Coles customers across Victoria and NSW should start to see more “perfect orders” delivered to their homes, the company says after the delayed opening of two new robotic centres designed to fulfil online orders.

Chief executive Leah Weckert has promised fresher groceries and an expanded range of products as she prepared to unveil a new customer fulfilment centre in Truganina, 20 kilometres west of Melbourne, on Friday, with another in western Sydney’s Wetherill Park due to open three weeks from now.

“One of the biggest pain points of ordering online is you order 50 things, but you only get 45. And then one of the things missing you needed to cook dinner tonight, and you got to go up the shops anyway,” said Weckert.

“Being able to improve those service metrics so that the customer can have confidence that they’re much more likely to get all 50 of the items when they’re ordering from the [customer fulfilment centre] – that’s a big step-change online.”

The warehouse openings mean that customers who make orders online will have them packed in the new fulfilment centres rather than in-store. An expanded range of products from local suppliers not sold in stores, such as vitamins, baby products and artisan pasta, will be available through orders packed in the fulfilment centres. There will also be an on-site bakery, with fresh produce cut and packaged to order.

‘One of the biggest pain points of ordering online is you order 50 things, but you only get 45.’

Coles boss Leah Weckert

Meat, fresh produce, seafood and milk will also have a minimum freshness guarantee, which will help customers better plan their week, Weckert added.

“Another pain point is, ‘I ordered all the food I needed to cook all the meals for the week, but all the meat that came in the online order expired by Wednesday’. So now you’ll be able to actually see how many days life we’re going to commit on the steak or the chicken or the mince and the like.”