Aldi shoppers can save £22 a week

By IAN FLETCHER
Published on 08/10/2012 01:04

cash-strapped shoppers can make a hefty saving of more than £22 a week by switching to an increasingly popular 
discount chain.

According to a survey carried out by trade magazine the Grocer swapping from the UK’s supermarket giants to budget store Aldi can slash the cost of a weekly shop by almost 40 per cent.

The bill at Aldi for a trolley of 33 items including fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, bread, milk, wine, cheese, snacks, shampoo and cleaning products came to £34.92. A similar basket at the top five averaged £57.50 – 
39.3 per cent more than at Aldi.

However, as the supermarkets offered more branded items and a wider variety of produce, the Grocer carried out a second shop to provide a purely own-label comparison.

Where available, the magazine researchers used the basic ranges available at the supermarkets – but that basket also saw Aldi come out on top, at £30.66, swiftly followed by Lidl at £33.19.

Overall, Aldi was 16 per cent cheaper than Asda, 20 per cent cheaper than Tesco and 40 per cent cheaper than Waitrose.

Joint group managing director of Aldi, Matthew Barnes, said: “I’m not hugely surprised as we are familiar with this sort of result. We have intense sampling sessions twice a week to get our own-label products to where the brands are in terms of taste and performance.”

His colleague joint group managing director Roman Heini said Aldi was a growing threat to bigger rivals adding: “Aldi has changed, and a lot of customers have realised this.”