Food

Discount giant Aldi under attack for shrinking labelling on grocery items

Nov 08, 2018

The discount chain has recently began phasing in smaller unit price labelling across its 523 stores. Source: Getty

Aldi has been accused of making it harder for shoppers to get a good deal after the supermarket giant shrunk labelling on grocery items.

The discount chain has recently began phasing in smaller unit price labelling across its 523 stores, the Herald Sun reports.

Unit pricing means displaying the price of a grocery item as a standard unit of measurement alongside its selling price. It allows customers to quickly compare the value of products of varying size and brands.

Aldi has reportedly almost halved the font size of unit pricing from 5 millimetres to 3mm, and changed the font from bold to regular print “making it harder for customers to read”.

Aldi has come under fire for reportedly shrinking the size of the labels of grocery items, making it harder for customers to tell if they’re getting a good deal. #9News pic.twitter.com/rlWYjvL6hd

— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) November 7, 2018

Disgruntled consumer groups have criticised the supermarket’s move and called it “disappointing”. Queensland Consumers Association spokesman, Ian Jarratt, exclusively told the Herald Sun that Aldi had “stuffed up this time” and needs to review the amended labelling.

“The unit prices are much less prominent and legible for shoppers so they are less likely to notice and use them to help make decisions about what they are going to buy,” he said.

“The consequence is shoppers don’t necessarily get the best value and they end up potentially spending more.”

But an Aldi spokesperson defended the move and said the reason for the font change was to “declutter” the labels, and to “provide clear and clean information to our customers”.

“As a market leader in the adoption and promotion of unit pricing, we have no interest in minimising this information,” an Aldi spokesperson told Starts at 60. “Over the last 12 months we’ve been phasing in the introduction of in-store price card printers. Our new printers are now in more than 75 per cent of our stores.

“We will actively seek customer feedback to ensure that our new approach to label pricing is not confusing our valued shoppers.”

It comes after the supermarket giant reigned supreme in the supermarket meat wars and beat out major rivals Coles and Woolworths to win the top customer satisfaction rating in a Canstar Blue survey.

The major chain topped this year’s Supermarket Meat Awards, thrashing competitors across all four meat categories: beef, pork, chicken and lamb. Measuring overall satisfactions, as well as freshness, taste and value for money, the 2,273 Australians surveyed undeniably showed their support for the store.