The deal with Coupons

There is a lot of snobbery that can go along with coupons, and more specifically the people who use (or dont!) them. This may be a national thing, it seems in the USA that almost everyone uses them! In the UK however there can be a bit of shame attached to using them.

The reason companies put coupons into general circulation is that they want consumers to try their product at a reduced price to get them to like the product, then the consumer will buy the product again (and hopefully continuously) at full price.

I don't look at it as being "cheap" or even frugal, its about shopping smartly, with your brain instead of going on the pressure of society or even the subliminal messages that shops and companies send to you to make you purchase things a certain way (the way products are laid out in shops, the temperature being altered to promote spending etc). If you use coupons smartly (using them instead of your normal brand of product) they can save you A LOT of money!

The lesson here is spend smartly (as always!) and don't be snobby about it.

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.