went to aldis. shouldn't of bothered.

briskbeats

Cornucopia said:

briskbeats said:

I knew someone worked for Aldi and they had no sales figures of which varieties, flavours 

When we've discussed this before, it seems that there is a mix - some lines have different barcodes for the variants and some don't.   Where there are different barcodes, they could be provided sales info.

However, the ordering/packing process would need to be pretty clever to adjust the mix of variants in outer boxes in response to sales, and I suspect they either cannot do this, or if they can it only responds to national sales trends. 

There's also a question of whether variants have the same wholesale costs, and if they don't then increasing the proportion of a more expensive variant may affect the overall profitability of that line.

Using a made up example here. If there's a mixed case of granola. One with sultanas and dried apple. The other has dried cranberries and cherries. The latter will be more expensive to make as the dried berries are more expensive than the former.

cattom

briskbeats said:

Cornucopia said:

briskbeats said:

I knew someone worked for Aldi and they had no sales figures of which varieties, flavours 

When we've discussed this before, it seems that there is a mix - some lines have different barcodes for the variants and some don't.   Where there are different barcodes, they could be provided sales info.

However, the ordering/packing process would need to be pretty clever to adjust the mix of variants in outer boxes in response to sales, and I suspect they either cannot do this, or if they can it only responds to national sales trends. 

There's also a question of whether variants have the same wholesale costs, and if they don't then increasing the proportion of a more expensive variant may affect the overall profitability of that line.

Using a made up example here. If there's a mixed case of granola. One with sultanas and dried apple. The other has dried cranberries and cherries. The latter will be more expensive to make as the dried berries are more expensive than the former.

so why do they have this 'mixed case' system, when the way other supermarkets do it, obviously works better?.

maman

briskbeats said:

Using a made up example here. If there's a mixed case of granola. One with sultanas and dried apple. The other has dried cranberries and cherries. The latter will be more expensive to make as the dried berries are more expensive than the former.

That's right and when that happens, supermarkets alter the weight of each product to make up for it. I've noticed that with herbs and spices, nuts and frozen veg. 

I think you probably made the right decision to go back to your local shops @cattom. I don't think Aldi is for you. The mixed crates, the limited ranges, the other than fancy shops, the fast checkouts etc etc are so that they can produce things more cheaply and it's because some of that saving is passed on to the customer that Aldi (and Lidl) are so popular that other supermarkets are copying their methods.  

Rosa_Damascena

maman said:

briskbeats said:

Using a made up example here. If there's a mixed case of granola. One with sultanas and dried apple. The other has dried cranberries and cherries. The latter will be more expensive to make as the dried berries are more expensive than the former.

That's right and when that happens, supermarkets alter the weight of each product to make up for it. I've noticed that with herbs and spices, nuts and frozen veg. 

I think you probably made the right decision to go back to your local shops @cattom. I don't think Aldi is for you. The mixed crates, the limited ranges, the other than fancy shops, the fast checkouts etc etc are so that they can produce things more cheaply and it's because some of that saving is passed on to the customer that Aldi (and Lidl) are so popular that other supermarkets are copying their methods.  

Equally I think the OP is missing out. From not wanting to set foot into Aldi in the 90s, it's now my favourite supermarket for all the reasons @maman has cited...plus the fact that I know what's there and can be in and out without being distracted by marketing. Havi g said that it's nowhere near the Spartan offering it once was.

DisablednProud

Aldi is probably the only reasonably priced supermarket left. Each to their own though, more bargains for me!

Teapot55

In Aldi, once our shopping’s on the conveyor belt it’s passed through by the assistant at lightning speed & we put it straight back into the trolley also at lightning speed. Our cool bags & ordinary shopping bags are already laid out in our boot & we put it away into the correct bag at our leisure. 

That’s another reason we choose them for our fortnightly main shop: no dithering at the checkout. 

We top up (on foot not using the car) the stuff Aldi don’t sell as we go in the week. 

RetSol

I find that one of the charms of Aldi is that I never quite know what I'm going to find there.  Sometimes, this results in me buying something that I had not thought of buying previously and being pleasantly surprised. 

My local branch was out of plain rice cakes for weeks on end, only stocking flavoured ones.  Eventually, I gave in and bought corn cakes instead and discovered that I prefer them. 

S_uk

Given the number of price rises in the supermarkets at the moment, I can see myself gradually shifting close to 100% of my food shopping to Aldi/Lidl in the near future. It's probably already at about 80%. I accept the slight reduction in the range of stuff I can buy because the savings made are more than worth it. For the odd cleaning or medicinal items they don't stock I usually go to places like Home Bargain or Savers. 

Yes having everything under one roof like Tesco is convenient, but then that's one reason they'll charge more - and on some items a lot more.

There is a Tesco very close to Lidl where I live, so if I found myself in the OPs situation I would buy the victoria sponge cake in Lidl (which they sell) along with the rest of my shop, then walk over to Tesco and buy the fly spray (only occasional purchase?) and steak and kidney pudding - and nothing else. No need for me to spend anymore at Tesco.

Murphybear

Victoria sponge is super easy to make.  Unless you haven’t got any cake tins.  

Enterprise_1701C

We have an Aldi/Lidl 5 minutes walk away.  I can pop down there if I forget something and be back in 15 minutes including crossing the road (if it is Aldi) and queuing.  I now to 99 percent of my shopping there with no problems whatsoever, just an occasional stroll down to my local Tesco, I very rarely go near any other supermarkets nowadays.