The grocery behemoth isn’t the only business to realise the power of in-house radio. It has inspired a parody Twitter account and loving op eds from gen Y writers, and has even won two Acra awards.Ĭoles Radio: enabling getting old since 2013 - Coles Radio (is this?) August 31, 2021 Coles Radio is streamed on DAB+, making it the biggest digital radio station in the country, consistently beating Double J and Smooth in most markets. With 120,000 employees and about 21 million customers a week, Coles quickly realised the singalongs and humming did not need to end at the checkout. Sad but true.”Īnna Chang, 36, from Canberra, says: “You know you’re getting old when you catch yourself whipping out the Shazam at Coles.” It’s the highlight of my droll housewife life. “That music is pitched at me,” says Pip, 50, from Canberra. Last week they played Frente’s Accidentally Kelly Street and I got really excited.” Definition of ‘me’ time in our Covid world, right now.

Umandeep, a 40-year-old from Melbourne who preferred not to have her full name published, says: “Since lockdown I look forward to shopping on a Sunday night, by myself, walking down every aisle humming or singing along to Coles Radio in my head. And, if you find yourself bopping along to the hits in the aisles, you are not alone. And then there’s Coles.Īt Coles, you are doing your shopping to an actual radio station dreamed up by a marketing department in 2014. Others are carefully curated by third-party contractors. Some larger outfits also still deploy whatever is on the manager’s Spotify playlist. When it comes to playing sounds that will soothe their customers, or inspire them to spend more, the Friendly Grocer’s approach is hardly typical among Australian supermarkets.

Express store music playlist