In the continuing stoush between the supermarket giants of Australia, it turns out savvy ALDI shoppers are more willing to buy home-brand products than at Coles and Woolworths, according to Roy Morgan.
While nearly half of Aussie shoppers fall over themselves in a quest for a bargain, 70 per cent of those shoppers will still generally stick to their favourite brands, said a new survey coming out of the research behemoth. Only 38 per cent buy the store’s own products.
Except with ALDI.
Some 63 per cent of ALDI regulars are partial to the German supermarket’s own brands, as opposed to other brands the store stocks.
The research found ALDI shoppers were much less likely to agree with statements relating to trusting well-known brands than the stores’ own and having favourite brands, than Woolies and Coles consumers.
“Over the last five years, the proportion of grocery buyers who say they buy more stores’-own products than well-known brands has remained static,” said Angela Smith, group account director at Roy Morgan. “Australians are not becoming more open to them: on the contrary, trust of well-known brands over stores’-own has grown slightly since 2010, as has the proportion of grocery buyers who tend to stick with their favourite brands for most things they buy.
“Grocery buyers who usually shop at ALDI are a striking exception, being keen bargain-hunters and prolific consumers of stores’-own products. A product’s brand or label is less likely to be a conscious factor in their purchasing decisions.”
It’s been a pretty consistent battle between the Aussie supermarkets. ALDI was named the top supermarket in Australia for a third time by Roy Morgan and has appeared to win the advertising war against the other two.
Woolies’ ‘Cheap Cheap’ creative offering was branded an “utter travesty” by industry professionals in February this year, while ALDI’s quirky, and sometimes bizarre, ads have received a pat on the back.
And in a bid to try and lure even more customers away from the two other supermarkets, ALDI is upping its fancy-ness, improving the ambience at the store in display and layout as well as increasing its gourmet range.
However, ALDI’s continuous rise to the top could pose an issue for agencies as the popularity increase could squeeze the margins of Coles and Woolies, affecting the ad spends.
Whatever the case, it seems the waging war is far from over.
