Coles Customer Fulfilment Centres

Coles has launched their state of the art Customer Fulfilment Centres (CFC) in NSW and VIC, revolutionising the way online orders are fulfilled. Accurate and complete product information is critical for efficient trading operations. It is also crucial for new business initiatives, including the launch of Coles’ new Ocado solution for ecommerce fulfilment. Coles has decided to significantly improve the way they source and manage their product information. As such, this includes a new Master Data Management (MDM) provided by Stibo, and a product information sourcing process using Salsify’s “SupplierXM” platform (managed by the team at SKUvantage). SupplierXM will make it easier for all suppliers to provide their master data product information to Coles, helping to enable efficient fulfilment operations.

Click here to view the Coles partnership with the Ocado Group

New Supplier Registration

Are you a Coles supplier that has been invited to sign up for SupplierXM? Please click the button below, and complete the form. Once created, you will receive an email with instructions on how to activate your account.

  1. Click here to take you to the sign up page.
  2. In the “Organisation you belong to”’ field, enter your business name and choose ‘ADD’. If your company name already appears in the dropdown list, you should select the name, but modify it by typing in (Australia). Do not submit the existing name without the modification.
  3. “In which market do you intend to use SupplierXM” field, select ‘Australia’.
  4. “Your organisation” field, select ‘Supplier’.
  5. Please fill in your contact details to complete your registration, this is required for important alerts.
GettingStarted

User Guide

View this user guide for a short introduction to SupplierXM, how to get started and how to upload your data.

View here
DataRequirements (1)

Data Requirements

View the data requirements for Coles.

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GapAnalysisRequest (2)

Gap Analysis Request Form

Fill out this form to request a gap analysis file to help with bulk enrichment of your products.

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Integration

Integrate your SKUlibrary catalogue with SupplierXM

If you are a paying client, you can activate an integration from SKUlibrary into your SupplierXM account, enabling you to streamline your workflow by managing all product requests in SKUlibrary.

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Help Videos

Uploading content in SupplierXM – Product Page

Watch this video to see how to upload your content in SupplierXM on the product page.

Uploading content in SupplierXM – XLSX import

Watch this video to see how to upload your content in SupplierXM via XLSX import.

Publishing your products to Coles

Watch this video and learn how to bulk publish your products to Coles after you have completed the data requirements.

Archiving (deleting) products in bulk

Watch this video to help you archive your products in bulk. All archived products will still remain on the platform and can be visible using the ‘Lifecycle’ filter on the left hand side of the screen.

Creating requested products in bulk

Watch this video to help with creating requested products in bulk. This is useful when Coles request additional products during range reviews.

Adding users to the platform

Watch this video to help with inviting users on to the platform via user management settings.

About SupplierXM

SupplierXM is a platform owned by Salsify (who acquired SKUvantage in 2021), to support retailers with supplier collaboration. This platform will enable suppliers to deliver product information easily to Coles, with an easy to use interface, validation rules and message management between Coles and its suppliers

We host a weekly webinar (every Wednesday at 10am) to provide valuable training sessions for our suppliers. During the 15-minute webinar, we will cover the following topics:

  • Overview of the Coles CFC project
  • Uploading your data onto platform
  • What is expected of suppliers
  • Understanding mandatory attributes and how to populate them
  • Publishing and sharing products

There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of the session. If you have any specific questions or topics you’d like us to cover during these sessions, please feel free to let us know in advance. To book into one of these trainings, please click on the link here.

You will be contacted and invited to assign individuals in your organisation who will be responsible for loading master data into SupplierXM for Coles CFC range. These individuals will then have access to SupplierXM. Alternatively you can register your organisation here.

No, there is no cost to using the SupplierXM platform for vendors. It should also make providing data to Coles more efficient.

All requested suppliers will need to create an account in SupplierXM. You can then continue to use your chosen third party to manage this data on your behalf.

  • If you currently use SKUlibrary for on-pack information, SKUvantage will prepare this information on your behalf, and load it into SupplierXM, where additional data can then be added.
  • If you currently use SKUvantage’s free SKUcapture service to provide your on-pack information to Coles Supermarkets or Coles Liquor for use online, there will be no change to this process. You will need to log into SupplierXM to upload your master data.
  • If you currently use a third party provider for your master data, you can invite them to your SupplierXM account, using an email address that is unique to your business e.g. [YourCompanyName]@[ThirdPartyDomain]. In this way they will act as your agent in loading data in a way that you agree with. Feel free to advise the third party to get in touch with us directly when acting for your company.
  • If you are not confident of the data in your third party resource, or want to manage this yourself, you can simply choose to bulk upload / enter data directly.

Yes, a free integration between SKUlibrary and SupplierXM has been established. To activate this integration, please refer to the email that was sent to all clients here. In the email, you will find a link where you can sign up to switch on the integration.

Scope of Requirements

  • You are requested to complete the mandatory data fields for the list of products on SupplierXM. 
  • Coles may request additional products on a monthly basis for you to enrich.
  • Pricing is currently out of scope.

Vendors are responsible for collecting the required data, however Salsify / SKUvantage will provide vendors with training on the SupplierXM platform and support with bulk uploading data if provided in a spreadsheet. If you need training provided, please book into a session using the link here

Yes, Coles will have a monthly range review process for CFC requested products. When new products are requested for enrichment, you will receive an email from SupplierXM and these products will appear in the Waiting to be created section.

There are roughly 20 mandatory attributes which relate primarily to product dimensions and safety information. 

The process for pricing data will remain the same, it will not be included in SupplierXM.

No, the process for the title will not change, and this process will remain with Coles online.

Loading Product Data

There is a set of product data attributes which are mandatory for products in certain categories that Coles intends to sell through its new fulfilment centres. There are two critical attributes (Is Expanded Plastic, Is Miscible) that are not available from your product packaging, and need to be completed for all products.
    • Is Expanded Plastic: Suppliers should enter YES for products/materials that: Have a total volume of expanded plastic greater than 40%, or have a total volume of over 10% of expanded plastic that is exposed or on the outside of the material (used for product protection). Exemplar products in this category may include polystyrene foam plates and cups, duvets, wax products such as candles, stuffed toys, and paraffin firelighters.
    • Is Miscible: Can the product be fully dissolved into another substance (e.g. water or other liquids) to form one homogeneous mixture?

The hazardous attributes are not applicable to all product categories. If you cannot see one of the attributes on your product(s), this means it is not applicable and it does not need to be completed.

Yes, you can bulk upload using the spreadsheet provided. If you have any issues with this, please get in touch.

More products will be added to SupplierXM in due course, and you will receive a notification to populate these attributes for all products. We are currently only requesting data for products required for operation in the Coles CFC, which may not include all products that you range with Coles.

This should be done as soon as possible in order to avoid delays of the opening of the Coles CFC. 

Please click here or book a webinar training session.

Coles has partnered with Salsify to provide a simple and easy way for suppliers to share their product content with Coles.

SupplierXM is a globally-recognised, GDSN compliant  supplier collaboration platform that is designed to help suppliers meet retailers’ product data and image requirements.

Retailers across the world choose SupplierXM to accelerate product data collection and help their suppliers get products to market faster.

With a simple, intuitive user interface, suppliers can share their content with Coles with ease.

For more information on the options available to suppliers, please refer to the articles on the Coles Supplier Central page.

If you have been sharing your CFC product data with Coles via SupplierXM but have now decided that you wish to use an alternative method, please email [email protected] for assistance.