Effectively, Aldi has increased he average size of its customer basket to about 25 items, matching Coles and Woolworths. And to achieve the rise in turnover estimated, about twice the number of customers pass trough the checkouts as did a year ago. "Our New Year's resolution is to provide you with top quality products at the lowest possible prices!"
Since Aldi's prices have not risen in comparison to the competition,
some other factor must be involved. The increase in TV advertising is
the first clue. Not that this attracted the increase in customers, but
it did attract favourable attention by the media, eager for a share of
the advertising revenue.
Aldi had been doing a small amount of TV advertising during 2014, highlighted by its "surfing Santa" Christmas campaign. Its approach to the market had been seen as unique, and it tried a number of strategies that indicated its willingness to spend money. The turning point occurred when Choice published a survey that "proved" an Aldi shopping basket was as little as half the price of the equivalent basket from Coles or Woolworths. This was favourably reported by the media prior to the June holiday weekend, thanks to the advertising possibilities. It seemed to legitimize Aldi in the minds of the consumers, and in the long weekend that followed the report, Aldi customer numbers increased dramatically, kept on increasing, and most new customers made Aldi shopping a regular part of their shopping routine.
Coles had spent the previous four years engaged in a number of strategies to compete with Aldi and now other retailers joined the charge, effectively making Aldi the leader of grocery and variety merchandising.
A downside of the sudden shift in market leadership was that all players became confused, and so did the customers. Aldi recognized this by publicizing its 2016 New Year's resolution to maintain product quality while keeping prices as low as possible.
This year should see if Aldi can manage to achieve this.
Aldi had been doing a small amount of TV advertising during 2014, highlighted by its "surfing Santa" Christmas campaign. Its approach to the market had been seen as unique, and it tried a number of strategies that indicated its willingness to spend money. The turning point occurred when Choice published a survey that "proved" an Aldi shopping basket was as little as half the price of the equivalent basket from Coles or Woolworths. This was favourably reported by the media prior to the June holiday weekend, thanks to the advertising possibilities. It seemed to legitimize Aldi in the minds of the consumers, and in the long weekend that followed the report, Aldi customer numbers increased dramatically, kept on increasing, and most new customers made Aldi shopping a regular part of their shopping routine.
Coles had spent the previous four years engaged in a number of strategies to compete with Aldi and now other retailers joined the charge, effectively making Aldi the leader of grocery and variety merchandising.
A downside of the sudden shift in market leadership was that all players became confused, and so did the customers. Aldi recognized this by publicizing its 2016 New Year's resolution to maintain product quality while keeping prices as low as possible.
This year should see if Aldi can manage to achieve this.
"Our New Year's resolution is to provide you with top quality products at the lowest possible prices!"
