Coles website and app crash after Reddit post reveals massive discount on alcoholic drinks

The Australian supermarket giant Coles experienced significant disruptions to its online operations on Saturday, August 22, 2026, with both its website and mobile application becoming unavailable for extended periods. This outage followed a viral post on the social media platform Reddit, which brought widespread attention to a substantial pricing error on 24-packs of premixed alcoholic beverages. For several hours, users attempting to access Coles' digital platforms were met with a message stating, "we’re currently offline – but not for long." The website and app initially went offline on Saturday morning and, after a brief return, experienced another outage later in the afternoon, before eventually coming back online around 4pm AEST.

The catalyst for the disruption was a post on the r/auslegal subreddit, a community often used for discussions related to Australian law and consumer rights, though this instance highlighted a consumer-driven event. The post detailed how a specific product, a 24-pack of White Claw hard seltzers, was erroneously listed for sale at $12.99. This price represented a dramatic reduction from its usual retail price, which was approximately $55, translating to a discount of nearly 80%. The significant savings, reportedly over $100 per case, prompted a surge of customers to place orders for multiple units of these discounted alcoholic drinks.

Coles, a major player in the Australian grocery sector, operates a vast network of supermarkets and is a significant online retailer. The rapid dissemination of the pricing error through Reddit, a platform known for its ability to amplify trending topics, likely overwhelmed Coles' e-commerce infrastructure. The sheer volume of orders placed at the heavily discounted price is believed to have been the direct cause of the system overload and subsequent shutdown. This incident underscores the increasing vulnerability of large retailers to online pricing errors and the speed at which such information can spread through social media, creating substantial operational and financial challenges.

While Coles has not yet issued a formal statement regarding the incident or its plans for addressing the orders placed during the discount period, the company's response is keenly awaited by consumers and industry observers. The situation raises questions about how Coles will handle the validity of these deeply discounted purchases, potentially impacting customer satisfaction and the company's financial performance. This event serves as a stark reminder of the critical importance of robust error-checking mechanisms within e-commerce platforms and the powerful influence of digital communities in shaping consumer behaviour and retail operations in the modern era. The widespread sharing of the discount suggests a coordinated effort by some users to capitalize on the error, leading to a substantial impact on Coles' inventory and online operations.