A Bleak Christmas for Tesco ?

prowla

I shop at Tesco quite a lot, but their prices don't seem to be as keen as they used to be.

The reduced items used to be my first port of call, but now it seems like the reductions aren't so good.

Some things I look at and think what??

Bread and cheeses seem to have really gone up a lot in the past year or so.

I'll happily buy things from Aldi; rice, pesto, continental meats seem good value.

roddydogs

Tesco take credit cards, and give points worth 1%, more if you do deals, so thats at least 2% cheaper than Aldi & Lidl for a start (I have Cap1 which gives 1% back)

moneybuster

daveyjp wrote: »

I overheard a conversation involving a senior head office manager at one of the big four. The impact of Aldi is significant and they are having to consider their strategy, as despite price match, clubcard, rollback, multi buy offers etc people are wising up and realise all these offers have to be paid for. Shoppers are getting to like the no nonsense Aldi approach of 'we are cheaper without the gimmicks'.

He also said Waitrose and M&S are doing well on the back of this as cash saved using Aldi is being spent on the occasional visits to the more expensive stores.

I Agree we Forgot offers ages ago, we have been shopping at Lidl for a year and saved over 30 pounds per week on shopping, the food is great and no different to what they offer in Germany,Spain, the whole EU.

TBH some of the stalls at the Christmas Market in Manchester are using the local Aldi and Lidl to stock up, re package and charge treble , this was highlighted by a friend of mine who witnessed it with his own eye's. he has reported the stall holders.

renegade

Could be because it is the nearest store to where they live?

Tesco Extra store here is on a large social housing estate, but many is the time I hear people grumbling about the costs at Tesco ,they are crying out for Aldi to open a store in their area.

I was a Tesco shopper before I 'discovered' Aldi, I use Tesco just for bits and bobs that Aldi don't sell, and believe me that isn't much!

RHYSDAD

A._Badger wrote: »

Personally, I think the Aldi/Lidl thing is a fashion craze driven largely by novelty. I have tried both, several tines, and haven't been impressed. Life is too short to wander down cheerless aisles of stacked cardboard boxes clustered around bring 'n buy style tables with a random assortment of machine tools, tennis shoes, knock-off electrical goods and heaven knows what, all laid out as if a madman had done the job with a hand grenade. And then you're expected to sample your way through countless copy brands in the hope of finding something resembling the brand you have used for 20 years, all for the sake of saving 5p.

Tesco, on the other hand, has ruined its reputation by its meanness, predation, aggression, involvement with adulteration scandals and appallingly badly managed PR. Heads really need to roll, before there is serious trouble.

If all three vanished, I wouldn't shed a tear.

But the crux of your post Badger is that you don't mind paying 20/30% more just because Sainsbury's/Waitrose have pretty plinths etc etc. I don't want to pay that premium and Lidl/Aldi quality is easily on a par with those supermarkets so why should I give a toss how glamorous the display is....

geordie_joe

Scritti wrote: »

Why should I add a caveat to every post saying "please disregard all of my words if you live 200 miles away from an Aldi"?

You don't need to add a caveat to any of your posts, simply adding the words "can and" to your post would have been more than enough.

Instead of writing "anyone who doesn't give Aldi a chance"
you could have written
"anyone who can and doesn't give Aldi a chance".

Edwardia

I loathe shopping, I'd much rather check prices and order online using Ocado, Abel & Cole, Riverford and Iceland.

My shopaholic mother is never happier than when trundling a trolley around a supermarket so I visit several in one day, once a week. In a month that means ASDA, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.. and from next year when new store opens, Aldi.

People who say that Lidl quality (I've visited Aldi twice so really can't say) is as good as other supermarkets are often right. I've just had lunch of Galician-style squid - not from Marks and Spencer or Waitrose, but from Lidl. My local Lidl has chilled Chablis next to the sandwiches and a parking lot chockfull of BMWs, Mercs and SUVs.

In my opinion, the supermarkets who will retain customers will be those who take the discounters seriously and go head to head with them offering straightforward pricing, real offers, and extras such as free coffee and newspaper in the restaurant or a creche with security and qualified staff while they do their shopping.

If the difference between prices was 1p or 2p I'd just stick to the supermarkets I prefer. But when the difference between prices is 20p, 50p, 89p on one product without being on offer, of course it's worth shopping around, bothersome though that can be.

Maybe we don't tell supermarkets what we want enough ?

stephen77

RHYSDAD wrote: »

But the crux of your post Badger is that you don't mind paying 20/30% more just because Sainsbury's/Waitrose have pretty plinths etc etc. I don't want to pay that premium and Lidl/Aldi quality is easily on a par with those supermarkets so why should I give a toss how glamorous the display is....

The 20% to 30% is not comparing like for like.


I can also say they do less different pack formats as well. SO I may end up spending more as having to get a bigger pack.
Eg less loose fruit and veg. I have often bought 1kg bag of carrots and not used them up. While at JS I can buy loose so saves me money.


Don't get me wrong, they have good items and good prices. I just do not find it as good as some people claiming it is to be.

Nada666

geordie_joe wrote: »

Talk about sweeping statements that simply aren't true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What about people like me who don't live near an aldi or lidl. I haven't tried either shop, but not because I am a fool, it's because I don't drive and it's just too far to travel to shop there.

I'm sure you love shopping at aldi, but please remember that more than half the people in the UK can't shop there, whether they want to or not. And I don't suppose any of them would like to be accused of wasting money and being a fool just because aldi haven't opened a shop close enough to them.

What about people who don't live near an Asda? What about people who don't live near a Sainsbury's? What about people who don't live near...

How many coaches/trains/cities does it take you to travel to an Aldi? How long does it take to walk there? I simply do not believe that you live somewhere that is close enough to five or six other supermarkets but Aldi is magically absent.

Nada666

stephen77 wrote: »

The 20% to 30% is not comparing like for like.


I can also say they do less different pack formats as well. SO I may end up spending more as having to get a bigger pack.
Eg less loose fruit and veg. I have often bought 1kg bag of carrots and not used them up. While at JS I can buy loose so saves me money.

Seriously? You are citing Sainsbury's? (And citing carrots? You cannot use 500g of carrots?) Sainsbury's is the absolute worst for forcing multiple buys on the customer - you may be able to buy some fruit or vegetables* but by your own theory you can't purchase bread, meat, fish, dairy, fruit juice, tins, packets, ninety-nine percent of what one wants.

* very few, though, other than apples, onions, carrots, potatoes and bananas. Pretty much nothing else in fruit and veg is available singly.