Coles website crashes following viral alcohol pricing error

The Coles website and mobile app experienced significant outages on Saturday following a viral Reddit post that highlighted massive discounts on alcoholic beverages. The pricing error, which affected products sold via Coles subsidiary Liquorland, saw 24-packs of Jack Daniel’s & Cola marked down from approximately $130 to $27, representing a discount of nearly 80 percent.

The error was first identified by the operators of the price-tracking website CW Scanner. After the post gained over 180,000 views, a surge in traffic reportedly overwhelmed Coles’ digital platforms, causing the website and app to go offline for several hours.

A Coles spokesperson confirmed the technical issue, stating that select 24-pack beer and ready-to-drink products were incorrectly priced due to a technical error. The company noted that the error has been corrected and that impacted customers are being notified. While some users reported successful orders, others noted that their orders were subsequently cancelled.