Since the beginning of the year, German-owned discount supermarket ALDI has been leading the field in the Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards.
In August, the retailer achieved a satisfaction score of 96 per cent, just ahead of 2015’s Supermarket of the Year, Foodland, on 94 per cent. Fellow independent IGA came in third (92 per cent), while the top five was rounded out by Coles (91 per cent) and Woolworths/Safeway (88 per cent).
While the results of the monthly Awards are determined by one overall supermarket score, a more comprehensive understanding of the outcome is possible by examining each supermarket’s performance in the sub-categories of bread, dairy, deli, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, meat, seafood, packaged groceries and general merchandise.
As this table shows, ALDI tops the list for six of the nine sub-categories. Of the remaining three, Foodland satisfied the highest proportion of customers for bread, Woolworths/Safeway scored best for deli, and Coles topped the list for seafood.
Considering that ALDI supermarkets do not have fresh delicatessen or seafood counters, its absence from the top three for those particular sub-categories is understandable.
Roy Morgan Research Industry Communications Director Norman Morris says the discount giant’s influence is growing as it continues its Australian expansion.
“Since it moved into South Australia at the beginning of 2016, the proportion of SA residents who mainly or sometimes shop there has shot up to 19 per cent,” he said. “In Western Australia, where it opened in June, a similar trend appears to be taking shape. It will be interesting to see whether this increased customer volume takes ALDI’s satisfaction to even greater heights in months to come.”