ITWire

The speed of the roll-out may surprise a few, because in August last year, Goyder had said that McLeod had not believed the company was capable of introducing auto-replenishment at that point.

Coles' back-end IT upgrade of its supply chain systems has long been seen by the retail industry as a critical piece of the puzzle in the supermarket chain's struggle to match the success of long-time rival Woolworths.

Woolies' development of its AutoStockR and StockSmart systems in the years after the appointment of the company's then-chief executive officer Roger Corbett. The executive is credited with using the stock systems to take massive costs out of the company's bottom line while delivering fresher supplies in a more efficient manner to customers.