kept gaining on Woolworths in the supermarket wars, eclipsing its distracted arch-rival's quarterly sales growth.
Coles Group's supermarket sales revenue grew twice as fast as that of Woolworths in the first quarter of the financial year, although Woolworths remains the larger player.
Coles said on Thursday its supermarket sales were up 4.8 per cent to $9.97 billion in the 13 weeks to September 28.
In comparison, Woolworths' Australian retail sales grew by just 2.1 per cent to $13.9 billion in the 14 weeks to October 5.
Coles also took market share from Woolworths in 2024/25, with seven per cent sales growth compared to Woolworths' four per cent.
"The really pleasing feeling for us at the moment is that we've got strength in sales across the board," Coles Group chief executive Leah Weckert told reporters on Thursday.
She cited in particular the performance of non-food products such as its own-brand nappies and baby wipes.
"These represent really great value for customers, as well as being fantastic quality," Ms Weckert said.
E-commerce supermarket sales grew 27.9 per cent to $1.3 billion, making up a record 13.3 per cent of Coles' overall supermarket sales.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner said Coles was continuing to outperform Woolworths.
However, he said the comparison would get tougher towards the end of the year, with the benefit Coles received a year ago from industrial action in Woolworths' distribution centres last December.
Coles' Liquorland business did not do as well, with sales falling 1.4 per cent to $842 million.
"The liquor market is still challenging," Ms Weckert said.
"Customers are still seeking out value, and they're limiting consumption as they're managing the overall family budget, but we are really pleased with the results that we've seen from the Simply Liquorland rollout."
The rollout involves converting all of Coles' liquor stores into Liquorlands.
"We think that is putting us in good shape from a future perspective, when cost of living becomes less of a focus for families and they start doing a bit more entertaining, and some of the behaviours reverse back."
Coles converted another 60 of its Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor Market stores to Liquorlands during the quarter, taking the total number of conversions to 112.
It plans to have all 160 such stores converted by the end of the year.
New tobacco laws and the growth in the black market meant Coles' tobacco sales fell by 57 per cent, compared to the same period a year ago.
Supermarket price inflation moderated, with food prices climbing by 1.2 per cent compared to 1.5 per cent in the previous quarter.
Coles said an abundant supply of fruit and vegetables including avocados, tomatoes and capsicum helped bring down prices, while beef and lamb prices rose.
