To think Aldi are shooting themselves in the foot?

[Shell4429]

Most people who shop at Aldi will be aware that a lot of the products have a non identical twin. For example, the sliced turkey I normally buy for my son comes with sliced chicken. The pots of joy desserts come with an alternative banana flavour. The problem is that one of the products is always more popular than the other one. In my local Aldi they are only currently selling the least popular of the two on some of their products. So I don’t buy it. I am pretty sure I am not alone. Which means, surely, that they’re losing sales?

Winds me up, but I'm sure they've done their research.

perhaps it's a stock issue?

Maybe they have excess stock of it and are trying to shift it by not having the other one? Or a supply issue maybe?

Yesss! And you have to search through the bloody boxes to see if what you want is there, therefore touching a hell of a lot more products than if they just sold them separate!!

We have noticed the boxes of product on Aldi's shelves are often missing one twin recently.
One box full of tomato and cheese pasta, next box full of gnocchi. Same with jars of antipasti, one tray all sun dried tomatoes, next box all peppers.
Due to lock down this is a major life concern and important topic of conversation.
Our conclusion is that factory processes have changed slightly, probably to be more efficient or allow for social distancing.

I agree, my local Aldi only sell the 0% fat Greek yoghurt. I like the 10% one but it hasn't been on the shelves for months.

First world problems I know but also slightly annoying.

I've also noticed that Aldi sells loose red pepper for 42p each, while the red and yellow peppers in pre packed bags are 49p each. Surely they missed a trick there?

Same with the herbal shower gels - I cant get the pink one or lime one, only the blue or dark green, both of which make me and dp itch

@Shell4429 - well Aldi managed Covid much better than any of the major ‘British’ supermarkets...
I am sure there is a perfectly good explanation for this ☺️

kittyhello my Aldi has had both!
I have noticed this with the pasta ready meals but not much else tbh! I have to say my Aldi has been good with stock and everything the whole way through.
I now fancy a chicken sandwich though haven’t had one for ages

I know what you mean. Those big yogurts (muller style) ones they sell...they always have so many strawberry ones and strawberry is boring. So I have to move them all to find a more exciting flavour (not great at the minute).

A lot of the time when that happens it's a stock issue, they do take note of which is the more popular items and change it if one variety doesn't sell. They ask us staff all the time which is the most popular and they know what isn't selling by our wastage reports. Hopefully your favourite flavour will be back before long, in the meantime you could always fire off an email or fill in the customer feedback to give your opinions on the particular variety selection? They do listen to feedback

I noticed this even before lockdown with that lovely cheese with crunchy bits in.

I can guarantee it will be a stock issue.

what happened to the artichokes in oil?, i have been missing them for ages from our local Aldi, usually a triplet with the sun-dried tomatoes and peppers

Well, yeah, sure ... but since each buyer is different in terms of what they want, it kinda evens out, right?

The thing about the peppers is because some colours are worth much less - if you sold green peppers loose, for example, they'd go for much less than red. But if you sell them as part of a bag, the whole bag can be sold for a price that looks good to people who only really wanted the red ones.

Same with the different cheeses.

Hobbit if you work there can you tell me, is there a national shortage of Maple and Pecan Crisp cereal? Every week my neighbours ask me to get it for them and it's never there - loads of flaming strawberry flavour though.

Same with the herbal shower gels - I cant get the pink one or lime one, only the blue or dark green, both of which make me and dp itch

And more importantly, dont match the bathroom colour scheme.

Well, it's my lucky day if big pots of honey yogurt are in stock. Who knows if it will be or not?!

The problem is, different flavours/varieties sell at different rates in different areas! So each area will feedback e.g. that a case shouldn't be 50:50 but rather 60:40, so head office change it and then another area says they prefer 50:50. It's a real problem for some lines. Or with the hair products, you assume that shampoo types and conditioner types will sell at the same rate but some people buy raspberry shampoo and coconut conditioner so it messes up the system! I used to be a buyer for Aldi and it's a pain in the neck even though you'd think it'd be simple.

Aldi do what is called 'mixed cases' - different varieties of a similar product in one box, because it saves delivery and store space and still offers variety, it's one of the operational ways they save money.

Often the product distribution in the case is split evenly when in shouldn't be, because one flavour etc is more popular.

In this case the area manager/store manager should submit a report to head office to let them know that the product distribution within the case is not correct.

But it varys massively in different areas of the country. It does sometimes get altered.

Always look behind the first case to see if there is an unopened case behind that will have the flavour/type of product that you want.

Eg - regular tonic, light tonic and ginger beer all come in one case, but regular is more popular so should not hold just 30% of the space in that case.

Hopefully that makes sense. I was an area manager in 2004.

Whats happened to Aldis cereal? We used to love the boxes of crisped rice. Nice flavour and a good texture. PLus the box was huge for the price .Whats not to like!
But now it seems all of the cereals are mornflake and the boxes are smaller and cost more. Plus the taste and texture are not right. They arent offensive granted but not nice enough for me to buy them.

We really like the Spinach Leek and Cheddar lattices in the frozen section but for weeks now there has just been a pile of the Curried Cauliflower version. I guess noone else near me likes them either.

I really can’t knock Aldi, great value, what we have bought has always tasted great and hasn’t broken the bank.

@drunkenflamingo2
Very useful to have that perspective. Thank you 😊