Aldi unveils bold new fresh food buying strategy

ALDI lovers, rejoice! The cut-price retailer is about to up its game in the one area where it trails behind the local competition.

ALDI lovers rejoice.

The cut-price retailer is about to up its game in the one area where it trails behind the competition: fresh produce.

A new centralised buying model will allow the German retailer to improve the quality of its fruit and vegetables, the company announced on Tuesday.

It’s a development that should strike fear into Coles and struggling Woolworths, whose ‘Fresh Food People’ tagline is already under siege.

From next year, Aldi will roll out its new approach, with long-term, flexible supplier contracts aimed at getting a better deal for fresher produce.

Moody’s retail analyst Ian Chitterer said the change could only be positive for Aldi, and would hit the major supermarkets hard.

“Fresh food is the key battleground for Woolies vs. Coles and I think anything Aldi does that is positive from a fresh food offer perspective is negative for Woolies and Coles,” Mr Chitterer told news.com.au.

“Coles is doing better on fresh than Woolworths has of late, I think Woolies is doing some work on that, and Woolworths has historically had a stronger percentage of shoppers shopping fresh, so Coles has been coming from a weaker position.”

Aldi’s popularity has traditionally rested on its cheap, home brand groceries and biweekly Special Buys offering.

Its award winning cheese and wine selection, along with chocolates, teas and meats, have won the retailer a legion of fans. But fresh produce has not been a star performer to date.

“Aldi’s fresh food offering has, in my perception, been of a slightly lower quality than Woolies and Coles, but anecdotally the pricing seems to be a fair bit cheaper,” Mr Chitterer said.

“So if they can get the same or similar quality, and keeping pricing roughly constant, then that would be pretty good for them.”

SUPPORTING AUSSIE FARMERS

Aldi said in a statement that the new supplier agreements were part of an ongoing innovation push, which included store revamps and an expanded product range.

“Over the past 18 months, Aldi has been trialling a number of in-store innovations to improve the shopping experience for our customers,” the statement said.

“We are continuing to evolve our store format to provide more space for chilled products such as dairy, and we are overhauling the display of our fresh fruit and vegetables to allow us to expand the range and make products easier to access.

We look forward to helping our customers experience Aldi’s expanding fresh produce offering and showing them just how much they can save on high-quality Australian grown fruit and vegetables.”

While many of Aldi’s products are imported from Europe and elsewhere, the vast majority of its fresh product is locally grown.

“Independent audits have confirmed that 91 per cent of Aldi’s fresh fruit and vegetables are Australian grown,” the statement said.

“We only source products from overseas when we can’t find the product we seek here in Australia. This will not change with the evolution of our produce offering.”

It said that while the new model would allow the retailer “to streamline our buying processes and leverage our expertise, we will continue to work with local produce growers within each state, to ensure the freshest possible fruit and vegetables at the best prices”.

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