The percentage of shoppers actively 'recommending' Aldi to their friends and colleagues rose from 13% in 2011 to 26% last year, according to a study by Nielsen. The percentage of shoppers recommending Lidl also rose during the period, from 10% to 13%.
The findings were revealed by Shane Daly, head of retailer services at Nielsen Ireland, who spoke at the Retail Ireland Mastercard Annual Conference 2014, which took place yesterday at The Gibson Hotel.
The study found that both Aldi and Lidl have increased their penetration with shoppers across seven different metrics: 'Awareness', 'Trialists', 'Considerers', 'Regulars', 'Dependables', 'Preferers' and 'Recommenders'.
64% of respondents said that they considered themselves 'regulars' at Aldi in 2013, up from 45% in 2011, while 63% said they were 'regulars' at Lidl, up from 53% in 2011. The percentage that considered themselves 'dependable' on Aldi stood at 22%, up from 9% in 2011; at Lidl, this stood at 16%, up from 12%.
Both Aldi and Lidl have achieved near total levels of awareness among consumers, the study found, with both retailers posting awareness levels of 98% (up from 94% in 2011).
In addition, Daly also revealed that the percentage of shoppers that think Aldi is the 'lowest price' supermarket chain has also increased, standing at 43% last year (24% in 2011), compared to 29% for Lidl (32% in 2011), 15% for Tesco (27% in 2011), 8% for Dunnes (9% in 2011) and 4% for SuperValu (3% in 2011).
"The reason why people consider Aldi and Lidl to be the cheapest is because they continue to tell us that they are," Daly told the conference. "Whether they are or they aren't, it continues to be a key part of their marketing message."
