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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Moominoid who wrote (39048)	8/31/2008 4:37:02 AM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 217865

Aldi sales soar as rivals feel the pinch By James Hall (these guys should also check out LIDL en.wikipedia.org lidl.co.uk I also think the percentage increase in sales quoted also just reflects increases in prices at Tesco, Asda etc.) telegraph.co.uk Sales at Aldi, the German supermarket chain, rose by 44 per cent over the month of July as cash-strapped shoppers flocked to the discount retailer. The chain, which has 377 stores in Britain, has seen a huge surge in popularity as consumers' budgets have been increasingly stretched by rising household bills. Over the year to date sales at Aldi have risen by 25 per cent. But the rise over July underlines just how much tighter household budgets have become over the summer. The strong performance outstrips all other growth metrics in the food retail sector many times over. For example, over its last financial year Tesco, the market leader, saw UK sales rise by 6.7 per cent. Over the three months to August the grocery market as a whole grew by 7.2 per cent, while during the year Aldi opened 8 per cent more space. "We had a gradual a rise in sales over the last four years but this spike is due to a tightening of the economy," said Paul Foley, the UK managing director of Aldi. UK shoppers have become increasingly bargain-conscious. Asda, the US-owned supermarket, recently estimated that the average family is £14 a week worse off than this time last year. More on retail The German-owned chain has been taking market share from rivals across the board, albeit from a low base. Over the 12 weeks to August 10, Aldi grew its market share by 20 per cent, according to market researchers TNS. Foley said that the chain is seeing particularly strong growth from ABC1 shoppers, middle-class customers who would normally shop at Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. New research seen by The Sunday Telegraph shows that the average age of a discount shopper is 49, while 60 per cent of shoppers have no children. Visit frequency is twice a week on average, which is as often as visits to the non-discounters. Shoppers claim they now buy almost half of their weekly groceries from the discounters. Aldi, which opened its first UK store in 1990, has thrived due to its low prices and the limited range of goods that it sells. The retailer, which operates from no-frills stores, only stocks 1,100 product lines as opposed to 40,000 in a typical UK supermarket. For example Aldi will only stock one brand of butter or bacon where rivals will stock over a dozen. This approach allows it to keep its overheads down. Aldi is part of the huge German group founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1948. The brothers called their company Albrecht Discount,