Good and Bad Buying at Lidl and Aldi (***Please don't expire***)

PLRFD

I don’t like how they put butter beans and chick peas in the same box they are very similar packaging and it’s easy to get the wrong one.

candygirl

Stompa said:

PLRFD said:

This is interesting 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9554513/Russian-supermarket-chain-Svetofor-claims-cheaper-rivals-opening-UK.html

The store layouts look very similar to how Aldi used to look in the old days.

Looks like we're getting one, in a less desirable part of town,  but I'll have a look 😉 

Stompa

maman said:

Unfortunately they go through the tills as a generic term (rather than the specific flavour) too so presumably they  don't get electronic feedback of which ones sell best. 🤔

They may appear the same on the customer receipt, but different items in mixed trays do have different barcodes. So Aldi will undoubtedly know which ones sell the best.

maman

Stompa said:

maman said:

Unfortunately they go through the tills as a generic term (rather than the specific flavour) too so presumably they  don't get electronic feedback of which ones sell best. 🤔

They may appear the same on the customer receipt, but different items in mixed trays do have different barcodes. So Aldi will undoubtedly know which ones sell the best.

If that's the case then there is even less reason for the make up of the mixed trays. I'd expect the trays to reflect sales. Some people might, for example, buy cottage cheese with pineapple if that's all that's available. I end up buying what I want in Sainsburys. That hardly helps Aldi sales. 🤔

od244051

My friends and family that shop at Aldi and Lidl- their issues with the mixed cases are:
. Benefit bars - only seems to be apple and sultana
. Jar dips - sour cream loads of, no nacho cheese
. Almonds in baking section - no ground. almonds. Though the friend that says this uses an Aldi on the outskirts of a large Indian community.
. Lidl's Ryvita - sometimes there's no sesame seeds ones. 
. Flavoured yoghurts - seems to be strawberry ones left. This is FF Greek style, Muller light style. Myself and a friend love strawberries, but not in yoghurts. Though both can eat strawberry fruit corners.

Think Aldi and Lidl shop workers need to submit to HO which flavours/types are not selling well or resort to a reduced label if fresh. If there's a pattern of one flavour/type not doing well, drop it. Also HO should record customers' complaints when they contact customer services with "I never can get chocolate fudge benefit bars" and if loads of complaints over one flavour, maybe do a single case of that flavour/type and mixed case for the rest.
. 

Cornucopia

At least some of the mixed cases have products with different barcodes.   I have two different flavours of Lidl cupasoup at the moment, and they have completely different barcodes.    (Intriguingly the Minestrone has a full standard barcode starting "405", which suggests a big Minestrone factory somewhere in Germany).  

However, getting sales data and changing the mix of cases may be two very different things, and having a store-specific mix is probably completely unfeasible.   It is annoying, but it does seem to be part of the Aldi/Lidl discounting approach.

Meanwhile, does no one like the Lidl frozen Vegetable Tortellini?  My branch invariably has loads of those and virtually none of the other 7 or 8 flavours of meals.   (Presumably these meals come in a mixed-variety case that we never see, but which still affects the availability of more popular varieties).

maman

I agree that store specific wouldn't be feasible but I'm sure the posters on here use different stores and the dissatisfaction seems common. Maybe there's an area of the country that laps up cottage cheese with pineapple! 🤣

On a more serious point the mixed trays of mixers can be positively dangerous if the flavour you want isn't on the top tray. Fortunately the staff at my local store are really helpful and will get them out for me so I don't need to struggle and pull at the bottles underneath. 😊

203846930

Looks like Lidl has stiffed me again with the electric grater, it was showing on the website for this coming Thursday but checking today for something else I see that it is no longer included

od244051

maman said:

I agree that store specific wouldn't be feasible but I'm sure the posters on here use different stores and the dissatisfaction seems common. Maybe there's an area of the country that laps up cottage cheese with pineapple! 🤣

On a more serious point the mixed trays of mixers can be positively dangerous if the flavour you want isn't on the top tray. Fortunately the staff at my local store are really helpful and will get them out for me so I don't need to struggle and pull at the bottles underneath. 😊

I remember going to Aldi about two years ago and the middle layer of the flavoured waters only needed one bottle to be removed from the middle layer to be toppled over. That's health n safety. Imagine if that toppled onto a child? Other supermarkets use the bottle stacks for ONE flavour or variety. I bet Aldi/Lidl are waiting for a serious accident before they can do anything.

od244051

Doing an online chat with someone from Lidl. Asked about the sales figures of each flavour/variety in each mixed case.

Their reply - which I copied
I'm afraid we don't have any information on how many flavour or variety are sold in the cases, sorry. I can certainly see your point and will make sure this is fed back