Supermarket Wars

D

Delphin

Suspended / Banned
Messages
492
Name
Mark
Edit My Images
No
Over many decades, we've seen supermarkets fight for market share and to be the cheapest, but never have we seen the fight to be the top wage payers.
After Lidl gave its workers their 5th pay rise in 2 years, Aldi now raised their starting pay for the second time in 2 months, to 13.02 pounds an hour "to maintain its position as sector leader."
 
Aldi & Lidl have certainly shaken up the UK supermarket sector. Not only do they pay staff better (they generally always have paid better) But have you seen how many supermarkets are now saying they price match Aldi as a sales pitch.

Aldi's marketing team are also very good, especial about taking the mick out of M & S.
 
The race to the bottom has meant that price is the denominator.

We are all poorer for it.
 
Pound Coin said:
The race to the bottom has meant that price is the denominator.

We are all poorer for it.
Click to expand...
Do get what you mean but in this case it isn’t as simple as that
Aldi and Lidl pay their staff well and have realised the importance of looking after people
Their food isn’t of poorer quality just different being continental (European)
 
I guess I must go see what these supermarkets have to offer. I've only been into an Aldi once, as generally their pitch seems to focus on price rather than quality, and as my buying decisions are driven by quality first and price comes much lower down the list of criteria, they are not selling it to me. Truth is, I tend to always buy meat from independent butchers, veg and fruit from greengrocers, and bread from bakeries, which only leaves cleaning products etc mainly, so any supermarket will do. But I do find the croissants in M&S here to be the best; however I'll try the A and L ones to see if they are better.
 
Approaching retirement we have started to use Lidl again more.

we have generally not noticed any decrease in quality compared to our usual Waitrose or M&S Saturday shops. Just a lot cheaper.
Waitrose last week about £180.
Lidl today about £110
 
lindsay said:
I guess I must go see what these supermarkets have to offer. I've only been into an Aldi once, as generally their pitch seems to focus on price rather than quality, and as my buying decisions are driven by quality first and price comes much lower down the list of criteria, they are not selling it to me. Truth is, I tend to always buy meat from independent butchers, veg and fruit from greengrocers, and bread from bakeries, which only leaves cleaning products etc mainly, so any supermarket will do. But I do find the croissants in M&S here to be the best; however I'll try the A and L ones to see if they are better.
Click to expand...

Things like veg are probably less perfect looking than the big supermarkets but usually tastier. The price differential is not as big as it used to be but still generally better than the big stores, you just have to get used to different brand names. Something I've found recently in Lidl is you quite often get white eggs again, I didn't think I'd find that such a novel idea lol.
 
Up until today, we have been doing our Saturday (weekly) shop at Sainsburys and Lidl, for quite different products. We use Sainsburys for meat, fish, milk, fresh pizza, eggs (Burford Browns), fresh fruit, tea. We use Lidl for some veg, cooked meats, cheese, pasta, tinned plum tomatoes, olive oil, butter, the odd treat from the bakery counter, beer and wine (I think Lidl has some exceptional value for money wines) we also like the Lidl themed weeks, where they showcase foods from different countries - Spain, Greece, Italy etc.
Today we went to Asda and Aldi on the way back from an MRI scan because it was convenient. We were shocked by the very empty shelves at the large Asda and the lack of choice, so the majority of our shopping was done in Aldi, where I am going to find out how good their wines are.
 
We buy Aldi's fresh meat, and I have to say in the last 10years we have never had a poor bit, unlike Tesco's.

Lidl are just about to put planning permission in here for a shop, at the moment all we have is a smallish Waitrose, Co-op, and Sainsbury's. It is proposed to be built on a derelict market garden in the centre of the town. I hope they get it as it will save us having to travel 7/8 miles to a decent shop.
 
Aldi is really ok. I never thought i would shop in them but, some products are great...
 
I have used Lidl for years , Must get 90% of what I need from them , The other 10% from Asda

Our local Aldi has had a massive re build , They gutted the store and rebuilt with everything new .
The store was closed for 6 weeks when doing the rebuild.
Will pay them a visit soon to see how much it has changed.
 
Aldi do a decent low(ish) carb seeded bread, the next store that has similar is Asda.
 
aldis meats and cheeses are good,does some really good steaks, fresh food is just the same, i mean a cabbage is a cabbage is a cabbage etc i cant tell the differnce between them and M&S salad/ fruit/veg, i find its things like it mayonaises, ketchups etc that are not to my taste ( for the record M&S tomato ketchup is by far the best, knocks the spots off heinzes version) but saying that their salad dressings are lovely
 
I've been using Aldi for over 30 years. (Since one very first opened locally), never had an issue with anything I've bought there from food to computers (pretty sure they dropped the MEDION brand of theirs years ago)
Over the last couple of years started to shop at Lidl more. Just waiting for the Lidl store they applied planning permission for to be built in our village .
 
Humphrey said:
We buy Aldi's fresh meat, and I have to say in the last 10years we have never had a poor bit, unlike Tesco's.

Lidl are just about to put planning permission in here for a shop, at the moment all we have is a smallish Waitrose, Co-op, and Sainsbury's. It is proposed to be built on a derelict market garden in the centre of the town. I hope they get it as it will save us having to travel 7/8 miles to a decent shop.
Click to expand...


A couple of months ago, we went to Aldi and spotted something a bit different - Wagyu fillet steak, so at £9.99 (I think) we gave it a go and I am glad we did, because they were the best steaks I have had in years. Sadly, I haven't seen them since on the rare visits to Aldi.
 
andya700 said:
A couple of months ago, we went to Aldi and spotted something a bit different - Wagyu fillet steak, so at £9.99 (I think) we gave it a go and I am glad we did, because they were the best steaks I have had in years. Sadly, I haven't seen them since on the rare visits to Aldi.
Click to expand...
They will be a special, you have to keep an eye on the website for the next time they come back.
 
Steep said:
They will be a special, you have to keep an eye on the website for the next time they come back.
Click to expand...

Cheers, just added it to my bookmarks. There are a few things which I think Aldi do really well, two curries in particular, their Specially Selected butter chicken and chicken jalfrezi for two @ £3.99, great flavours. They sometimes do some really good Cotes du Rhone red wines, the cru villages like Plan de Dieu or Rasteau for well under a tenner.
 
Noticed on a couple of the supermarket tv ads aldi/lidl show a cheaper basket of similar goods, but expensive basket from from big name shop has recognised name goods where as cheaper basket contains non brand goods, ok some may be acceptable but wife has found buying cheaper stuff can mean a big drop in quality, you pays your money an makes your choice.
 
LCPete said:
Do get what you mean but in this case it isn’t as simple as that
Aldi and Lidl pay their staff well and have realised the importance of looking after people
Their food isn’t of poorer quality just different being continental (European)
Click to expand...
Disagree - Meant and veg in Waitrose / M&S is much better, no different to Tesco though
 
cambsno said:
Disagree - Meant and veg in Waitrose / M&S is much better, no different to Tesco though
Click to expand...
Maybe meat and veg is better at Waitrose and M & S, but then Aldi aren't really competing with them apart from maybe the Colin an Cuthbert cake war.
 
I often laugh when it's said one brand is better than another, then recall when the pizza maker in Ireland had an issue and virtually every supermarket brand had a recall.

Used to know a bloke who worked at Park Cakes, who produce cakes for many different brands, he said that it was a different recipe for M&S, they put one extra teaspoon of sugar in the huge vats used for mixing, and technically that means it is different a recipe .

My father was involved in canoe/kayak equipment sales, one of the clothing manufacturer used many homeworkers for the sewing (this is back in the 80s) each worker had several boxes of different label for various companies in the UK and Germany, they just randomly sew a label in to each article of clothing being made.


Yes you can say there is a different in the fresh food, but I'm a firm believer that many tinned and pre-made food is all the same with just a different label.
 
andya700 said:
Cheers, just added it to my bookmarks. There are a few things which I think Aldi do really well, two curries in particular, their Specially Selected butter chicken and chicken jalfrezi for two @ £3.99, great flavours. They sometimes do some really good Cotes du Rhone red wines, the cru villages like Plan de Dieu or Rasteau for well under a tenner.
Click to expand...
Someone on here recommended Lidl's own brand mini ice cream Galatelli.. when I was moaning about the way Magnum took one ice cream on a stick out of the box of four and put up the price. £3.50 for three now..white or milk/dark chocolate. So..I tried Lidl. They are better. They taste creamier. It's called Bon Gelati...We also buy a box of mixed ice creams on a stick. There's one I don't like but I can't recall the type. More like an ice cream lolly. The fruit and veg is ,imo and my wife's, too..fresher, better quality, too. We shop there quite often now.

Amazing value.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/gelatelli-ice-cream-sticks/p10030141

I founds the full range. The one like the Magnum is Bon Gleti 4th down second row. https://www.lidl.co.uk/c/summer-ice-cream/a10024227
 
Last edited:
cambsno said:
Disagree - Meant and veg in Waitrose / M&S is much better, no different to Tesco though
Click to expand...

As long as you are happy to pay the premium then all is well.
 
Waitrose fresh meat is very good, their bakery is poor though.
Lidl Bratwurst and Bochwurst are comparable to some of the best I've had in Germany.
We hate shopping so the bulk of ours comes via Ocado, fiver a month for midweek deliveries.
They have by far the the best beer selection, Chimay Red and White eight quid for three.
Bitburger ans Peroni Red in bottles, none of that exotic Spanish sounding muck brewed in Luton
 
JohnC6 said:
Someone on here recommended Lidl's own brand mini ice cream Galatelli.. when I was moaning about the way Magnum took one ice cream on a stick out of the box of four and put up the price. £3.50 for three now..white or milk/dark chocolate. So..I tried Lidl. They are better. They taste creamier. It's called Bon Gelati...We also buy a box of mixed ice creams on a stick. There's one I don't like but I can't recall the type. More like an ice cream lolly. The fruit and veg is ,imo and my wife's, too..fresher, better quality, too. We shop there quite often now.

Amazing value.

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/gelatelli-ice-cream-sticks/p10030141

I founds the full range. The one like the Magnum is Bon Gleti 4th down second row. https://www.lidl.co.uk/c/summer-ice-cream/a10024227
Click to expand...

Yes, I really like the BonGelati almond, VGVFM. I like the Lidl tenderstem brocolli and fine green beans. I made some bread yesterday (4 baguettes) and while they were still warm, I cut a bit and put some Lidl West Country spreadable butter. I almost thought I was back in France (I have got a very creative imagination though).
 
andya700 said:
Yes, I really like the BonGelati almond, VGVFM. I like the Lidl tenderstem brocolli and fine green beans. I made some bread yesterday (4 baguettes) and while they were still warm, I cut a bit and put some Lidl West Country spreadable butter. I almost thought I was back in France (I have got a very creative imagination though).
Click to expand...
They sell Welsh butter which is really good...and cheaper than other well known brands.

If you scroll down you'll see a list of supermarkets with Lidl and Aldi at the top for 79 own-label and branded goods for last month.

 
Last edited:
Nearly war in supermarket today, wife has sore knee so I drove her there, freezer shop, I pushed the trolley while she dropped goods in it, except she checked every freezer cabinet in the place! I asked are we having vegan food, slimming world meals, etc, no she says but, at this point I told her to hurry up or she’d be carrying the shopping home cause I would be gone home, then the fight started :ROFLMAO:. Not doing this again, I’ll just go myself with a list, no looking at stuff we don’t need or won’t buy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top