‘Technical limitation’: Why you can’t find most Aldi prices online

Aldi has conceded its ancient IT infrastructure has kept the discount grocer from better displaying its cheaper price offerings, even as shoppers switch between supermarkets at an all-time high rate.

At the ACCC’s supermarket inquiry hearings in Canberra on Monday, Aldi managing director of national buying Jordan Lack admitted a “technical limitation” had made it more difficult for shoppers to compare prices of goods against major players Woolworths and Coles.

“We are going through an IT transformation which, at the point of completion, we will look at whether [displaying prices online is] possible,” Lack said.

Aldi managing director of national buying Jordan Lack speaks at the ACCC inquiry into supermarket prices.Credit:

“It’s really a technical limitation that we have at the moment as opposed to a desire not to publish them. Given the position we hold in the market as having the cheapest groceries, we would love for more customers to be able to see the price of those goods.”

The ACCC inquiry’s interim report found Australians are increasingly going online and using apps to compare prices between supermarkets.

Consumer advocate Choice has conducted two government-funded quarterly surveys that found both times Aldi was the cheapest supermarket, at $50.79, for a basket of 14 common household goods when compared with Coles, Woolworths and IGA.

While Aldi publishes a weekly catalogue that includes the prices of its “special buys” range and weekly specials, the prices of its full range are not available. Lack said the supermarket was working to resolve the matter and aimed to publish the full range of prices “in the next year”.

Aldi executives at the ACCC inquiry on Monday (from left): Managing director of national buying Jordan Lack; managing director of national buying Oliver Bongardt; and managing director of real estate Andrew Starr.Credit:

Shoppers have been travelling further and visiting as many as seven or eight retailers a week to save on groceries. In response, Coles has expanded its home-brand range to cater to the growing proportion of people trading down to more affordable alternatives. Meanwhile, Woolworths has signalled a hit to its first-half profits as customers bought more discounted items or traded down.

Since entering Australia in 2000, Aldi has built a market share of 10.5 per cent by working with suppliers to create exclusive label brands that mimic the quality of a branded product but are offered at a lower price.

The German supermarket has chosen not to offer a loyalty program or online shopping to keep business costs as low as possible, even though the volume of grocery shopping completed online has soared since the pandemic.

“If you have employees picking the groceries instead of customers doing their own shopping, obviously, that is a cost that is incurred,” Lack said.

“When we looked at that proposition and understood the cost that it [online shopping] was going to bring to our business, we determined that that would have to be paid for by the consumer, and consequently that was not something that we thought was reasonable for us to explore ... to preserve our low-cost position.”

The supermarket chain, which has nearly 600 stores in Australia (excluding the Northern Territory and Tasmania) also said on Monday that it was focused on “sustainable growth” by maximising sales in existing stores rather than rolling out new ones.

“There’s less urgency in seeking to further expand the network,” Lack said. “We’re conscious that whatever we do, whether it be increases to our product range or increases to our store network, that they don’t have a cannibalistic nature on our network and therefore compromise costs.”

Aldi executives will face further questioning on Tuesday. IGA operator Metcash will front the inquiry on Thursday.

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