ALDI Named Supermarket of the Year….but is it?

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Despite being named Supermarket of the Year, ALDI is failing miserably in the e-commerce landscape.

ALDI has been named Canstar Blue’s Supermarket of the Year 2012 for overall customer satisfaction. Yet, the retailer has little to offer in the online world.

The award came off the back of a survey of 2,500 Australian consumers, measuring customer satisfaction levels. ALDI received 5-star ratings for overall customer satisfaction, value for money and product quality.

The grocery store chain has a website that merely lists the product offerings with no buying capabilities. It’s a cruel temptation to consumers who want to be able to purchase seamlessly and conveniently online.

The website does however include helpful product descriptions and plenty of non-product content relating to the company and its services. There is also a store locator and opening hours page, yet simple purchase options are not available.

There is an option to create a shopping list and add products which seems fairly pointless to me. What would be more beneficial is a simple ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Purchase’ option.

ALDI seems to have grasped some elements of digital e-commerce, sending out a weekly e-newsletter, and even offering interactive games and a free smartphone app that allows users to:

• View weekly special buys
• Create special buys shopping lists, and
• Locate the nearest store

While ALDI markets itself as a discount supermarket chain, it needs to lift its game when arch rivals Coles and Woolworths are leading the way with their innovative online initiatives. Both Coles and Woolworths recently launched click-and-collect offerings in an effort to provide more convenient services to customers, and Woolworths was also crowned Best Multi-channel Retailer and Best Online Retail Marketing Initiative at this year’s Online Retail Industry Awards.

Pureplay grocery retailers Supermarket Deals and Grocery Run are also proving that there’s much to be gained from online supermarket retailing in Australia. Neilsen reported last year that the US online grocery market would double by 2014, with heightened activity in the local market suggesting Australia will follow suit.

4 Comments

• • 
  • Mark
  • 22nd August

  “A simple ‘Buy Now’” is all we need to add! For all these years all those pesky ecommerce vendors, logistics companies, delivery companies, etc (eg the bulk of your advertisers) have been wasting our time. All we needed was 5 minutes in photoshop to create a Buy Now button. How silly of us!

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  • Jessica Benton
  • 22nd August

  Thanks Mark, I understand it’s much, much more complicated than that and apologies if it came across otherwise. My point is that I struggle with ALDI winning a Best Supermarket award without also offering customers an online store, when Woolworths, Coles and even a number of pureplays are able to.

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  • camilo
  • 22nd August

  I don’t think their aim is to sell online. They’ve been extremely successful in Germany for years and if you look at their site there (http://www.aldi-sued.de ) still no online options to buy. The list is useful for regular customers to collect the items they want to purchase when they visit the store. Their largest competitor http://www.lidl.de however does offer the buy online option and I’m sure ALDI would have change their game if it was a concern to them.

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  • bill
  • 9th December

  Perhaps the message here is to get off ya bum and go to the shop yourself. Also know as a form of exercise.Shock horror..! Who wants pay delivery anyway. They offer a huge saving over the competition, more than enough to pay for petrol etc.

  Come to think of it, keep running them down…makes for a pleasant place to shop in, save money, and avoid idiots like you who are paid by the big supermarkets anyway to run the competition down.

  Reply