Then upon standing in a bus shelter, I noticed one of Aldi's adverts claiming how much cheaper they are compared to they competitors. Two things struck me;
1) Many of the Aldi products were smaller in weight/units
2) Is comparing their own brands against big name brands actually fair (or even honest for that matter)?
Now Aldi run with the slogan "like brands only cheaper", but these days the big 4 supermarkets own brand range is a fairly decent quality. (hence why I view there claim unfair).
But they're German, they must be good quality I hear you cry. Well no.
Having sampled various own brand products, and Aldi, like the other supermarkets, some of their products are decent, some less so. And lets not forget that Aldi got caught up massively in the horse meat scandal. That said I've heard some people swear blind that Aldi's own range is superior to other supermarkets own range. Psychology perhaps? Aldi invent their own pretend brands. After all 'Oakham Farm chicken' sounds more appertising than 'Tesco chicken'
German supermarket selling Cornish ice cream under an Italian brand name
Then this month they launched their January challenge. Claiming savings of upto 50%
Now clearly on Aldi's advert, they've just chose the dozen items with the largest price differential to big brand goods to achieve their 50% saving.
Now clearly on Aldi's advert, they've just chose the dozen items with the largest price differential to big brand goods to achieve their 50% saving.
So I took up the challenge. Unlike Aldi's I've just selected goods that I'd normally buy rather than be selective to suit the argument. I've used Sainsbury's as the base cost, and where quantity size differs the price is pro rata on the closest like for like match. These are highlighted in yellow (all prices are taken from mysupermarket.com on January 5th 2015)
And there you have it, Adsa is actually cheaper. The other are not that much more expensive either.
One of Aldi's big selling points is that they rely on gimmicks (loyalty cards etc) and are more honest and straight with you on their low prices. Well lets look at this, as I sit here, I have money off vouchers for both Sainsbury's and Morrison's when I spend £40. Tesco sometimes give me them, currently don't have any. I've never known of either Aldi or Asda give them out.
My local Aldi has only just started accepting credit cards a few weeks back. I like to buy as much as I can by credit card due to having a cash back card. However they don't accept Amex which gives me twice as much cash back as my Visa card. Take all this into account lets see what it does to the figures.
One of Aldi's big selling points is that they rely on gimmicks (loyalty cards etc) and are more honest and straight with you on their low prices. Well lets look at this, as I sit here, I have money off vouchers for both Sainsbury's and Morrison's when I spend £40. Tesco sometimes give me them, currently don't have any. I've never known of either Aldi or Asda give them out.
My local Aldi has only just started accepting credit cards a few weeks back. I like to buy as much as I can by credit card due to having a cash back card. However they don't accept Amex which gives me twice as much cash back as my Visa card. Take all this into account lets see what it does to the figures.
Of course I've deliberately chosen to spend as close to £40 on Sainsbury's and Morrison's to maximise my savings. But it does go to show that shopping in Aldi won't necessarily save you money, and you only end up having to go back to the main supermarkets anyway to pick up all the things Aldi doesn't sell, with their range of goods being fairly limited.
Along with the lack of choice of goods, there are a number of non financial issues. Firstly a couple of small petty issues that really annoy me, price labels above the goods. No the price should be BELOW the goods. Commas used instead of decimals, (£1,99 rather than £1.99). I know this is the done thing in Europe, but when in Rome.........
The place is generally like a cattle market, the queues at the checkouts are way too big. Then when you d get there, you can't bag up at the till, they expect you to unload your trolley, put it back in your trolley, to re-unload your trolley to bag up. It's a right fanny on. I'd rather pay a little bit more (which of course I don't anyway) for a better shopping experience in Sainsbury's.
