Why many people who shop at Aldi or Lidl aren't much better off
New research reveals shoppers are only seeing a small saving.
Shopping at discounters Aldi and Lidl is only saving many of us an average of £5 a month, new research has suggested.
Impact Research spoke to more than 1,000 shoppers who have turned to Aldi and Lidl in recent months. It found that while most had switched to the discounters in order to save cash, the actual saving was fairly insignificant.
According to the research, shoppers who stuck with the bigger supermarkets spent an average of £240 a month on their groceries. However, those who switched to Aldi and Lidl in order to save money spent £235 – just £5 less.
Why we aren’t saving more?
Impact Research believes that part of the problem is the way we use the discounters. It found that we tend to use Aldi and Lidl for ‘top-up’ or item-specific shops such as special deals on certain items – this was the case for 73% of Lidl shoppers and Aldi shoppers.
Because we only do a small proportion of our shopping there, we aren’t maximising the savings. Instead, those who use the discounters tend to be more "promiscuous", according to Impact Research, spreading their shopping across a range of stores.
However, that may be about to change. One in five discount shoppers said they plan to shop at Aldi and Lidl more frequently, so the proportion of their monthly grocery spend at the discounters is likely to rise.
Last week figures from Kantar Worldpanel revealed that both discounters have seen their market share grow to new record highs. Aldi now accounts for 5.6% of the market, while Lidl has moved to 4%.
But wherever you shop, groceries are getting cheaper. The latest Groceries Tracker from MySupermarket revealed that the cost of the average basket dropped 1% in July.
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More on shopping:
MySupermarket: Cost of groceries drops in July
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Does anybody actually believe that Impact Research speaking"to more than 1,000 shoppers who have turned to Aldi and Lidl in recent months" is a true picture of actual savings being made? I, for instance, only tend to make my fruit and occasional vegetables purchases at Aldi at present ( as opposed to Tesco) and always save in the region of £4 to £5.00 per shop on just these items alone! If I were to make all my shopping purchases at Aldi the savings would no doubt be much higher, and I shop for 1 person only, so family savings could be huge.
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I shopped at Aldi and Asda this week. I found what I needed quickly at Aldi and the checkout took about 30 seconds. At Asda, I wandered around looking at the signs above the aisles, finding it hard to find anything. At the checkout there was a 10 minute wait. I'm not sure who was worse the customers with their 'I've got all day' attitude or the checkout girl who had to send someone to check prices because the scan didn't work. I'm the opposite to those selectively surveyed. I shop at Aldi for cheaper prices and faster service and use Asda and Tesco very occasionally. Incidentally, the headline and article was very biased in favour of the big supermarkets.
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Aldi and Lidl do not stock the range of brands that the big 4 do. The comparison is not therefore like for like because that is often not possible. Many products from the discounters are their own brand but of excellent quality - comparable to that of the big brands - but always considerably cheaper. So if you can put your big brand preferences to one side and give the discounters brand a fair chance you might then be persuaded that the discounters are actually delivering great value for money. But the restricted range does have its drawbacks and many will not find that they can get their entire shop from the discounters. But those who visit both types of store will be aware of the price differential. Those who spurn the discounters might save time (one shop rather than 2) but at considerable expense to their pocket.
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08 August 2015