Do Aldi, or other ‘budget’ foodstores really save you money?
For some years now, here in Australia, we have had Aldi stores. Aldi, the German ‘discount’ grocery store launched here in Australia with fanfare about value.
I remember visiting the local Aldi store and being impressed with the value. Over the years I have been visiting Aldi regularly but have gradually formed the impression that they are not such good value as before and that some of their prices are comparable to, or greater than, those of Coles or Woolworths. For overseas readers, Coles and Woolworths are the two major Australian grocery chains and are not what you would consider to be budget grocery stores.
There are no specific facts to back up my impression about Aldi prices, partly because it is one of those things that people notice gradually – a bit like the size of chocolate bars getting smaller over the years. I do not have time to waste digging deeper.
Today I came across an article in Britain’s online Daily Mail:
When ‘budget’ Aldi costs more than ‘pricey’ Tesco and Asda
This is a shocking article considering Aldi’s market positioning of ‘value merchant’.
Food for thought I think – and increases the likelihood of my impression about the narrowing value gap between Aldi and the Australian majors Coles and Woolworths being correct.
Clearly, it is not a wise use of time to shop around unless the savings are greater than the value of your time, however it is a concern, particularly for ‘ Aussie battlers‘ with large families who may not be getting the value they expect, and need.
Who knows, perhaps Aldi have a strategy of market penetration on price and then increasing to narrow the gap later, relying on ‘first impressions’ rooted deep in people’s minds to continue the value mentality.
I think a key message is to be aware of your surroundings and what is going on. Don’t keep doing the same thing without questioning. It could be costing you a lot of money per week, which in these current economic times could mean much greater difficulties making ends meet.
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Category: Shopping
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