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I vastly prefer Aldi over Walmart. I won't even go into Walmart anyhow but the few times my mom brings stuff in from Walmart, it's just not good. Canned pineapple, or I think it was crackers. Simple things and yet it was crappy.
I don't like their store brand at all. I have much better luck with Aldi with most items.
Walmart groceries differ from store to store. Grocery department is at the mercy of it's manager. If it's in an upscale area, facing stiff competition, and the manager actually gives a poop, they have some good / decent choices. More often they don't.
Aldi is a European chain and AFAIK they are more food quality conscious in Europe overall. Although some of Aldi's pre-packaged dinners are questionable. But overall I think it's a better store. The choice isn't great though.
From 1997 to 2006 they also operated about 100 stores in Germany. Before my first visit I was quite excited, but that turned rather quickly in disillusion. They maked so many mistakes here in Germany. After an estimated loss of about €3bn they left the German market.
They had 2 different lines of store brands: Smart Price and Great Value. It's common for all grocery chains in Germany to offer the entry price level products for the exact same price than the prices that can be found at Aldi. The Smart Price or Great Value range products from Walmart were no exception of this rule, but the quality of Walmart store brand products seem to be worse. Once I bought a role with 75 freezer bags from the Great Value range. Exact same quantity, size and price than at all other grocery chains. But the quality I have never seen such flimsy freezer bags. Down to the present day, when I hear the name Walmart I immediatly think at my encounter with those flimsy freezer bags.
Once a year, they have these stackable boxes at Aldi:
Back then they cost €2.99 (astonishing that they are cheaper today, then they were about 10 years ago). Back then I bougth 2 of those boxes at Aldi. As I found them handy and good value, I wanted to buy 2 additional boxes next week, but they were sold out at Aldi. But for my surprise Walmart had also those boxes, same size, and same price. I was very happy... until I hold the Walmart boxes in my hands, I recognize immediately that they were of much lower quality than the boxes from Aldi. The boxes from Aldi were marked with "Made in Germany". The boxes from Walmart were made in ???, there was no designation of origin. Probably made in China.
Thought Walmart that the customers wouldn't realize such quality differences? Not a very clever business strategy. That cannot be successful in the long run. It was the same with those "Rollback" offerings. Prices at grocery stores are normally very stable in Germany, grocery prices don't change that often. Only for weekly sales or if the buying prices changes. But that was quite different at Walmart. They constantly changed their prices. If they lowered the price, they made a big "Rollback" promotion around those cutting of prices. But in most cases they had increased the price the week before. For example if a certain product normally cost €1.69, they raise the price in week x to €1.99, and in the following week they reduced the price to the old price of €1.69, but advertise this price reduction with a huge "Rollback" promotion. Thought Walmart that people are really that stupid?
Walmart made a lot more mistakes in Germany, insane long queues for check out for example. Some customers even left a full shopping cart behind and left the store without buying anything. I guess Walmart in the U.S. is a lot better than Walmart was in Germany.
Aldi is indeed only the fourth biggest food retailer in Germany, but it's the most competitive. And the high density of grocery stores in Germany makes it nearly impossible to sell the most common products for a higher price than the price that can be found at Aldi.
Here are some links to show those permanent grocery price reductions at German grocery stores. Today the prices for some dairy products were reduced. They are now stable for about half a year. Prices for dairy products in Germany normally change 2 times a year. They change the prices in the stores short after the negotiations with the manufacturer are finalized.
Aldi is always the first chain that adjust the prices, all other grocery chains normally follow with the same price adjustments the following days.
Lidl is Aldi's main competitor. Lidl is part of the Schwarz-Gruppe, the biggest food retailer in Europe. Lidl has done the first steps to build a distribution center in North Carolina:
Not quite!
Everyone I know who raves about Aldi has to go somewhere else for more than a few things. Aldi does not carry a lot of stock.
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