Yahoo Finance Aldi shopper exposes Woolworths 'wild' price differences
Aldi's massive 50 per cent price discount on popular chocolate brands has shocked Aussie shoppers.
Huge price discrepancies on some confectionary brands sold at supermarket giants Woolworths and Aldi have been exposed. Some items are being sold for half-price at the budget retailer.
One shopper revealed a 118g Mint Aero chocolate block costs $2.99 at Aldi, compared to $4.50 at Woolies — discounted from its a standard price of $6. Likewise, a 350g gift block of Toblerone was a whopping $16 at Woolworths compared to just $7.99 at Aldi.
Woolies was also charging $5.50 for a Pringles Original 134g, compared to $2.99 at Aldi. However, grocery costs tend to fluctuate with weekly specials and Woolworths has temporarily price-matched Aldi on the identical Toblerone and Pringles items.
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How Aldi can sell some items at much lower prices?
Professor Gary Mortimer, from the QUT Business School, told Yahoo Finance there was a bigger picture at play including “economies of scale” with Aldi buying for over 10,000 stores globally, compared to Woolworths and Coles which had 1400 and 800 supermarkets respectively across Australia.
“Imagine going to Mars or Masterfoods and asking for four pallets of inventory, or asking for 400 pallets,” he said. “Accordingly, the manufacturer is able to sell the product at a lower unit price. This is passed on through lower retail prices to customers.
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“Unless you have travelled extensively globally, you may not realise Aldi’s presence across Ireland, England, Europe and North America. There are about 600 stores in Australia and Aldi is still not in Tasmania or the Northern Territory, so there’s still a long way to go.
“The benefit is global buying power, there would be economy of scale at play.”
Mortimer said another factor could be opportunistic procurement, for example a miscalculation of demand when a manufacturer is left with an oversupply, leaving room for a retailer to swoop in and say, “We’ll take that, what’s your best price?”.
He said this was often seen at discount store The Reject Shop where, for instance, packets of British brand Tyrrell’s chips were spotted on sale for $1.99 or a laundry detergent for $2.99. “But once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Mortimer added.
Another tactic used by supermarkets includes having popular brands, such as Vegemite, custom-make "exclusive" products for their shelves – which could be smaller in size and slightly cheaper.
Grocery bills are a tense topic as we struggle through a cost of living crisis, but Woolies and Coles have both rejected price gouging claims. Even so, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission this year announced it will undertake a year-long inquiry into the alleged practice.
Aldi is not above criticism either. While often touted as a cheaper option, the German retailer has been accused of ‘shrinkflation’, a marketing strategy aimed at absorbing increasing costs while keeping prices the same by reducing the size of products.
Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at Finder, told Yahoo, "Aldi, compared to Woolworths and Coles, have a completely different model of marketing.
"Woolworths and Coles have thousands of different local and international products and dozens of different brands in each category – variety is huge. Aldi on the other hand has way more small lines. They have one or two brands of each product at a much lower price."
Comparing a grocery bundle at Coles, Woolworths and Aldi
Cooke said research by Finder found there was actually little difference on a basket of 50 like-for-like products when comparing the three leading supermarkets, At Aldi, the cost was $200, Woolies came out at $207 and Coles was the highest at $214.
While Aldi offered some popular brands, Cooke said most items had similar packaging and taste to market-leading products but may have a lower weight such as 250g instead of 300g for a reduced price.
The debate began after TikToker ‘Betty’ posted a video highlighting the discrepancies.
“If you live in Australia, we’re going to play a game of what the f**k,” she began. “So we’re starting off with Areo Mint chocolate bar going for $4.50 on special, usually $6 at Woolworths,” the TikToker began. “But, at Aldi - $2.99. Then we’ve got Pringles Original 134g at $5.50 at Woolworths. At Aldi, it’s $2.99.
“This last one p**sed me off. So, we’ve got the Toblerone 350 block of gift chocolate going for $16 at Woolworths. And at Aldi. $7.99 – half price.”
According to its website, Woolworths is now selling the same sized Toblerone on special for $8 – half the normal price – and Pringles are currently on offer for $2.75. Mint Aero blocks are back up to their original $6 price tag.
“I used to love grocery shopping and now it’s an anxiety attack,” one commenter wrote.
“This is wilddddd,” added another.
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