Good and Bad Buying at Lidl and Aldi (***Please don't expire***)
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Originally 100% Waitrose shoppers, we tried Aldi many years ago. Didn’t buy much, but as they improved we ended up buying more and more. Finally ended up with 90% coming from there, and no different from Waitrose in quality.
Aldi now often has 4 or more different genres across its ranges (typically standard, premium, functional and sometimes basics). A good example would be Coleslaw salad - there are two standard versions (normal and lower fat), a premium version, and a vegan version (which is very nice). All of them are sold in oversize containers for about the price of a small pack elsewhere.
Chocolate is another example - plenty of standard and premium options, as well as low sugar and basics options.
I'm just waiting for them to ditch their "no brand" brands, and begin consistent branding across the store based on these categories.
BTW, Lidl has a fantastic selection of beer.
Just need survey sites to start recognising them as such.
* I shall only get involved in new threads, once a dialogue has been established with the OP *
They have traditionally been very similar (more similar than any of the big supermarkets are to each other - maybe more like Boots and Superdrug). They also still have many lines that are a similar quality level at the same price.
But over the past couple of years, they have begun to diverge. Aldi now has a lot of vegan/functional lines, for example, where Lidl has very few. Aldi was always a bit keener on British foods, where Lidl was always keener on continental ones, and this has continued. Aldi, I think sees itself as a smaller, cheaper version of a big supermarket, where Lidl is heading more towards a kind of cheap, specialist deli.
If either of those strategies breaks through into the big league, I think it will be Aldi, and they are very slightly cheaper, too.
Surprising the psychological effect of a label and a brand.
I don't care about brand names, I shop only on price and if I don't like a product, I never buy it again, thankfully there has been very few of these over the years.
It's not psychology so much as differing priorities. If I had to assess impartially, I'd say on the whole Lidl food might be 80% as good as Waitrose for 50% of the price. I accept that makes it better value, but it's not equal quality, and to some people that's worth paying extra for.