REVEALED: How Aldi has saved its shoppers $2.2BILLION a year – and made groceries cheaper at Coles and Woolworths too

STEPHEN JOHNSON
6 May 2019
DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

The German supermarket giant is saving Australian customers $2.2billion a year
Aldi commissioned advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to compile a report
Australia’s third biggest grocery seller added $23billion to economy since 2001

Aldi is saving Australian shoppers $2.2billion every year by selling groceries for less than its Australian rivals Coles and Woolworths, a report found.

The German supermarket giant commissioned business advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to calculate how much it was saving customers.

It found Aldi, now Australia’s third most popular grocery retailer, had saved Australian shoppers $2.2billion in 2018, as inflation remained at unusually low levels.

Aldi Australia chief executive Tom Daunt said he was surprised at the extent to which Aldi was having on keeping prices low.

‘We’ve always known that we’ve had a positive impact, definitely saving our own customers money,’ he told ABC Radio’s AM program last week.

‘But we didn’t know the quantum.’

Aldi has also reduced prices by encouraging competition, with customers at other supermarkets saving $450million, the report said.

Aldi has also reduced prices by encouraging competition, with customers at other supermarkets saving $450million, the report said (pictured are Woolworths and Coles stores)

Since opening in Australia in 2001, Aldi had contributed $23billion to the Australian economy.

In 2018, Aldi was Australia’s third biggest supermarket chain with an 11.4 per cent market share, behind Woolworths on 34 per cent and Coles, which had 27.6 per cent, Roy Morgan research showed.

The heightened competition among grocery retailers has kept a lid on inflation, with the consumer price index growing by just 1.3 per cent in the year to the end of March – a level well below the Reserve Bank of Australia’s two to three per cent target.

Last week, a cash-strapped mother compared the prices of Australia’s three biggest retailers and found Aldi to be the cheapest.

Celia’s shopping bill added up to $64.76 at Aldi, compared with $68.70 at Coles and $70.13 at Woolworths.

She bought staple items ranging from breakfast cereal to beef mince and toilet paper.