Coles Plus: Is it worth the money?

What does $19 a month get you? We've crunched the numbers.

Coles Plus is an extension of the supermarket giant's popular Flybuys loyalty scheme. It originally launched in February 2021, and is available to any member of Flybuys.

Coles Plus offers bonus points and free delivery as its main perks. But is that worth $19 a month?

What does Coles Plus include?

For your $19 a month, you get these benefits:

• Free delivery for any orders over $50
• Double Flybuys points for purchases at Coles, Coles Express, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor
• 10 times the regular Flybuys points for online liquor purchases at Coles, Liquorland and First Choice Liquor
• Free Rapid Click & Collect

You can sign up for a 1-month free trial to see if Coles Plus suits you. The service is month-to-month, and there's no discounted annual option.

Is Coles Plus good value?

Coles' delivery prices vary widely (and different locations may not offer all options). Typically, this is what you'll pay in most suburban areas and larger towns:

• $15 for delivery within 2 hours
• $11 for same day delivery
• $9 for delivery in a 2-hour window
• $6 for delivery in a 4-hour window
• $2 for delivery in a 6-hour window on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday

So Coles Plus could be good value if you regularly want Coles deliveries on short notice. It's a cheap-ish option if you're getting weekly deliveries, but it's not the cheapest choice.

If you're happy to have your groceries delivered within a longer 6-hour timeslot between Tuesday and Thursday, the $2 flat delivery fee is a less expensive option. This isn't available through all stores though.

Similarly, you'll normally pay $5 for Rapid Click & Collect (where groceries are grabbed for you and delivered to the boot of your car within a 2-hour window).

This option is free for Coles Plus members. But if you're happy to pick a later-in-the-day slot in some locations, you can get Click & Collect for free.

Finally, if you spend more than $250, you get free delivery anyway. Finder research shows the average family spends $478 a week on groceries, so lots of people would fit into this category, even if they're shopping for food in multiple stores.

Bottom line: If you're not regularly getting deliveries, Coles Plus isn't great value for money. And if you're spending more than $250 a week, you won't need to pay for deliveries anyway. So don't sign up unless you're sure you'll really be saving.

Is it worth joining Coles Plus just for the extra Flybuys points?

By our calculations, joining Coles Plus for the points would only make sense if you're an unusually heavy and frequent Coles shopper.

2,000 Flybuys points are worth $10 off your shop. So just to cover your $19 monthly cost, you'd need to earn an additional 4,000 Flybuys points.

That implies you're spending over $1,000 a week at Coles. That is a lot of groceries - more than twice the average for an Australian family. Even adding in fuel costs, it seems unlikely to be worth it for the points alone. (Also, at that spend level, you'd be entitled to free delivery anyway, negating one of the other selling points for Coles Plus.)

You score 10 times the normal Flybuys points if you buy liquor online from Coles, Liquorland or First Choice Liquor. So if you regularly spend more than $100 a week on alcohol, this might be a points-boosting strategy. But that seems like a very unhealthy level of alcohol consumption, to put it mildly. (Also note there's no same-day delivery option for alcohol orders.)

Coles Plus vs Woolworths Everyday Extra: Which one is better?

Rival supermarket giant Woolworths also has a bonus points membership scheme, Everyday Extra. Our full guide to Everyday Extra has all the details, but here's a summary of the most important points:

• Everyday Extra costs $7 a month (or $59 a year).
• For that, you get triple Everyday Rewards points on your shopping.
• You also score 10% off one Woolworths shop a month.

That last point is the crucial one. If you're spending more than $70 in a shop (and most folks do), you'll end up saving more with your 10% discount than you spend on membership. So it's a real money-saving option, even before you consider the bonus Everyday Rewards points and the additional monthly Big W discount.

Coles' earning rate is lower, its monthly membership fee is higher, and it only really makes financial sense if you regularly use delivery or Rapid Click & Collect. So it doesn't look like the better choice for most people.