The Aldi Effect

Today I want to talk about a social trend which has been happening since the "big crash of '08", I call it:

The Aldi Effect

Since the financial crash of 2008, consumers attitudes towards money and shopping have changed, before 2008 the general public (lets say working class) went to supermarkets like Tesco and Asda (Wal-Mart), the middle and upper classes went to Sainsburys and Marks and Spencers. Now EVERYONES purse strings are tighter, and partially thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign by Aldi, there are many more people going to Aldi, which is great!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCKgCkubGc0

I think its brilliant that more people are going to budget supermarkets like Aldi, as it allows Aldi to expand their product range, increase the quality of their products (which I personally think is mostly great) and generally improve their stores.

It would of course be a massive generalisation to say that everyone is going to Aldi now, but can you honestly imagine there being commercials for Aldi on television 10 years ago? No. Because 10 years ago it was a very niche supermarket with a loyal but small base of customers. Since the financial crash, they spotted a great opportunity to appeal to families who no longer had the use of credit, or a well paying job, or a job at all!! And to their great credit, they are still a whopping 40% cheaper than the other supermarkets, while everything about their stores has improved!

I just hope that after the "great recession" is truely over, the Aldi effect stays, because consumers generally are more savvy about their money now, and if they had been 10 years ago, maybe the economy wouldn't be in the mess it is in now.

Count your blessings (Financially and otherwise)

Ok, its a massive cliche, but if you have a job (I realise not everyone reading this will do) then you really have to be thankful, and count your blessings that you have a job, money rolling in (even if the money could be better).

In these times of lets say- "Financial Austerity" or "The second great depression" as I like to call it, you have to count yourself fortunate (I hate the word lucky, it implies no hard work on your part, so I dont use it) if you are in a decent position. Sure you might wish the money was a bit better, or the work a bit easier, or the people you work with a bit more "your type of people" but when you take a step back, the fact that in this day in age, you have a job and money coming in, YOU ARE VERY FORTUNATE.

I once heard a quote which went "Work like there are 500 people waiting to take your job from you" because in all seriousness, right now:

There are more people waiting to take your job from you.

This is a powerful idea, and if you harness that energy then who knows? You could get a step up in your wages, maybe even a promotion! Although everyone knows that there is not a lot of room for promotion right now, but when the economy changes, and things *hopefully* go back to the way they were before, except this time *hopefully* the public will realise that getting yourself into debt, and taking on car loans for that car that "you just had to have, even though the car payments make it so that you are paying an extra £6000 for a vehicle which will be worth £200 by the time you ACTUALLY own it" your hard work will be noticed and you will advance.

If the general public learns anything from "the second great depression" its that snobbery and keeping up with the joneses has no place in a functioning society.