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.