Aldi - Are specials all that special?

25 January 2017

A decent Christmas on the face of it for Aldi and their figures on Kantar rang true that they performed 'ok', however there are a few seasonal lines still left around the stores, even into late January.

The non-food element continues to frustrate in Aldi, versus Lidl who seem very controlled and exit each event with barely clearance left over.

Stock levels in Aldi feel high, and they don't disappoint customers when events land anymore, there is always enough stock to go around.

However there have been signs that the non food levels have been too high for a while, pre Christmas certainly. The 'LaCura' range of Health/Beauty cosmetic creams are popular and were sold out within the hour when they were dropped in on specials day.

Loved by the Daily Mail, customers flocked to the store to purchase the anti ageing miracle cream - however the 'Lacura' advent calendar was still around stores, even into December whereas it would usually sell through.

Why? Well, the advent calendar itself wasn't as well designed or merchandised in store (needed to be on a shipper really) and the Creams are now permanent fixtures over in Health/Beauty.

Certainly takes the special out of special buys....

Alarm bells with their previously popular lines aside, a store visit yesterday yielded issues with core lines from former events centred around household and cleaning.

Store level reduced boxes of laundry powder and mops do show an issue and concern that the events package at Aldi does need to slow down a bit.

The move online for Aldi non food has potentially contributed to this, alongside the wider competitive forces in the market bringing prices down in the main - especially on brands.

Thirdly, Aldi have perhaps overcooked their own offer by offering lines either too often, or indeed interspersing them into the core range - thus losing the ''surprise" / special buy aspect.

Online sees lines featured that are in the core range, albeit featured for the relevant event. So Nappies being in the core range are available for sale online given its baby event time.

Overload?

Definitely. Also noted for sale online were Christmas Crackers, just with £3 off. On the 24th January.

Whilst the core Christmas ranges have all but disappeared in store (clearance levels were better this year), the 'hero' product - a frozen Croquembouche remains in high supply here, at £4.99 too.
I felt this was a great line for them to feature, but clearly markdown needs to be considered. Given discounters limited space and rapid range turnover, they cannot afford to be hoarding stock in this way.

Also should you want a 'Ho, Ho, Ho' sign for next Christmas, it's available. Consider that these decorational lines should be cleared before Christmas itself - they should never be still available into late January.

As we can see above, lots of clearance about from various events from 2016; Christmas based toys remained within the clearance area with numerous Star Wars lines brought in for the launch of the movie in December.

I would have expected these to shift; however this is a nod to the larger outlets performing better at Christmas, these lines will be easily picked up at Tesco et al for stocking fillers / gifting.

Aldi have diversified into other events within their space; health was partly attempted in January, alongside the shelving space taken over for various food based events, like Easter.

Interestingly, Aldi had dropped in branded Cereals as part of their new year mix and these were well priced - with the larger pack size the focus here.

A nod towards Lidl perhaps, who are resuming their XXL 'events' focusing on larger packs > better value over the weekends.

With Aldi continuing to push hard on specials and within that, their event package, they're not immune to the pressure of the weakened (£) for importing and how that translates into EUR as/when they then convert their sales for their parent company - assuming that's how their structure works.

Specials have been a bit of a headache for them for a while now, levels are high and the addition of online perhaps doesn't help matters either.

It's not that the products are irrelevant or poor quality necessarily, it's just that perhaps the cycles and events need slowing down and more of a measured approach is called for.

Otherwise the stock will continue to build and build, especially with Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter well on their way too...

With record growth and sales, should they still have Ho,Ho,Ho Christmas signs in stores? Of course not.

From the Grocery Insight newsletter archive, first sent to subscribers on 25 January 2017. Steve now writes at read.groceryinsight.com. See also the blog archive and briefings.