Aldi manager shares how supermarket giant cuts costs including 'small but clever' £1 trick

An insider at Aldi has disclosed how the supermarket giant is able to maintain low prices for its customers. The budget chain enjoys wide popularity among UK shoppers, largely owing to its pricing structure.

Consumer group Which? named Aldi as the cheapest supermarket for shoppers in 2023 and the budget giant has managed to retain this title throughout the first five months of the year. But what's the secret behind Aldi maintaining such low prices?

One Aldi insider has attributed it to "small" actions taken across various stores over several years. Managing Director of Buying at Aldi, Julie Ashfield, spoke to the Mirror, disclosing some "small but clever" tactics that enable the retailer to cut costs and pass savings onto customers.

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Julie drew particular attention to the £1 coin locks utilised across Aldi stores. She stated that many UK supermarkets now employ the use of pound coin locks on trolleys. However, she stated that it was indeed Aldi that initiated this trend.

She further explained: "By chaining our trolleys and making sure they can only be unlocked using a £1 deposit or token, we are encouraging customers to return their trolleys back to where they found them at the front of the store. This reduces the chance of trolleys getting lost or stolen."

Julie emphasised that the £1 locks also "maximise efficiency" in Aldi stores as employees can "focus on the customer experience" first, without needing to allocate time to collecting trolleys.

Alongside this, Julie says Aldi customers are now given the choice to print their receipts. Julie noted that not only does this reduce unnecessary paper waste, but it has also been a "small but effective way of saving money" as it has cut down on how much the supermarket spends on paper.

She added: "Receipts can often end up in back pockets or crumpled up in the bin anyway, so this is a great way of putting that money saved on paper and printing back into our low prices.

Aldi, alongside other major UK supermarket chains, are also working to cut their carbon footprint. One of these initiatives is turning off the lights across its store estates which it first introduced last year. Along with this, Aldi is using solar panels and installing all new stores with LED lighting. These fittings extend the lifespan of light fittings from around two to 10 years, as well as saving energy.

Aldi differs from other supermarkets and retailers by not playing music in its stores. According to Julie, this is part of Aldi's approach to save costs as it sidesteps music licensing fees. Furthermore, it helps minimise distractions for customers, drawing their focus on the food shop instead.

Finally, Julie said that a major cost saving initiative is product placement. She explained: "Walking into any Aldi store might seem like déjà vu, but this is because Aldi store layouts are nearly all the same and have been specially designed to maximise efficiency. A smaller store format than traditional full-price supermarkets also means less money is spent on running costs and maintenance."

Alongside this, Julie said products are often delivered to Aldi stores in "shelf ready" boxes so staff can spend less time moving stock, adding: "While things like our bottle racks make bringing products to the front of the shelves possible in just seconds – rather than colleagues spending time moving each one individually."