Woolworths’ sales growth beats Coles

Woolworths’ winter sales have been boosted by its wildly popular Ooshies collectables campaign, building on a 4.6 per cent increase in Australian food sales to $53.85 billion in the 2026 financial year. Profits rose 18.1 per cent to $1.14 billion.

Across the whole Woolworths group, revenue grew 3.6 per cent to $71.5 billion.

Chief executive Amanda Bardwell said a focus on value, convenience and better execution had paid off.

“Looking ahead, while we expect the challenging economic environment to continue with household budgets remaining under pressure, our strategy to deliver low prices and the best range and convenience gives us confidence we can be first choice for customers while delivering for our team and shareholders in the year ahead,” she said in a statement.

Sales momentum has picked up pace more recently: in the first two months of the new financial year (July and August), food sales grew 7.6 per cent, with the supermarket estimating about 1.5-2 per cent of it was due to the roaring success of its collectable Ooshies campaign.

Over the 2026 financial year, Woolworths launched 445 new private-label products, including across Mexican, Asian and Italian cuisines, and invested $100 million into lowering prices.

Poor-performing discount department chain Big W, which has been a drag on the broader Woolworths company, bounced back to profitability with earnings of $64 million after booking losses of $33 million the year before.