IGA and ALDI stores advertise products they don’t carry !, speaking from experience. Store staff play the Three Wise Monkeys scenario of passing the buck ( into their owners pockets ) with their " I know nothing ". service. Some people stoop to anything to lure customers into their stores. Since I refuse to be desperate and play into their hands I have no problem boycotting that particular store, not to mention all the " good " PR they get from me.
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Aldi has been caught out in the past…
If Aldi is up to its old tricks, lodge a complaint with the ACCC as they may take action again if the allegations are proven and there are enough complaints.
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There is nothing wrong with providing examples of product, store location and dates, for others to compare experiences.
We shop at Aldi occasionally, and the local, IGA at least once a week. The local IGA specials are generally in store for several days, and for some lines the full weekly cycle.
For some sought after popular lines Aldi does run out rather quickly. Although we usually find most of the ‘Special Buys’, still available in the afternoon. Is it any different to a one day sale event by any major retailer? The challenge may be knowing the quantity in store stock when the store opens vs reasonable demand for the sale.
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Our small supermarket doesn’t carry the full range, so when an un-stocked product is in the (area wide) catalogue they either haven’t got it, or they get a small number in for the sale only.
IGA stores are styled “Super” (the largest) to “Express” (the smallest) and this represents the range they carry. I just accept that products might not be available at our smaller stores, regardless of their inclusion in the catalogue.
Special Buys (items more major than groceries) would be another matter. Especially when they may have influenced your decision to change stores for your grocery shop.
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Even the Colesworth groups stores do not 100% all carry the same lines as the stock is ‘optimised’ for the preferences of their localities but advertising is regional. We can buy products in the next suburb that are not stocked in ours, and vice versa.
Now for Spotlight. A lot of detail is omitted but the partner was midway into a project and needed more of a specific yarn. This was months ago. Spotlight was out nationally and in every store around metro Melbourne. She went and looked and came home empty. The out of stock status and restocking date was confirmed with Spotlight corporate as being September.
The recent Spotlight catalogue had this same yarn on sale for 50% off, excepting there is none, nada, nil anywhere on the continent and has not been for months, nor will there be for another month. Staff were OK with that false and misleading advertising because a) they (in the stores) did not do it and had no control, and b)they, Spotlight, could offer rainchecks.
Reporting such egregious advertising is one thing, having them prosecuted and fined for it rather than expected only outcome being them promising to try not to do it again as is common is not rewarding for time invested to document and report it.
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If only our governments had the same approach to more trivial things such as not having your driver’s license to hand or overstaying the parking time limit? I promise until the next time. The corporate citizen is supposedly equal before the law. 
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The problem with particular items not being stocked at a particulat IGA is that unlike Coles, Woollies and ALDI, they are independent and each store owner decides what thay will stock, what they will have on special, what they will have in their catalogues and the prices for all of it.
Our local Supa IGA has competitive prices and many fantastic specials but it is frustating for both them and their customers who see Cornett’s Supa IGA ads on the TV and expect the deals to be available at other IGA stores.
For the same reasons, they do not have their own websites other than for their catalogues as it would be prohibitive to have all items and prices posted for just one or a few stores.
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Recently Aldi had ‘special’ on a whitegood I was interested in purchasing. It was to be available on a Saturday with the store opening up at 8am. I duly arrived at the store 7:15am to join the queue. There would have been 50 people in front of me.
At 7:30am a staff member came out and asked who was waiting for item X. He then announced that there were only four of them, so everyone after the first four should go to another store,
By 8am when the doors opened, the queue was 50m long, and we filed in. By the time I wend my way to the back through all the exuberant shoppers dragging their booty, all the “special items” were gone.
Apparently, at the moment the quantities being received are even more haphazard than usual due to the COVID issues.
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Shop opens at 9 AM and I was at the shop at 9 AM to prove the point. Not enough customers are aware or are apathetic etc. Just like bad governance some people deserve the service they get.
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I interviewed for a position at Aldi, and we were told during the process that the Special Buys were just a hook to get people into the store.
Releasing them on two set days helps them prepare for extra demand for all products on that day - we had to be willing to work every Saturday and every Wednesday. Its a clever strategy if a bit unethical.
Thankfully I got a position elsewhere with a much more ethical company!
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The numbers of specials on hand seems often problematic but why do you think the strategy unethical? They are upfront that a particular store may often have many or few of any advertised product (small print at the bottom of ‘page 1, specials’ of their catalogues).
The purpose of advertising and offering specials and discounted products has always been nothing more than getting people into a store.
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Because frequently the stock IS one, or none. Not even few.
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See the second post above?
If it’s (alleged) illegal merchant behaviour then there’s a good chance that it is unethical.
I suppose that if the government wanted to play hardball with Aldi then Aldi could be forced at least to show on their web site the stock level at each store for each Special Buy in advance of each of the two set days.
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And the other thing is one can’t back order (raincheck) the product. The number of the high demand products are limited to increase traffic and sales.
It is well know retail strategy…aim to get as much traffic into stores…if a desired product isn’t available the same customer who say misses out on say a $200 item will be disappointed…and instead spends the money on other items to satisfy their lost retail fix.
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I have been told that Aldi have some of the best electonic equipment for sale, however, when you ask how some of them work, and some of the main features, they cannot tell you.
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That’s true in most stores even Harvey Norman, JB Hifi etc. Training is abysmal for retail staff across every sector in Australia.
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You might check Choice reviews that include Aldi products to determine if what ‘you have been told’ is accurate.
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I wouldn’t buy “here today, gone tomorrow” electronic equipment from Aldi, on principle.
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It may by useful to consider how Aldi respond to warranty with such products.
Do Aldi,
- hold a small stock of new unsold items to exchange for DOA purchases,
- require you to return for repair
- or simply offer you a full cash refund.
The last because Aldi can’t remedy by the first two options. Finding the product was a great buy and did all you required of it might be reassuring. The product failing on unpacking, one week or 6 months later what next if the only remedy is a cash refund. Do you hold out till the next time. Having outwitted the supply chain to get to the store and find an item in stock, it would be the ultimate insult.
To be fair should Aldi only offer the special buys through a customer loyalty scheme, where regular customers can be assured of a purchase by pre-order? Two of the extended family have Aldi TV’s. We are more than happy with our Sony which cost several times more. It partly depends on which glasses you are wearing at the time, and whether your hearing aids are in place or in the bedside drawer. Aldi does have a market. 
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Agreed. If approached, IGA Central will try to get individual stores to stock particular items, but in the long run all they can do is ask.
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