| Trade Name: | Reddy Express Coles Express (currently phasing out) |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Location City: | Hawthorn East, Melbourne |
| Location Country: | Australia |
| Key People: | Leah Weckert (CEO) |
| Locations: | 723 |
| Num Locations Year: | 2022 |
| Industry: | Automotive and retail |
| Products: | Petrol, convenience and grocery |
| Revenue: | $1.1 billion |
| Revenue Year: | 2022 |
| Net Income: | $42 million |
| Net Income Year: | 2022 |
| Num Employees: | 4,800 |
| Num Employees Year: | 2022 |
Reddy Express, formerly Coles Express, is an Australian chain of convenience stores at Shell Australia petrol stations. Until it became controlled by Viva Energy in May 2023,[1] Coles Express was a trading name of Coles Group.[2] Then in September 2023, Coles Express was renamed to Reddy Express.
The business venture and corresponding fuel discount offer was launched by Coles Myer (predecessor of Coles Group) in July 2003 in response to the similar offer by rival Woolworths some years earlier, proving attractive to shoppers. Coles Myer purchased the retail business of Shell Australia multi-site franchisees for $94 million.[3] Shell Australia (later also sold to Viva Energy) continue to be the exclusive supplier of fuel products, leases the service station property to Coles, and maintains the presence of the "pecten" and other Shell branding on the price board and other signage. The reasoning behind the term “Reddy” is a stylised version of the word "ready" due to the stores convenience-based nature.
The Coles Express brand originally referred to a small number of medium-sized supermarkets Coles ran in the central business districts of Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. With the launch of Coles' fuel offer, these were rebranded as Coles Central with the service stations taking the Coles Express branding.
The Coles Express chain began at more than 150 service stations in Victoria on 28 July 2003.[4] After this initial trial, it was followed by a national roll-out from 1 December the same year, starting with New South Wales, and completed in mid-2004. The initial success of the discount offer saw fuel shortages in Victoria after the offer began in New South Wales – where Shell's busiest sites are located – as Shell failed to cope with the distribution of a 30 percent increase in demand.[5]
On 20 February 2006, 90 vehicle servicing bays at Coles Express service stations (formerly part of Shell's Autoserv and AutoCare network) became Kmart Tyre & Auto Service outlets.[6]
On 6 February 2019 Coles Express announced a new alliance partnership with their fuel partner Viva Energy (Shell). Under the agreement Viva Energy is responsible for setting the price of fuel and receives the retail fuel margin. Coles Express receives a commission per litre from Viva Energy based on fuel volumes achieved and has no direct exposure to retail fuel price movements.[7]
In addition to setting fuel pricing Viva Energy is the exclusive supplier of fuel, oil and lubricants. Viva also maintains it pecten and Shell branding as well as all fuel dispensing equipment. Coles Express is responsible for the maintenance of the retail store (including in-store pricing) and the everyday needs of the business.
As of July 2021, there were 723 Coles Express service stations and stand-alone convenience sites across Australia.[8] All former Shell multi-site franchisee sites became Coles Express stores. This transition included the petrol stations and stand-alone Shell Select convenience stores in Melbourne's CBD (which closed by December 2006).
In September 2022 Coles Group announced it had agreed terms with Viva Energy to sell the Coles Express retail business. As part of the deal Flybuys will remain a partner and Coles will continue stocking its own-branded products.[9] [10] [11] The acquisition was completed on 1 May 2023.[12]
Following Viva Energy purchasing the OTR service station chain from Peregrine Corporation, Viva decided to retire the Coles Express brand and rebrand all stores as OTR.[13] [14] Due to delays with regulatory approval for the OTR acquisition, Viva announced in September 2023 that it would start transitioning Coles Express stations to a new brand, Reddy Express, which began a few months after the announcement.[15] [16] Those stations may be converted to OTR upon approval of the acquisition, with Viva planning for OTR to be its leading brand.[17]
In early 2024 Viva completed an undertaking that it made to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in conjunction with Viva's acquisition of the OTR-branded retail sites of Peregrine Corporation. The undertaking required Viva to divest most of its Coles Express convenience stores in South Australia. Viva divested those stores to Chevron Corp, signalling the return of the Caltex brand name to South Australia. Most of the acquired Shell Coles Express sites involved in the divestiture have been rebranded Caltex and no longer participate in the FlyBuys program including a majority of Shell Coles Express sites in Adelaide, SA. In April 2024, Reddy Express rebrands begun in Queensland and New South Wales. As of May 2024 they have rebranded sites in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria & Western Australia. The cities that stores have rebranded are Brisbane, Cairns, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Broken Hill, Newcastle, Sydney Mildura, Melbourne, Burnbury, Perth, Darwin & Launceston as of July 2024.
When a customer spends over a qualifying amount in one transaction at Coles Supermarkets, Coles Central, or Coles Online, they are entitled to a fuel discount of 4c per litre or 8 bonus Flybuys points per litre at Reddy Express. This discount is obtained by providing a discount voucher, either on the flybuys card or printed at the bottom of their receipt, and includes all Shell fuels. Reddy Express also offers a 10c per litre discount on all Shell fuels when a customer spends $20 or more on qualifying products in store, this can be used in addition to the 4c per litre discount voucher.
Additionally, there is a bonus 4 cent discount you can use in conjunction with the above discounts by scanning a barcode in certain apps, such as the free shell v-power racing team app and apps that require an account with certain companies such as the budget direct fuel discount app, linkt and g'day rewards.
An additional bonus discount was introduced in late 2006, with a further 2c per litre fuel discount when customers spent $2 in-store in the one transaction.[18] The offer was made permanent in April 2007 after rival Caltex Woolworths created a similar offer of an additional 4c discount if customers spend $5 in the one transaction at their petrol stations. The 2c per litre finished on 1 February 2013. Coles Express now offers a "Spend $20 and Save 10 cents per litre" this was launched to an "Everyday" offer in late 2015 and has continued since, variations of this deal are offered occasionally e.g. Buy product X for X dollars and save X cents per litre.
Other variations of the fuel offer have been offered from time to time including: