Interesting article about Aldi/Lidl

okidoki987

http://www.thepost.ie/ezineSBP/story.asp?storyid=18602

Genghis

Interesting article, interesting timing. The whole point of seems to be that Aldi and Lidl (who, by the way are NEVER discussed as seperate companies in the Irish press) are shifty foreigners that offer very little choice and poor customer service.

In reality, I find that the goods in Lidl and especially in Aldi to be of equal or superior quality to branded goods. They are much, much cheaper, and while they may not carry as many lines as a full supermarket, you can do maybe 90% of your shopping there. Service is an issue, granted.

Methinks that the Irish retailers are a little bit worried about the Christmas spend. Don't worry lads, as long as the Irish consumer holds notions about themselves being in some way superior to the Lidl and Aldi offering, you'll be okay. That is the real reason Aldi and Lidl have not succeeded here as well as in other markets - snobbery.

MisterAnarchy

okidoki987 wrote:

http://www.thepost.ie/ezineSBP/story.asp?storyid=18602

That article is complete and utter garbage,racist and very biased against Lidl and Aldi.
I do most of weekly my shopping between the 2 and the vast majority of their products are top quality.
Tesco Ireland is purely a name,it is a British company .
Its half-year profits rose 10.3% to £1.09bn, helped by international sales.That is a hell of a lot of profit.
The prices in Tesco Ireland shops are far more expensive than in their UK counterpart.

TarfHead

SundayBusinessPost wrote:

‘‘They have had absolutely no impact on us,” said the owner of one of Ireland’s largest SuperValu chains. ‘‘I am not just saying that

Oh yeah ? Then why did my local SuperValu start selling no-brand DVD players and other household tat after a LIDL opened a mile away ? Coincidence :rolleyes: ?

I agree that most opposition to "LILDI" is snobbery. The LIDL in Pottery Road is the first time they've got a foothold in the more affluent parts of South County Dublin. Perhaps the local planners feared they'd be overrun with hordes of working-class type people :rolleyes: .

Dades

MisterAnarchy wrote:

That article is complete and utter garbage,racist and very biased against Lidl and Aldi.

Which parts of the article are racist exactly? And are you disputing the statistics they quote?

There is a distinction between the article itself, and with the "quotes" from Irish retailers.

Sleepy

Am absolutely delighted with the opening of the pottery road branch of LIDL (in the same industrial estate as my employer \o/). Saved a fortune on my shopping last week and imagine I'll make similar savings every other time I do my shopping there.

Linoge

The Atheist wrote:

Which parts of the article are racist exactly? And are you disputing the statistics they quote?

There is a distinction between the article itself, and with the "quotes" from Irish retailers.

Agreed.

The article is unbiased and purely quotes the supermarkets. Statistics can speak for themselves.

All its saying is that Aldi and Lidl Ireland are underperforming relative to the rest of Europe.

(And I wouldn't mind about them being grouped together, they pretty much identical)

dahamsta

MisterAnarchy wrote:

That article is complete and utter garbage,racist and very biased against Lidl and Aldi.

"Racist" is a bit much.

I do most of weekly my shopping between the 2

Well done. You're not 4 million people though, you're one person.

Tesco Ireland is purely a name,it is a British company .

It is to a certain extent, and that's very sad and probably a reflection on Irish capitalists, however this is covered clearly in the article. Did you read the whole thing?

I don't mean to be rude - no really, just forthright - but you're really coming across just as kneejerk as you seem to believe the SBP is being.

adam

jor el

Genghis wrote:

That is the real reason Aldi and Lidl have not succeeded here as well as in other markets - snobbery.

Indeed, I know many people who refuse to shop in either Lidl or Aldi because they "know" that it's all sub-standard tripe. How can anyone possibly know that if they've never shopped there? Pure snobbery. I remember mentioning I got a nice bottle of Bordeaux for €4.99 in Lidl, to the utter dismay of my friend that insisted you have to spend at least €20 to get a good bottle of wine. My answer: no, no you don't. Not the best wine in the world but then I couldn't tell the difference. There was nothing wrong with it anyway.

I've never found their choice, quality or service to be lacking. They don't stock everything I like, but neither does Tesco or Dunnes, no shop has everything you're looking for. I find that both Lidl and Aldi are better than Tesco for things like fish, rashers and sausages, eggs, milk, pizza, burgers, cooking oils/wok oils, pasta, rice, which are the items I buy most regularly there. Some of the other supermarket's cheap own brand stuff often doesn't taste that nice.

As for the weekly specials, haven't Dunnes and SuperValu started doing similar deals since Lidl and Aldi arrived? That's a testiment to how much of an effect they are having on the other supermarkets.

Ruu_Old

This shouldn't really be in Bargain Alerts even thought a good of the bargains posted are from Lidl. Moved to Consumer Issues.

antoinolachtnai

This article is badly researched.

The main constraint on Lidl/Aldi's growth seems to be the availability of premises. If they had the floor space, they could get a lot more market share. Planning hurdles have been a big damper on growth.

They could drop the prices by 20 percent and still make a margin. They don't, because they don't have the capacity to handle increased demand.

Most of the statements about aldi/lidl about logistics and store locations could be applied equally well to tesco, dunnes or even superquinn.

it simply isn't true to say that the model has not been adapted at all. There are patently a signficant number of Irish oriented and Irish sourced goods in the stores, particularly in Lidl. I find it hard to believe that the person who wrote this stuff actually visited a Lidl and an Aldi.

District managers visit stores frequently and staff are under significant pressure to meet expectations. Kaudewitz admitted in 1999 that Lidl was a ‘‘demanding employer’’.

What in under God is that supposed to mean?

Linoge

antoinolachtnai wrote:

This article is badly researched.

The main constraint on Lidl/Aldi's growth seems to be the availability of premises. If they had the floor space, they could get a lot more market share. Planning hurdles have been a big damper on growth.

They could drop the prices by 20 percent and still make a margin. They don't, because they don't have the capacity to handle increased demand.

Most of the statements about aldi/lidl about logistics and store locations could be applied equally well to tesco, dunnes or even superquinn.

it simply isn't true to say that the model has not been adapted at all. There are patently a signficant number of Irish oriented and Irish sourced goods in the stores, particularly in Lidl. I find it hard to believe that the person who wrote this stuff actually visited a Lidl and an Aldi.



What in under God is that supposed to mean?

Because you don't agree with the article you call it badly researched? huh

It quotes statistics and figures and gives comparisons, whereas your opinion that they have adapted to the Irish market doesn't even contain an example:rolleyes:

parsi

Some of that article seems to be dubious :

- Lidl have 2 depots in Ireland - newbridge and Charleville,
- they don't seem to have a particular leaning towards motorway locations eg the French stores I've seen are in similar locations to Irish stores and a look at the stores in Berlin (lidl.de) shows that they are well in the city boundaries.

I think that they are happy to be cheaper than the others and still nicely dearer than their home markets. Some of their goods are of decent quality but I often think their hams are not the best.

snickerpuss

I wouldn't shop in Lidl or Aldi, for a start there isn't enough stuff in them (or the ones near me anyway) for a proper shop and i find that stuff from there always tastes a bit wonky.
I'd only buy meat from superquinn anyway and thats where i always go!

GreeBo

snickerpuss wrote:

I wouldn't shop in Lidl or Aldi, for a start there isn't enough stuff in them (or the ones near me anyway) for a proper shop and i find that stuff from there always tastes a bit wonky.
I'd only buy meat from superquinn anyway and thats where i always go!

Do you buy:
Ketchup
Toilet Paper
Toilet Brushes
Tinfoil
Pizzas
Ice Cream
Drinks
Bars
Bisuits
Tea
Coffee


If so you can save a shed load of cash.

For example
Toilet paper in Aldi is less than half the price it is in Superquinn, Half.
Quality is at least equal, superior to some of the brands, especially "shops own"


That said, I do buy my meat in Superquinn as I prefer to buy from a butcher and not prepacked.

Sponge Bob

I thought them to be as good as any of the rest for customer service , one of teh complaints in the article, but recently aldi in Galway acquired a horrible ignorant woman as a manager so I stopped going there.

GreeBo

I have found customer service to be quite good, I often see employees helping people to find certain items or talking to them about items.

My issue is with the tills, there is often only 1 or 2 open with large queues.
This is very frustrating if (like me) you only nip in to get 1 or two things.
An express (10 or less) till is badly needed.

squire1

GreeBo wrote:

My issue is with the tills, there is often only 1 or 2 open with large queues.
This is very frustrating if (like me) you only nip in to get 1 or two things.
An express (10 or less) till is badly needed.

Ha GreeBo, that's probably me in front of you with a huge trolly full, holding you up:D

I use Lidl, go there every two weeks for a big stock up. I find them massivly better value than my other alternative, Tesco. I never had a problem with them as I spent some time living in Germay where all the Supermarkets are like Lidl/Aldi.

I find a lot of their products/foods to be of a higher quality than the equivalent in Tesco/Dunnes etc and they are sold at a much lower price.

The best thing about them is that you can go into a Lidl anywhere in Ireland and every shop is laid out exactly the same, with each product in exactly the same place as it is in your local branch.

And where else can you buy some butter, some beer, a toilet, a set of adjustable spanners and a DVD recorder in one shop;)

My feeling is that as people in this country start to feel the inevitable pinch, they will give the likes of Aldi/Lidl a go and when they try the products they will wonder why they did not try them earlier.

Alun

I too lived in Germany for a time, and I'm not phased by some of the strange brands and unfamiliar products as much as some people I know. I too go there once every couple of weeks or so for the staples, since the nearest one to us is in Wicklow, but there's a brand new one opening up in Greystones in a couple of weeks, so trips ther might become more frequent.

As far as service goes, they might only have a couple of tills open, but those checkout girls can scan stuff quicker than I can put it in the basket, unlike Tesco, Superquinn et. al.

iguana

Lidl and Aldi are fantastic for cheese, milk, ice-cream, pasta, rice, nuts, crisps, sweets, biscuits, packed meat, brioche, olives and stuffed chillis.:p I often go in for one or two things and end up getting several bagfulls and I'm still always really pleasantly surprised when they tell me the price.

The also have great really special deals, I just got a great deep fat fryer in Aldi this week. Because I live in the UK I can also buy my otc pills there, which i don't think they do in Ireland? 24 paracetemol for 16p and my husbands allergy medicine for 82p which costs £3.60 in the chemist.

There ice-cream and desserts are the best. But it would be good if they had baskets as sometimes my arms get so full as i'm walking around that I have to stop looking and head to the checkout. And I do hate how difficult it is to leave the shop if you don't buy anything.

the_syco

Meh. Own-brand loo-roll ain't sandpaper, in lidl or aldi. Tesco-brand is bloody sandpaper, tho:mad:

Good for lots of stuff. As for the electrical goods: they buy enough that will get sold, and not sit on some shelf for 3 of 4 weeks.

undo

Alun wrote:

those checkout girls can scan stuff quicker than I can put it in the basket

The checkout girls at Aldi in Germany used to be known for keying in prices faster than anybody else could type them. They have since installed scanners there as well, but for a long time, Aldi management preferred manual typing as it was simply faster than scanning.

antoinolachtnai

Linoge wrote:

Because you don't agree with the article you call it badly researched? huh

It quotes statistics and figures and gives comparisons, whereas your opinion that they have adapted to the Irish market doesn't even contain an example:rolleyes:

No, I call it badly researched because it is badly researched. Some of the facts are wrong. A lot of them are irrelevant to any story. I think the journalist is a bit bothered that Aldi and Lidl declined to give a view.

It quotes a few statistics, so what? Statistics aren't meaningful in themselves. The journalist didn't give a view on what the statistics actually mean. Market share figures don't mean much unless you have some idea about the underlying competitive landscape and the cost-volume profit situation.

You want an example of a products in Lidl that show they have adapted for the Irish market? How about Viscount biscuits? Mars bars? Irish sausages? Irish potatoes? Cheddar cheese?

bmaxi

antoinolachtnai wrote:

You want an example of a products in Lidl that show they have adapted for the Irish market? How about Viscount biscuits? Mars bars? Irish sausages? Irish potatoes? Cheddar cheese?

What about that well known German delicacy, "Beamish". I don't know why all the hostility toward Lidl/Aldi, they deliver good quality stuff at reasonable prices. OK you might not have great variety but if the quality is good, does that matter so much. They could certainly teach Tesco a thing or two when it comes to customer relations and as was discussed elsewhere on this Forum, they don't tend to leave perishables on the shelves up to their "sell by" date. I think there is something in the Irish Psyche that is suspicious of a bargain, like someone is trying to put one over on us.

Guy:Incognito

snickerpuss wrote:

I wouldn't shop in Lidl or Aldi, for a start there isn't enough stuff in them (or the ones near me anyway) for a proper shop and i find that stuff from there always tastes a bit wonky.
I'd only buy meat from superquinn anyway and thats where i always go!

Look at the pork contents of stuff like irish sausages, then compare it to the german stuff in lidl/aldi. 55% (denny, everyday etc) compared to 90 -odd % is always going to taste different.

snickerpuss

Stekelly wrote:

Look at the pork contents of stuff like irish sausages, then compare it to the german stuff in lidl/aldi. 55% (denny, everyday etc) compared to 90 -odd % is always going to taste different.

I wouldn't buy denny i usually get them from superquinn which is well over 55%.
Aldi/Lidl just don't do it for me.

jimmy2shoes

never went to an aldi until about 2 months ago. finding that my girlfriend and i who came over from the uk were spending about 80-90 euro a week in a big shop at dunnes and still having to pop in there during the week for more stuff. since going to aldi we spend about 40 euro in there, maybe 20 in dunnes for certain stuff that aldi don't do( and get about a tenth of the amount of aldi) and about 15 in a butchers in douglas. since shopping at aldi we have cut the amount we spend on food by about 30-40 euro a week and the quality is very good. ever had frikadella? do so they taste great and are like an institution in countries like holland.

tesco's and dunnes are basically rip-offs, but i've noticed that the irish love to be ripped off. they may talk about it, but the vast majority of people just put up with it. this is a perfect case, another is aib bank. anyone who banks with the aib is being ripped off, and they are an idiot, full stop. no other country in the western world has banks that charge you for putting your wages into your own account!!!!!!

5uspect

I remember 4 or 5 years ago when Lidl opened in New Ross, there were queues across the bridge from Waterford with the amount of people wanting to shop there. The supermarkets in the town (Basically all run by Supervalu) nearly went bust. But then something peculiar happened. People decided they didn't quite like the meat in Lidl or the bread or whatever and they got those items in SuperValu. People began to shop around - competition after all is good. Since then Tesco and now Aldi have both opened up there and SuperValu has downgraded to a centra (i think, i haven't been around there in awhile) and everyone is happy.

I'm living in Limerick now and I'm situated more or less halfway between Dunnes and Superquinn, I tend to go to Superquinn as the fruit and veg and meat are very good there but Superquinn is expensive, and Dunnes isn't too much better. There is an Aldi being opened across the road soon and as poor student (have pity on me) I don't own a car so I'll vote with my pocket and my feet, I'll still get my nice fancy meat in Superquinn but Aldi will do nicely for everything else.

So I don't understand the fuss, at the end of the day the choice is yours.

Mo-Mo

I know a lot of people who won't shop there because they believe that cheaper food = worse food. But if you know how to read labels and understand what is in food it's very easy to find quality food cheaply in Lidl and Aldi.

I couldn't believe it when I found 95% pork sausages. You'd be hard pressed to find that in most supermarkets. Although as said by someone earlier I only buy meat in the butchers.

Mo-Mo

also Lidl do a very good range of fruit and veg. With as much Irish produce as any Irish supermarket

sashasolar

Mo-Mo wrote:

also Lidl do a very good range of fruit and veg. With as much Irish produce as any Irish supermarket

BTW, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw ORGANIC vegatavles in Aldi last Sunday! The choice is limited to potatoes, carrots, oranges, babanas and apples, but it's a very good start! And you know what?! 6 organic apples are being sold for something like 2.49/EUR! Which is very-very competitive! The whole Christmas range is quite nice - you get two types of Champagne (I mean Champagne-Champagne!) - like 20 Euro a bottle.

I agree with one of the posters above: it makes perfect sense to shop in Aldi for most of the stuff and to buy the rest in butchers or other supermarkets.
Another thing is that I've noticed that Aldi's "Specially Selected" brand foods are extremely good.

Can't say same about Lidl though: shopped there once or twice and wasn't really impressed with the taste of their pizzas, sauces and sausages...

P.S. Believe or not - I don't work for Aldi, I am just a happy Aldi's customer that is tired of being ripped off!