Aldi or Lidl?

DublinWriter

Which do you prefer and why?

The_Conductor

Aldi- in my experience it has a better selection of fresh fruit and veg.

Oryx

This is a consumer issue?

Anyhoo. Theyre both the same. Cheap and not very cheerful.

Their cheap bread is awful.

CathyMoran

I prefer Lidl for their offers and their food, they do particularly nice tuna meals that I am addicted to.

dudara

Not a Consumer Issue per se, but I'm kind of stumped as to where to place it.

The_Conductor

dudara wrote: »

Not a Consumer Issue per se, but I'm kind of stumped as to where to place it.

Afterhours?

dudara

I'm happy for it to stay here right now, given the recent publicity surrounding Lidl and Aldi's prices when compared to the other supermarket chains.

Musha

Aldi IMHO are better than Lidl, I find that my family will eat most of their stuff compared with lidl, except Ham (they are just being fussy)
In comparision to the "major" supermarkets I can usually save €40(25%) on a weeks shop like for like:D

bagels

i'm very annoyed with lidl at the moment;
as far as i'm concerned, lidl are ripping off their republic of ireland customers on an ongoing basis, in the process subsidising their northern ireland shoppers;
proof???
check out their prices for the 21inch telly, £79.99 in the north and €129.99 in the south;
current exchange rates are approx £80 = €100, therefore we're being ripped off to the tune of €30, a massive 30%;
this is not a once-off happening with lidl;
i've been monitoring their prices for some months now and this day-light robbery seems to be the norm;
shoppers need to wise up to being taken advantage of;:mad:

jor el

bagels wrote: »

check out their prices for the 21inch telly, £79.99 in the north and €129.99 in the south;
current exchange rates are approx £80 = €100, therefore we're being ripped off to the tune of €30, a massive 30%;
this is not a once-off happening with lidl;
i've been monitoring their prices for some months now and this day-light robbery seems to be the norm;

You can't really compare the prices directly without comparing the costs involved. In NI, the minimum wage is 5.73GBP, about 7.30 euro. That's an 18% hike in the republic. If you apply this hike to the TV selling price, it comes to about 95GBP, or 121 euro. Most of the remaining difference can be accounted for in VAT difference. This is a very simple way of looking at it, and not terribly accurate, but costs are higher for businesses in the Republic. It's not just Lidl either, if you compare prices from any of the major chains to their UK counterpart, you'll see significant differences.

shoppers need to wise up to being taken advantage of;:mad:

Indeed, this applies to any purchase you make.

I use both Lidl and Aldi pretty much every week. The cooking aids, oil, spices, etc are a lot cheaper there than Tesco. I'd also buy cheese, eggs, milk, juice, crisps, biscuits, bread, fruit, veg, household products and some frozen food. I don't really like their fresh meat, often poor quality. I don't usually buy meat in Tesco either, better quality and price in the butchers.

calex71

I like different stuff from both places however they are a little out of the way for me so dont get there as often as id like.

I dont think id could do a full shop there , theres just some stuff i wouldnt put in someone elses mouth let alone mine

to be fair to tesco's they have had some good 2 for 1 deals in recent weeks
every time ive been in lately theyve had something on 2 for 1 i needed,
like tooth paste and brushes, cheese ..... however i really have noticed
the wallet feel the strain on food lately just yesterday i went in for bread, milk, shampoo and ham and there wasnt much change from €20

be great if there was a web site that would let you ender your item and check which supermarket was the cheapest for it on that day

snubbleste

be great if there was a web site that would let you ender your item and check which supermarket was the cheapest for it on that day

There was shoppingbill.com which compared the prices of major items every week and what the special offers were in those stores. They ran out of funds.

I dunno, Aldi and Lidl have been here 10 years now and have only cornered less than 10% of the market. I think Irish people are happy to pay higher prices.

Lizzykins

Aldi are better than Lidl I think. Cheeses, biscuits, even breakfast cereals are fantastic value. And their fruit and veg are top class too. I'm fed up of the rip off that's Tesco and Superquinn.

bagels

jor el wrote: »

You can't really compare the prices directly without comparing the costs involved. In NI, the minimum wage is 5.73GBP, about 7.30 euro. That's an 18% hike in the republic. If you apply this hike to the TV selling price, it comes to about 95GBP, or 121 euro. Most of the remaining difference can be accounted for in VAT difference.

thank you for pointing out the difference in costs;
i hadn't considered that factor;
however, having studied your calculations, i think you might have miscalculated;
you have applied an 18% pay difference directly onto the selling price of the item;
i reckon what you should have done was firstly discover what % of the price of the item comes from the wage cost;
then you can calculate 18% of that % and then apply it to the selling price;
the new selling price will not be £95, as you suggest, but instead be somewhere in the low to mid £80's;
when you apply the vat difference, the new selling price of the item should still be well below £90, resulting in a €20 euro rip-off;
please note that lidl's prices have remained the same, eventhough the € is gaining in value against sterling;
the saving is not being passed on the republic of ireland consumer;

foggy_lad

prefer lidl as always found aldi more impersonal, at least in lidl the staff will laugh when you throw the milk in on top of the eggs at the checkout.

and imo prices while they are creeping up everywhere (sliced ham used to be 17cent/slice but with a sly pack size change it now costs 22cent/slice) they are still better in lidl than in aldi

kerash

DublinWriter wrote: »

Which do you prefer and why?

Pay me for my valid opinions and i shall tell you;)

jor el

bagels wrote: »

you have applied an 18% pay difference directly onto the selling price of the item;
i reckon what you should have done was firstly discover what % of the price of the item comes from the wage cost;

True that, but wages are just one example of the costs difference. Overall, we may be getting robbed blind here (as with a lot of things) but I don't think it's clear cut as it first seems.

snubbleste wrote:

I think Irish people are happy to pay higher prices.

I also think there's an element of snobbery in it. I know of at least two people who would turn their nose up at anything Aldi or Lidl related, as it's 'beneath them'. I think the recent survey published by the consumer association might have made some dent in that opinion by showing just how much cheaper some items are.

mike65

Use Lidl all the time, but Aldi is across town so never tried it. Is there much difference? Esp regarding prices?

Mike.

jor el

Not a whole ton in the price, though Lidl did score a bit better in that recent survey. There are a few things you'll get in one that you can't find in the other, hence I use both. Worth a trip over if you can sometime, just to check for yourself.

Firetrap

Lidl is cheaper than Aldi. Personally, I like Aldi's foodstuffs more than Lidl's but I happily shop in both.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

have the differences between euro and sterling prices (e.g. like you see on the Dunnes Stores clothes labels) dropped as sterling has dropped?

I haven't been home since christmas, but my local tesco over here in the UK still has price tags saying the cost is £10 sterling or €15 euro.

axer

jor el wrote: »

True that, but wages are just one example of the costs difference. Overall, we may be getting robbed blind here (as with a lot of things) but I don't think it's clear cut as it first seems.

I have compared some of the specials between Germany and Ireland. I find that they are about the same price plus the recycling fund.

Run_to_da_hills

The pot calling the kettle black, both are horrible, cheap and tacky. The Ryanair of supermarkets.

FearDark

ALDI has nicer food imo, never got a frozen meal or confectionaries from there that I couldnt eat... Threw away a lot of LIDL stuff because it was just way too nasty.

On the other hand I bought all my biking gear from LIDL, ah cheapy stuff allright but did the job!

The_Conductor

Having randomly tried fresh foods from both- I'd be happy enough to buy any of Aldi's prepared foods, but would shy away from Lidls. Fresh fruit and veg- normally a better range in Aldi, but still good quality in both. Tinned goods- hit and miss, there is tosh in both, but you'd be more consistent with Aldi. Value- Lidl probably is cheaper- and has better weekly sales, but you'd wonder sometimes (if something seems too good to be true, it normally is). If something does break- I've always found Aldi to be very good at taking things back (haven't bought any electronics at Lidl).

ongarite

I do some shopping in Lidl aswell as the weekly special deals shopping.
From what I have tried and heard, they have excellent dark chocolate, pistachio nuts, orange juice, parma ham, frozen prawns, waffles and there excellent range of W5 cleaning products and laundry goods.

axer

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The Ryanair of supermarkets.

Nothing wrong with that. I dont think they claim to be Donnybrook Fair. They are both hit and miss but if you weed out the crap you can come out with shopping a lot cheaper with stuff that tastes fine.

Did anyone see the stupid Tesco advertisement in the papers targeted at Lidl's prices? They had about 8/10 items on a receipt showing prices compared to lidl. There was a total down the bottom showing tesco with something like 80c cheaper but the funny thing was that every price they showed bar one was the exact same price. Makes you wonder at the intelligence of some.

craichoe

bagels wrote: »

thank you for pointing out the difference in costs;
i hadn't considered that factor;
however, having studied your calculations, i think you might have miscalculated;
you have applied an 18% pay difference directly onto the selling price of the item;
i reckon what you should have done was firstly discover what % of the price of the item comes from the wage cost;
then you can calculate 18% of that % and then apply it to the selling price;
the new selling price will not be £95, as you suggest, but instead be somewhere in the low to mid £80's;
when you apply the vat difference, the new selling price of the item should still be well below £90, resulting in a €20 euro rip-off;
please note that lidl's prices have remained the same, eventhough the € is gaining in value against sterling;
the saving is not being passed on the republic of ireland consumer;

Aldi and Lidl price all their stuff in Euros first.

Every market in the EU has price differences, I'm in the Netherlands and theres price differences between Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France. Media Markt for example in Germany can be cheaper for certain goods than Media Markt in the Netherlands.

The Euro/Sterling argument is rubbish, the price of a product is based on the purchasing power of the local consumer.

If you really want to avail of the price in a local area, then go there and buy it, thats what i do anyway, especially for Belgian beer! Its only 2 hours to drive to Antwerp and load up in a superstore

Getting eyewear i travel to Germany, sometimes if im in Dusseldorf too i'll get electronics goods there as Media Markt have good deals on there, their a bit of a rip off for the same store in Den Haag.

Meh .. I don't see what your beef is, other than its Lidl. Dixons, Currys, Pc World, Irish Ferries, Stena Line, British Airways, KLM... they all have price discrepencies in different currencies.

jor el

FearDark wrote: »

Threw away a lot of LIDL stuff because it was just way too nasty.

I got some Microwave bunburgers from Lidl once, went straight from the microwave to the bin, horrible. Also their packets of ham look to be low quality, fatty ham. Can't stand fatty meat. I do like the rindless rashers they sell though, no fat on them at all, saves me cutting it off.

axer

jor el wrote: »

I got some Microwave bunburgers from Lidl once, went straight from the microwave to the bin, horrible.

Lol, Microwave bunburgers - doesnt matter where you would get them they are going to be crap.

jor el wrote: »

Also their packets of ham look to be low quality, fatty ham. Can't stand fatty meat.

A friend of mine is a manager in a lidl store and said that their premium packaged ham is supposed to be very nice.

MistyCheese

Aldi for most things. Lidl has a much wider variety of sweets and confectionary IMO. Some things out of Aldi I would prefer to "brand name" options such as the chicken nuggets and tomato ketchup. And not to mention the beef gravy, oh my deity!! I never really liked gravy that much until I tried the chicken grvy and I thought "This is actually really nice". Then I thought I might as well try the beef gravy and I nearly swooned.

I don't think either of them are great for the fresh foods though, fruit or veg. I wouldn't get potatoes out of them.

bagels

craichoe wrote: »

Aldi and Lidl price all their stuff in Euros first.

Every market in the EU has price differences, I'm in the Netherlands and theres price differences between Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France. Media Markt for example in Germany can be cheaper for certain goods than Media Markt in the Netherlands.

The Euro/Sterling argument is rubbish, the price of a product is based on the purchasing power of the local consumer.

If you really want to avail of the price in a local area, then go there and buy it, thats what i do anyway, especially for Belgian beer! Its only 2 hours to drive to Antwerp and load up in a superstore

Getting eyewear i travel to Germany, sometimes if im in Dusseldorf too i'll get electronics goods there as Media Markt have good deals on there, their a bit of a rip off for the same store in Den Haag.

Meh .. I don't see what your beef is, other than its Lidl. Dixons, Currys, Pc World, Irish Ferries, Stena Line, British Airways, KLM... they all have price discrepencies in different currencies.

aren't you the privileged one in a position to be able to conveniently shop in several jurisdictions in mainland europe?
i will refrain from describing your arguments as 'rubbish';
suffice for me to state that the price of a product is based upon many different economic factors, not just on the purchasing power of the local consumer;
the economic fact of life of purchasing power parity itself alone defeats your argument;
your inability to see 'what (my) beef is' may be due to your priviliged market location;
things aren't so rosy in the garden here in rip-off ireland.

MistyCheese

MistyCheese wrote: »

I don't think either of them are great for the fresh foods though, fruit or veg. I wouldn't get potatoes out of them.

Where do you get your fruit and veg?? They are by far superior to the rest of the supermarkets.

I don't eat readymade foods. So that might be why I haven't picked up on a difference.
But I prefer Lidl, because they have a better range of fruit and veg.

1966

Just another observation but Aldi Kitchen Towels on a par with and half the price of Bounty !!

MistyCheese

Moonbaby wrote: »

Where do you get your fruit and veg?? They are by far superior to the rest of the supermarkets.

We splash out and go to Dunnes. We got potatoes in Dunnes and they are absolutely lovely. Best served smothered in Aldi beef gravy.:D

dh0661

Moonbaby wrote: »

Where do you get your fruit and veg?? They are by far superior to the rest of the supermarkets.
I don't eat readymade foods. So that might be why I haven't picked up on a difference.
But I prefer Lidl, because they have a better range of fruit and veg.

I gave up buying fresh food (fruit & veg., meat and fish) from all supermarkets a while back. I got fed up of buying fruit on Saturday and finding it had gone off by Wednesday, of buying steaks that were so tough that you could not eat it, and fish that was just plain tasteless.
I now go to the supermarket, which ever one, for the general groceries, the greengrocer for fruit & veg., the butcher for meat and the fish shop for my fish.

Morgans

Wouldnt be a huge fan of the meat in lidl. Not awful but worth paying the money at a butchers. However, there are onion rings (crisps/snacks not frozen) that are made by Knights and are stocked in lidl. Best value in the shop to my mind and the best that I have tasted. Real craving value involved in Onion Rings. They also do a savoury packet of crisps that I tried once for a party as a backup to the regular snacks (prawn cocktail, smokey bacon, BBQ, and chicken) each of them was delicious. Again made by Knights and stocked at lidl. Great value both.

Their cereal bars are nice also.

mike65

+1 for the cereal bars and those caramel chocolate bars, smooth and rich.

Mike.

foggy_lad

Morgans wrote: »

Wouldnt be a huge fan of the meat in lidl. Not awful but worth paying the money at a butchers.

i always find fresh meat in lidl seems to be packed and displayed better than aldi! it is in closed fridges which to my mind is better than the open front fridges in aldi. also they only put out smaller quantities at a time so less chance of anything going off! and again very competively priced.

davej

Haven't been to Aldi much but have to say Lidl is very good. The perception that their fresh stuff like fruit and veg is inferior is complete rubbish. They stock a lot of organic produce, and compared with supervalu or tesco their stuff tastes better and is in better condition. As someone else mentioned, their selection of chocolate is very good as is their cheese. Wine is generally quite good for the price too. Don't eat ready meals too often but their lasagne is quite nice (though the frozen pizzas I've tried weren't great...) You also can't go wrong with their Hovis granary bread.

Because they are all about quality food at the cheapest price possilbe, you generally don't find them in the prime retail locations. This is probably why they haven't increased market share as much as you would imagine they should.

davej

MistyCheese

MistyCheese wrote: »

We splash out and go to Dunnes. We got potatoes in Dunnes and they are absolutely lovely. Best served smothered in Aldi beef gravy.:D

Most all of the fruit and veg in my local Dunnes were out of date the last time I went in.
I wouldn't buy the potato's in Lidl beause I look for different types at different times, but good potato's in Dunnes are a rip off. I buy them from a green grocer.

dh0661

dh0661 wrote: »

I gave up buying fresh food (fruit & veg., meat and fish) from all supermarkets a while back. I got fed up of buying fruit on Saturday and finding it had gone off by Wednesday, of buying steaks that were so tough that you could not eat it, and fish that was just plain tasteless.
I now go to the supermarket, which ever one, for the general groceries, the greengrocer for fruit & veg., the butcher for meat and the fish shop for my fish.

I think your 100% on the meat, but the fruit and veg isn't as fresh as Lidl in my local green grocer.
They don't warehouse their veg, the make money by selling lots fast and that is why there veg is superior to thother supermarkets.

Wertz

Firetrap wrote: »

Lidl is cheaper than Aldi. Personally, I like Aldi's foodstuffs more than Lidl's but I happily shop in both.

Have to agree here...for instance a week or two back I needed some car mats...both places had them on offer at roughly the same time.
I picked up the set in lidl on a thursday...€7.99
Was out in aldi the sunday after....exact same car mats (Auto XS brand)...€9.99

The lidl in question is closer to town centre, is newer and more parking...but I found that compared to the older aldi the prices were mostly lower.

Another one complaining about the bread in these places though, especially naans or crosiants and that type of thing; might be cheap but it tastes like sh*t...

Redpunto

The pasta tomato sauces in Lidl are lovely and half the price of the ones in Dunnes, so is the pesto sauces. ANd the strawberry jam is lovely with loads of fruit in it.