Discount shopping comes of age

Price is the new imperative, and a new breed of covert shoppers is abandoning Superquinn and Dunnes for Lidl and Aldi. But there are also those for whom cheap is the new chic

THERE'S A CERTAIN TYPE of person who, if your trolleys collide in Lidl, will launch into a rigmarole about how they don't normally shop there, but that they just happened to be passing and popped in for some dogfood and found a great barbecue set too. You go along with it, trying to not look into their heaped-up trolley filled with everything from toilet rolls to tinned beans and cheap Chablis . . . just passing, indeed.

You could call them the nouveaux pauvres: middle-class folk with all the trappings of success - nice house, nice car, nice holidays and nice clothes - who are finding that moneys got tight. They talk about how expensive everything is, but still they don't want you to think they do the family shopping in a German discount store, rather than in good old Dunnes or Superquinn. But these covert shoppers are being replaced by a new breed for whom cheap is the new chic. Far from decanting their obscure espresso blend into Illy tins, they can't wait to tell you how they managed to fill the boot of the car for less than €100.

Worried about rising interest rates, falling house prices and the drastic performance of their bank shares, they're gradually changing their spending patterns and price is the new imperative. While they still couldn't tell you the cost of a carton of milk, they know that the family shop has jumped to a new and scary level and so they're turning to the Germans to stock up on more than their famously cheap cold meats and cheeses.

Aldi and Lidl have been around since 1999, but for a long time Irish shoppers were inclined to ignore them. Developers didn't want them in their shopping centres for fear they would lower the tone, while shoppers were suspicious of the foreign brands and didn't want to mingle with hard-up immigrant workers. Now they're discovering that their friends are shopping there too, even if they don't want you to know it.

"Nobody likes to meet a friend there . . . unless you're very financially secure," said one Wicklow woman who claims never to have darkened the door of the large Lidl outlet conveniently located next door to the 24-hour Tesco on the outskirts of the town.

"It's so depressing with all that stuff piled up and the children don't like the food. But I might have to start going there soon. Ive just spent €220 at Tesco and didn't even manage to get the dinner."

Figures released by the National Consumer Agency (NCA) this week show that the move is on. Its survey found that almost a third of shoppers have changed their spending habits since January, when the economy took a nose dive.

Of those, 61 per cent have started going to Lidl while 54 per cent have begun shopping in Aldi. Dunnes and Tesco have hit back by slashing prices for everyday items like butter and sliced pans. Even Marks Spencer is cutting prices after a disastrous season that's seen its share price drop by 25 per cent. It's hitting back with a special offer designed to appeal to cash-strapped couples: a meal for two with dessert and a bottle of wine for €12.50.

Typical Marks Spencer and Tesco Finest customers are being lured to the German stores by cut-price Parma ham, olive oil in elegant bottles and improved organic fruit and vegetables. More and more, they're staying on to do the full family shop in the no-frills warehouse-style stores. With 150 outlets across the country (90 Lidl and 60 Aldi), the German chains now claim seven per cent of the market.

"It's become respectable for the middle classes to go to Lidl and Aldi," says Ann Fitzgerald of the NCA. "Traffic is really moving in their direction."

Or as John Ruddy, editor of the top grocery trade magazine Checkout, puts it "the yummy mummies are shopping in Aldi now, which they might not have done in the past".

There are other benefits, apart from price, to shopping at Lidl and Aldi. The cashiers are super-efficient; Lidl's huge car parks never seem full; there's a soothing absence of music or ding-dong announcements. And there's none of the Arctic chill you get in Tesco or Marks Spencer, where the staff are all cosy in their fleeces.

On the downside, the dreary sameness of the products can get you down. Typically, Aldi and Lidl have around 2,000 products on offer, while a large-scale Dunnes or Tesco may have 25,000 products to choose from. They don't take credit cards, (but do take Laser) and the no-basket policy forces people to drift around carrying spare cardboard boxes. And, for all the talk of the superb wine and fabulous cheeses, some if it is downright horrible.

Then there are the special offers. Typically, you might go into Lidl for some cheap bottled water and jam and come out with an extending floor brush and a laminating machine, not to mention 500 colouring pencils and a handy gadget for taking moss off roof tiles. Monday and Thursday are special offer days when the aisles are filled with middle-aged men pondering tool kits, two-way radios and knife sets (Lidl in particular is heaven if you're into weaponry, with huge barbecue forks jostling with high-grade steak knives and roll screwdriver sets and any amount of duct tape with which to tie up your victim).

This week it was all about the home office in Lidl. Battling through torrential rain they came to buy ring binders, highlighter pens and disc storage boxes, not to mention paper shredders, which were walking out the door at €29.99 each. "You have to get here early, or the good stuff will be gone," said Anne from Killiney (not her real name) who was busy buying box files, post-it notes and indelible pens but didn't want to be identified. "The office equipment is fantastic, I can get everything I want here, far cheaper. This €4.99 storage box would be €14.99 anywhere else, so why wouldnt I be here? I was brought up in a business family, and you go where the best value is. My mother, God rest her, would kill me if I didn't go for a bargain."

Monika Pataki, a Hungarian doctor now settled in Portlaoise, is another Lidl devotee.

"I loved it when it came to Portlaoise, and there were all these German products I recognised, though I've noticed that they have changed a lot of products to suit the locals. There's no more marzipan as I don't think Irish people like it. In the beginning they were very suspicious around here. They used to call it 'the German shop'. Now, they're falling over themselves to pronounce it correctly . . . 'Leeedle'! I buy lots of things there."

Pataki can't understand why Irish people are suspicious of what are considered good brands in Germany, but it's the very cheapness of the goods that make us wary. The English have been far quicker to switch to the discounters and Aldi has announced plans to increase the number of its stores in the UK from 400 to 1,500. But that's no surprise as the English appreciate a real bargain. There, the upper crust is famous for its cheeseparing ways and will blithely serve up cheap wine in heirloom crystal. Things are different in Ireland where the greatest sin of all is to be considered cheap.

"There's a lingering sense that you can't trust the stuff in those places," explained one friend who has resisted the Lidl/Aldi urge.

John Ruddy says that this is a common concern. "Irish shoppers are far less concerned about price than their European neighbours. They are brand-conscious and they like their Brennan's bread and Barry's tea. That is not going to change."