Food Prices are Rising faster at Aldi Stores
Is Aldi really the cheapest discount retailer out there? Consumers are certainly doubting this right now. An updated report released by grocery market data collection company Greenbook revealed that food prices are rising faster at Aldi stores than at other big box retailers this year, marking the second consecutive year the grocer reports the biggest price increases in the entire industry. In this video, we tracked which items are seeing the sharpest price hikes at Aldi – spoiler alert: some have experienced a 200% jump since the pandemic. On top of that, we also compiled several data, customer feedback, and expert analyses about which products shoppers typically think are cheaper at Aldi but, in reality, they are not.
According to Greenbook’s March analysis of grocery prices at 11 major US retailers released last week, Aldi has reported grocery price inflation of 26.7% in February, slightly up from the 23.4% recorded the same time a year ago, and about 9.6% higher than the average inflation rate seen at other retailers like Publix, Target, and Costco, which reported a 17.1% surge. That marks the second consecutive year that Aldi prices rose faster than the prices of its rivals over a 12-month period. U.S. consumers have been coping with sustained increases in their grocery bills since late 2021 which is having a big impact on their lives and the way they have been spending their money.
Aldi Brand products remain 19.7% higher than they were in 2019, the data showed. But name-brand items are still more expensive, rising on average by 21.6%, according to Greebook’s analysis of inflation on more than 25,000 food and drink productsMashed reports that some of the staples that registered the biggest spikes in price are cornflakes, mozzarella, brie, frozen strawberries, soda, oatmeal, fish sticks, protein bars, and energy drinks – all more than doubling in price at Aldi stores.
Consumers aren’t taking the latest price surges lying down. In recent weeks, Reddit has been in shambles over the 200% jump seen in Aldi egg prices. A post shows a photo of large grade-A eggs with a price of $3.69 per dozen. The top comment is that with the price of these eggs, one might as well pay the extra dollar and a quarter for the premium version. Some commenters even said organic eggs were currently priced the same as non-organic eggs near them. When Greenbook evaluated prices at the chain in March 2022, a dozen eggs at Aldi cost $1.10. That’s over a 200% increase in price over a little more than a year.
“Worryingly our tracker shows that some everyday essentials have more than doubled in price over the last year – with name brand items particularly hard hit,” the analysts noted. On Facebook, another loyal customer shared the story of a very frustrating shopping experience he had at Aldi. With a shopping car containing only 8 items, the shopper was incredibly shocked to see a grocery bill of $45. The consumer took to a local community group on the platform to ask “What’s happening to Aldi?” after the bill.
It seems like conditions are deteriorating for everyone in the grocery market at this point, and the biggest losers, unfortunately, will be average U.S. consumers. There is no single answer that explains why food prices are still reaching new records, but even so, we must start adjusting our budgets accordingly.
Credit to : Epic Economist