barnsleymat

We spent £50.25 at Aldi last week, out of that I could find items totalling £36.64 with a close match on the Countdown website. They're not exact matches but as close as I could find whether that be quality, quantity etc.

We do half our shopping at Aldi then get all the stuff they don't sell from Asda like most of the fresh foods do it could have been even more extreme. Who knows.

Here's the results using the recent exchange rate:

UK £36.64
NZ £93.17 (nzd $171.30)

john_hepburn

Ouch.

In the interest of fairness, Aldi are very cheap even compared the average UK supermarket and as you've said they only have a limited stock. Unless you wan't to buy a cheap wet suit or drill bit set with your carrots.

A fairer comparison would probably be Tesco or Morrison's shop.

garethwm

Also to be fair, most of the items on your list dont have weights, sizes or quantities. At a glance I looked at your first and last items. The $23 first item is for a huge 66 pack of nappies at the NZ end. The 4 cans of soup at the end can be bought for $1 each if buying cheapest not $2.50.

barnsleymat

I've compared as close to quantities and as quality as I can. It can never be an exact match but I've tried to make it as realistic as possible.

I wouldn't dress a pet chimp in those own brand countdown nappies and that $1 soup is like tasteless coloured water.

If I'd have included some salad, real beers, fresh meat, medicines, cosmetics it could have been even worse.

garethwm

So youre saying at the UK end you can take the cheapest price at the cheapest supermarket but at the NZ end you take the highest price at a midrange supermarket because you dont like the taste of the cheaper NZ brand? And youre saying a 66 pack of nappies costs what you quoted in the UK?

barnsleymat

I'm saying as someone that shopped at countdown for nearly 6 years I'm comparing items from countdown that compare in quality and quantity to items at Aldi. Countdowns Homebrand stuff is garbage but still more expensive. There are some items on that list that are the same brand and still over 3 times more expensive.

The ownbrand nappies aren't a patch on the ones we buy here, we couldn't use them in NZ as they were a waste of time, why would I compare them to a superior product? The pack I found on the countdown page were about the same quantity and quality.

It's not that hard to understand is it?

By the way, if I hunted about I could find cheaper than Aldi for a lot of stuff. It's not the cheapest place for everything.

Reylan

I wonder if this thread should be on the 'Returning to the UK' section. Does it not seem a bit irrelevant for people who live here and are not thinking of returning to compare supermarket prices

mcuddy1

Relevant to people who are intending to move to NZ!

It's so expensive here and variety is poor at best.

garethwm

But Matt the $23 NZ you quoted for nappies is for a 66 pk of good quality Treasures not Homebrand. You cant buy 66 nappies for £3.20 at Aldi. Come on.

barnsleymat

The ones I saw in countdown were 52 x size 4 in a pack, the Aldi ones are 48 x size 4 in a pack and trust me they're good. MY missus wouldn't have him in cheap nappies like those Homebrand countdown ones that can't hold anything in.

I'll send you one over if you want, I'll not even get the lad to fill it.

A comparison can never be 100% accurate, but I've made it as close as I feel is right.

Stuck in Auckland

Did you then also sub shop at New World for better quality cuts of meat or fresh produce?

Or did you sub shop at Pack N Save or WhyNot/Clearance Shops

You would be wrong in comparing Aldi and Asda. Sainsbury and Tesco are more comparative.

Plenty of specialist nappy providers in NZ provide better quality and better pricing than supermarkets.

Stuck in Auckland

Relevance here in NZ is that the supermarkets are pricing due to their supply chain inefficiencies not because of population size.

Consumers are seemingly oblivious how much they are being rorted. Ironically the Snobs seem not to care the 30% to 50% over charge for lower tier quality products.

Let them eat Cake paid by Bitcoins

garethwm

I see whats happened Matt. On the first item on the list youve compared a 48 pack of size 4 nappies in UK with a 52 pack of size 6s in NZ. Big difference.

A Rush And A Push

Haven’t waded through the whole grocery receipt yet but re the nappies - we always bought them online from Babyonline, the brand was Dryups, perfectly good brand, no problems. My days of changing nappies are done (thank God 🙂) so I just checked their prices. They work out as just over 14 cents per nappy so multiplied by 48 comes to NZ$7.09. Compared to the UK pack of 48 for £3.29. Very little difference.

sr71

Disagree with that, how is variety poor?

As for the price comparison, I think the truth is in the middle - I would never shop in Aldi for my main shop, they were crap in the UK and crap in Australia with rare exception. Abysmal service, poor variety and generally needed a shower after being in their stores to remove the smell of BO and despair.

A comparison with Sainsburys/Tesco would be better.

Also on the nappies, the homebrand ones in the UK were awful too, we only used the main brands but they were often cheaper with their 2 for 1 deals at Tesco.