Quote:
Originally Posted by Torqueofthedevil
But because food retailing is a long-term business, in which they are relatively new arrivals, and their business model positions them at the bargain end of the market, the prices are - for now - lower than other supermarkets (NB the Co-op isn't in direct competition with them anyway, because almost every Co-op is a convenience store rather than a supermarket). They are no more or less greedy than the Co-op! And guess what - this thread shows that plenty of people are prepared to shop at Co-ops. When that changes, the prices will fall, but I'm not holding my breath. Convenience stores - judged to be convenient by 8 out of 10 shoppers  |
Aldi/Lidl are not new arrivals they have been around, in the UK, for 25/30 years and have continually expanded the number of stores ever since. I understand they started in Germany post WWII, yet still offer the quality and good prices they began with.
They just have a different business model to the UK supermarkets of cut the frills out and minimise the profit on each line they sell, improve the overall efficiency too. It works, so why would they change the policy? People just want to go in buy the items they need and not pay extra for lots of unnecessary staff a frills.
The coop are indeed greedy, why do they charge so much more for similar products? Why would I want to pay an extra 20% for 2L of the same milk, which I can buy just over the road for 20% less? They only become almost competitive, were I to buy 2x 2L cartons, but then the 2nd one would be off before it was needed and who has space to store 3x 2L cartons? The coop are simply missing a trick, sell cheap, sell lots make more profit.