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

Doc_N

pumpkin89 said:

I've just read the full methodology - Which excluded multibuy promotions, which makes the whole study meaningless.  In that context, of course supermarkets that don't run multibuys will look disproportionately cheaper than those that do.

“Using data from an independent price comparison website, we calculated the average price (including special offers but not multibuys) for each item throughout the month. We added those individual averages together to give an overall price for the trolley at each shop for the month.”

I see no problem with the methodology. Multibuys have been correctly excluded because they distort the averages, but Aldi and Lidl don’t sell much branded stuff anyway, so it has little effect on their overall price.

Waitrose still sticks out like a sore thumb though, even by comparison with the main supermarkets. I’d agree, as a regular but less frequent Waitrose customer, that it’s a much more pleasant and satisfying shopping experience, and you may feel that justifies the premium pricing, much like John Lewis, but (like John Lewis) it’s very expensive for an overall shop.

pumpkin89

Rosa_Damascena said:

We're about to hit a financial wall, and fast.

We'll see how many people can afford to shop at Waitrose then - people were already queuing at food banks and now the rest of us are going to have to decide exactly what proportion of our incomes can reasonably be spent on food. JL profit-share has gone down dramatically as it is, I think the company is going to have to do something drastic to stay in business. If it is smart and wants to stay in business, it will position itself next to M&S and not the big 4+2. 

The reality is that most people who shop at Waitrose will still be able to (these are not the same people queuing at food banks).  The sad thing is it's those who are struggling already who will be hit worst.  Those of us who can need to think about how best to support our communities - rediscovering those communities has been one silver lining of lockdown.

Doc_N

Rosa_Damascena said:

pumpkin89 said:

I've just read the full methodology - Which excluded multibuy promotions, which makes the whole study meaningless.  In that context, of course supermarkets that don't run multibuys will look disproportionately cheaper than those that do.

We're about to hit a financial wall, and fast.

We'll see how many people can afford to shop at Waitrose then - people were already queuing at food banks and now the rest of us are going to have to decide exactly what proportion of our incomes can reasonably be spent on food. JL profit-share has gone down dramatically as it is, I think the company is going to have to do something drastic to stay in business. If it is smart and wants to stay in business, it will position itself next to M&S and not the big 4+2. 

I could see it actually being spun off altogether by John Lewis (as the only profitable part of the business - they’re already considering closing the stores).  What would really make sense would be for M&S to do the same with their food side, for exactly the same reasons, leading to a newly created company running the two merged businesses as one Waitrose/M&S Foods business. Now that would be a force to reckon with for upmarket customers.

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

I see no problem with the methodology. Multibuys have been correctly excluded because they distort the averages, but Aldi and Lidl don’t sell much branded stuff anyway, so it has little effect on their overall price.

Waitrose still sticks out like a sore thumb though, even by comparison with the main supermarkets. I’d agree, as a regular but less frequent Waitrose customer, that it’s a much more pleasant and satisfying shopping experience, and you may feel that justifies the premium pricing, much like John Lewis, but (like John Lewis) it’s very expensive for an overall shop.

Which is cheaper, £1.50 for one or £2 buy one get one free?  In my view, the latter is cheaper, hence excluding multibuys distorts the results.

I don't think the experience justifies the pricing; I think the product range and quality justifies the pricing.  Ultimately it's good that there is a variety of options to cover different people's priorities.

A._Badger

Doc_N said:

We checked the prices of more than 100 items, from own-brand yoghurts and vegetables to Head & Shoulders shampoo and Nutella chocolate spread, throughout March to see how UK supermarkets compared. Discounters Aldi and Lidl were unsurprisingly the cheapest two retailers in our analysis, with a trolley of groceries costing £111 and £113 respectively. Of the larger supermarkets, Asda was cheapest, with shoppers paying £123 for an equivalent trolley of goods. Sainsbury’s, which was the cheapest ‘big four’ supermarket in 2019, came in third-most-expensive last month. Customers’ shopping would have cost £144 there; however, this was only slightly more than at Tesco (£140) and Morrisons (£143). Waitrose was by far the most expensive supermarket, charging £175 for an equivalent selection of goods – a whopping £64 more than Aldi.

If they'd asked me I could have saved Which? the cost of their survey - because that's exactly how I would have rated them, including Saijsbury's repositioning to become the poor man's Waitrose.

As for post lockdown shopping, a trip to my nearest Aldi is a bit of an expedition, so I have been shopping elsewhere - watching the not so stealthy (but often quite cunning) price rises in the other supermarkets, both on and offline. It's been an object lesson in how badly the UK market needs Aldi and Lidl - and how cynically we are treated by the rest of them. 

maman

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

Says it all, really, doesn’t it?  It’s only when you’re obliged to shop with the other supermarkets that you remember just how expensive they still are. Waitrose, where we used to shop, pre-Aldi, is just ridiculous.  And none of them provide any better quality than Aldi and Lidl on most products.

Many Waitrose products don't have an equivalent in Aldi or Lidl.  I normally shop in Waitrose and am not able to do a full shop in either of them, though there are select bargains to be had.  If you're doing it the other way round, i.e. trying to buy your usual Aldi/Lidl shopping in Waitrose, yes it will seem expensive.

I'm sure there are a few products that you can't get in Aldi that they have in Waitrose such as certain herbs and spices or the variety of cheeses. Now isn't really the time to be going from shop to shop but, in 'normal' times, you'd be wasting an awful lot of money by doing the vast majority of your shopping in Waitrose. I'm fortunate that in my area, Waitrose and Aldi are about 500 yards apart so shopping in my mse way in Aldi and then calling into Waitrose occasionally for a few bits works well for me. Fortunately I'm not short of money but I do hate being ripped off. 😣

203846930

Shelves in Lidl this morning looked OK but for some reason the own brand cheese, Aberfoyle here in Scotland, and baked beans, Newgate, were missing from their locations.
May be just a delivery issue but I hope they return to normal as they are favourites in this house.

Rosa_Damascena

I always knew that late evenings to be a good time to shop in Aldi, but even more so now avoiding other people is paramount. Apart from being nearly empty of other shoppers, it was well-stocked - the only things I couldn't get hold of were lemons and large containers of semi-skimmed milk. I have no plans to queue outside a supermarket again.

203846930

Used to shop after 7pm but local Lidl was consistently out of bread at that time so changed to 8am when retired.

dollypeeps

Both Aldi and Lidl here have mostly been stocked well during this pandemic..... and they seem to be holding their prices. My food bill has been higher due to ‘just in case purchases’ ..... we do like Aldi microwaveable rice. Usually the pilau version but that seems to have disappeared of late. It’s 75p per tray and we find it serves 2 people.... maybe a tad expensive but for convenience I’ll stick to it....even though as one poster has stated, we’re not short of money just don’t  like being ripped off. Strangely enough Lidl doesn't appear to do a comparable product.