So then why would I venture to Aldi, to pick up that same home brand product, while paying a mid-range price between Coles/Woolies full-brand products, and Coles/Woolies home brand products?
The price is exactly the same though. I buy this Kaleslaw every week from Coles and it costs $5 and I just googled the price at Aldi and it is $4.99. Woopdidoo.
For me Aldi is the type of store I can pop into once in a while and buy the odd thing or twoā¦ but not somewhere I really go out of choice. I I would not even consider doing a big shop at Aldi as they donāt have everything I need anyway.
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I couldnāt do a full shop at Aldi. They have a handful of products I like, so I just pick them up as needed. I usually have a quick look through their catalogue to see if any of the special buys are worth a look.
They are prone to changing suppliers/recipes on individual products, presumably to keep prices stable or reduce them further. Iāve stopped buying a couple of things as a result.
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Coles and Woolies cut grocery prices in WA on specific private label goods, as well as fresh produce/meat well in advance of Aldi coming to the state, meaning that when Aldi opened its doors you werenāt really saving all that much. The store format in WA is also significantly smaller in size then the established network of stores on the east coast. The likes of Spudshed (even if their produce is B grade/rejects if itās not self-sourced) also diminished the Aldi effect a little.
Special buys are worth a look still.
Special buys are an undated concept and I find it very annoying that if I find something in their catalog that I want I have to arrive early on the day the specials come in effect in order to buy said special buy item. I would prefer to have the option where Aldi would have a select amount of special buy items available to purchase from their website with a modest postage and handling fee applied meaning I can be at home and avoid shopping centre queues and people and still buy said special buy items. The fact is that for example if you buy an electric tooth brush from Aldi and run out of the heads you have to wait until that product is available as a special buy again in order to buy the replacement heads. Very annoying.
Iāve discovered that as long as I did a top up shop every few weeks at Coles or woolies I can survive shopping at aldi as my predominant shop
My experience with Aldi in Germany too.
Youād go to the equivalent supermarket to Coles and Woolies over there for big shops but youād subsist on more frequent trips to Aldi, Lidl or Penny (my fave <3)
Question is - if Aldi originated anywhere other than Germany, would people be going crazy for it? I simply donāt see the appeal of a shop full of rip-offs when you can buy the same priced home brands (or for even less) at Coles and Woolies.
I donāt think anyoneās crazy for it. I think the company behind Aldi just pushed hard enough into the Australian market to actually survive against Colesworth (which is a good thing; as soon as we kill the duopoly the better).
Iāve never shopped at Aldi in Aus, but from what I hear theyāre cheaper than the big two? Or is that no longer the case?
One thing Iāve noticed is that Aldi have been advertising themselves on TV, radio, print etc. a lot lately. I thought they didnāt do advertising to keep down the prices? Unless of course, theyāre doing so well they can spare some change for ad campaigns.
Donāt think thatās the case in recent years with exception to selected private label lines. A lot of lines such as fresh produce, meat and some private label tend to be priced barely 5 to 10 cents cheaper then coles/woolies but nothing more then that. I think the Special Buys are definitely the main drawcard at this stage.
Personally Iād love to see Costco expand a little bit quicker then they have rather than see more players similar to Aldi.
Their tradition in Germany was to be cheap and cheaply run so they didnāt advertise and didnāt accept credit cards, from what Iāve read, but they found that elsewhere in the world like the USA and Australia that they needed to change from their standard practices and advertise and accept credit cards. The restricted trading hours in Australia of 9:00am-5:30pm didnāt last and itās now crept out to 8:00am-8:00pm and beyond in a lot of stores.
I like Adli as they have forced Coles and Woolworths into lowering their prices. The Woolworths in Kogarah has been noticeably cheaper since Aldi opened up in the Town Centre.
I would never shop at Aldi though. Too little choice and the queues at the checkouts are always horrific. Aldi also have a lack of fresh food and most stores have that smell of poverty and desperation. In most Aldiās that I have visited the customers are cross-eyed, not wearing any shoes and have 2 - 3 front teeth missing. I also worry that when I accidentally bump into someone their meth pipe might stick into me.
I would certainly advise people to not visit an Aldi unless they have been fully vaccinated.
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And how does that smell?
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The Aldi at Majura Park, Canberra Airport, looks somewhat like a Harris Farm and nothing like the original Australian Aldi stores. Iāve seen other upgraded Aldi stores in the Hills in Sydney and the one at Batemans Bay looks good.
One of the first Aldi stores was at Villawood in Sydney beside a rundown shopping centre and housing commission estates. It was successful despite nothing else there working, even McDonaldās closed and moved up Woodville Rd to beside Bunnings. That whole area was successfully made over some years later, probably only because Aldi showed that it was possible to be a success in that suburb. (The NSW government demolishing the nearby crime ridden estate probably helped too).
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The new Aldiās are quite nice looking. The fixtures, flooring etc are at least to the standard of a Woolies/Coles. I have a renovated store across the road from me, but still end up always going to Woolworths as I usually shop whenever I go past and donāt have bags on me. Aldi is an acquired taste I think, but they are improving.
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The one at Macquarie was refurbed into this style recently too. Agree they look much better than the old style. I think the store at Chisholm has been done too, and was possibly one of the first stores to be done.
Edit: seems it was
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2015/10/21/aldi-tries-new-store-layout/
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They do some limited advertising. I remember seeing a 2 minute advert for them whenever I went to the cinemas.
Aldi accepted Girocard (basically German equivalent to a Debit card), but not Mastercard or Visa Debit/Credit. Not that Iād really expect much else, since most German-speaking countries have some bizarre aversion toward paying by any means other than cash.
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With a total floor area of more than 17,000sqm over four levels, the Newstead store will be more than double the size of a typical Bunnings, which generally come in at about 8000sqm
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I remember reading that Australia was one of the first countries where they moved away from the payment policy
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