Are Lidl/Aldi putting family run shops out of business?

Bradidup

The German Supermarkets Aldi & Lidl have sprung up in almost every large town in the country. They have market specials every week to promote their products, i.e. fishing, cycling, hardware, motorcycle accessories, horse riding, pet shop, car accessories, computers etc at probably a fraction of the normal retail cost.

What is happening is that family run shops around the same towns cannot compete, is there anyone out there particularly those in the trade whose business has suffered or would agree?

mickoneill30

Bradidup wrote:

The German Supermarkets Aldi & Lidl have sprung up in almost every large town in the country. They market specials every week to promote their products, i.e. fishing, cycling, hardware, motorcycle accessories, horse riding, pet shop, car accessories, computers etc at probably a fraction of the normal retail cost.

I dunno. When they have those specials they're generally only there for a week or two. For example, they advertised big screen TVs a couple of weeks ago but if I want to buy one now I won't be able to buy it from a Lidl. I'll have to go to one of the alternatives (local shop, internet etc.). Also the brands usually aren't the same as those found in other shops.

Owen

Long may it continue. Just because something is 'family run' does not give it the right to charge double the price. I would have no issue supporting my local stores if they were marginally more expensive, as their convenience is undisputed, but when the difference on a weekly shop can come to 20 Euro, then it's time to bring your business elsewhere.

bradidup wrote:

hey market specials every week to promote their products, i.e. fishing, cycling, hardware, motorcycle accessories, horse riding, pet shop, car accessories, computers etc at probably a fraction of the normal retail cost.

These offers happen with very limited numbers of stock, and are merely carrots used to get customers in the door. In reality, they sell out quite quickly, and generally the quality of the 'specials' Aldi and Lidl do are no where near what something at 'normal retail cost' would be. That's a very poor argument!

The same point was made twenty years ago when we had chains like Quinnsworth, and Dunnes Stores - everyone harped on that it would be the end of the local retailer. Funnily enough, the shops that offered good service, and reasonable prices survived, and I'm sure the same will happen this time.

This is called Competition, and it's very welcome in my book.

Bradidup

ned78 wrote:

Long may it continue. This is called Competition, and it's very welcome in my book.

I am not even going to answer you.

daenis

ned78 wrote:

Long may it continue. Just because something is 'family run' does not give it the right to charge double the price. I would have no issue supporting my local stores if they were marginally more expensive, as their convenience is undisputed, but when the difference on a weekly shop can come to 20 Euro, then it's time to bring your business elsewhere.

A family run business do not charge extra to try and swindle people out of money. They work on lower margins than large retailers, or at best the same margin. The reason fot his is that the large retailers can buy their products much cheaper from manufacturers as they buy in large quanities. The power of retailers such as Aldi, Lidl and Tesco has become alarming. One exampl of this is the fact that either lidl/aldi was able to threaten kellogs that they would not sell their products if they didn't make the cereal for their 'own brand' label.

I am not in the grocery sector but my family do run a small business and we are in constant competition with large retailers. There is NO WAY we can compete on price with large retailers and recently the internet.

If people don't start supporting small family run businesses we will end up like the states - large retail chain after large retail chain. One way in which i have encouraged people to support small businesses is to buy from specialist stores. In other words I won't purchase flowers/books/magazines/whatever from a retailer. Instead i would rather buy them in a florist/bookshop/newsagent.

These are just my opinions but they are based on my own experience.

The_Conductor

Family run shops tend to sell fresh fruit and veg which has been grown in the area and most probably is in season- unlike that crap thats travelled half way across Europe and need to be irradiated to prolong its shelf life that you tend to find in the likes of the large multiples.

Price is not everything- quality has a price associated with it. We all survived on noodles and chips as students- that does not mean we will eat crap for the rest of our lives. Some of us are willing to pay a little extra for the fresh fruit and veg that family run shops tend to stock. I for one will be deeply unhappy if they are forced to close.

redspider

> Are Lidl/Aldi putting family run shops out of business?

Yes, they are, but not because they are 'mean', but because they can (usually) generate much better economies of scale and distribution that independent retailers cant compete with.

If a Retailer is using a symbol 'franchise', such as Spar, Supervalu, Mace (still exist?), Centra, etc, then they can compete better as the economy of scale is provided at the wholesale level, such as with Musgraves.

When you think about retail, think of it as a distibution method of getting the goods to the consumer - that's all it is, nothing more, nothing less.

Not only has Aldi/Lidl, and indeed Centra, (and the other symbols) as well as Dunnes, Tesco's, etc, swallowed 1000's of independent retailers, but you see such other trends in other areas of distibution(retail), such as Books (Easons), Petrol, etc.

Its a long-term trend where economy of scale and brands play an important mark in the decision-making process.

Long gone are the places where the sawdust was on the floor, where one half of the room was a pub and the other half was a 'shop', with half smoked pigs hanging form the roof, bikes and carts parked outside the door, and bottles of Arthur being pored. The world and the distibution methods continue to evolve.

Oh, and by the way, when you hear the Minister announe that B&Q or Halfords or whoever is creating 200 jobs, they aren't really. Its 'cannibalisation' as jobs at one end of the retail sector eats jobs form somewhere else in the economy. Indeed, its arguable that the percentage of jobs in retails/wholesale over the last 100 years has been in and around the same. Sdditionally, an efficient economy should have a reducing number of people involved in distibution/retail, as that part of the economy is not really creating anything, it is just getting product form point A to consumer B.


Just my thoughts ....


Redspider

rediguana

I think it's a misperception that the quality of Aldi-Lidl products is necessarily less than that of smaller retailers. I'm a complete snob but, after securing an interview with Aldi, I said I better visit one of the stores before the big day. The stuff seemed identical to that offered by Tesco-Dunnes. Bland but otherwise sound.

The retail market, generally, is becoming polarised. On the one hand, you have massive distributors such as those mentioned above who sell on price to customers who see only undifferentiated commodities.

A smaller, but equally important, market co-exists then where specialist producers and retailers cater to high-end consumers who are happy to pay a premium for whatever bells-and-whistles come with their purchases.

It's pointless blaming the supermarkets themselves. They only exist because of those who shop in them.