It is hard to put Aldi stores into a category. Whilst they are predominantly a grocery chain, they do also sell a wide range of non grocery items.
It is also hard to determine if they are low quality, medium quality or high quality. I have always placed them in the medium to good quality range – however recent purchases leave me wondering.
Aldi Stores are a European setup that have established themselves in Australia with a wide network of stores. Their products in the main have been good – some products very good. Apart from a narrow range of grocery items, they have weekly sales items which are only stocked until sold out. These items range from televisions to computers to dishwashers amongst other big ticket items to smaller items like clothing, toys, electrical goods and million and one other items.
I recently purchased one of their electric kettles – one which is along the lines of the old fashioned kettles. It works well – in fact it actually boils water, it doesn’t switch itself off at the first sign of steam.
Unfortunately, for a kettle that isn’t exactly cheap; looks and works well; it has a simple design fault that makes it almost
unusable and decidedly dangerous. The kettle is built using a tiny little screw to hold the handle in place – two screws actually, one at the spout and one opposite where traditional handles sit. Within weeks one screw works itself loose and, like most things in life, if they are going to break they will do it when you least expect it – like pouring boiling water into a cup.
I was fortunate – I felt it giving way and stopped before wearing the contents. I wonder how long it will be before someone does wear a pot full of boiling water.
This is not the first product. We recently purchased a salt and pepper mill. Again – they look great and the price was okay – not dirt cheap but not expensive. They only problem is – there were no instructions on how to open the darn things to put the salt and pepper in – I still haven’t worked that one out!
Simple issues like these will eventually turn people away from products. Trust is an important issue so if you cannot trust a business to provide value for money – they will shop elsewhere. For a supermarket chain that is still trying to establish itself in the Australian market, I am surprised they have allowed these products through their quality inspections – if that is, they have a quality inspection team to start with. I wonder – is Aldi now sacrificing quality for profits? Long term they may be sacrificing profits by losing reputation.
Always such an interesting read, never a dull moment.
I find Aldi (UK) a little hit and miss… sometimes where they do have the unusual and cheaper products, yet I find myself swinging by another supermarket to fill in th gaps, like fruit and veg (not so great from Aldi) and ‘normal’ type products…
And what is with the rare products they have for a limited time only… my brother bought a bargainous wet-vac for his valeting business!!
Yes, the kettle is a little on the dangerous side and we do have to keep the screwdriver handy, but it works and is attractive and was much needed at the time. I notice you mentioned nothing about the upright vacuum we bought, the one that had the rotary brush with the motor that blew up within 2 months- yet, a few modifications and it is still good for getting inground dirt out of carpets. You also failed to mention about our laptops (3 of them) which have been well worth their money and we have had no issues with (aside from having to find our way around them). There are great, ok and yeah wasn’t worth it products at Aldi, and I know we will keep checking their products out. Like everything in life, you have to take a chance and hope that the end result meets basic expectations. I still stand by their nappies, which provide better leakage control than the most expensive brands out there.
Aldi do have some great products like their nappies. It is interesting because the products they keep every week tend to be better than the one off products. Stands to reason. You want to keep at least your regular customers happy – they are the ones that come back week to week. I still have some doubts about their one off products though!
We have Aldi here in the US too and their products are generally of medium quality compared to other stores here. They are definitely a cheaper option than other grocery stores but the products are usually inferior in quality. I tend not to shop there often.
In the Aldi products are quite satisfactory and they are not expensive in compared to other shops. These products buy a large number of people and they demanding know where buy.
The simplest way to spend less on grocery without sacrificing quality; that is, no one inyour family should notice that you are “saving” money on grocery
We don’t have ALDI in the country where I am in right now. But I agree with Helen, all their products are good and inexpensive compared to others.
My grandma who used to live in the US says she really saved a lot of money by buying products from ALDI.
There are a lot of Aldi stores in this area and they are fairly popular due to their low prices and decent quality of merchandise. Still, I don’t really shop there because there is not a close enough location to where I live.