Danielle McCarthy
Money & Banking

Aldi’s new tactic to stop shoppers fighting over Special Buys

Aldi is renowned for its huge discounts and shoppers are prepared to line up in the early hours of the morning to get their hands on the retail giant’s ‘Special Buys’ range.

However, the discount supermarket has been trying to combat shopper rage, as shoppers fight to get their hands on the highly sought-after deals.

Now, one Aldi store has come up with the perfect solution to stop chaos erupting whenever there is a Special Buys sale.

Last year in July, a rocking chair went on sale in the Special Buys range and it was quickly praised on parenting forums around Australia.

Yesterday, the same rocking chair went on sale for less than $200, and shoppers eagerly lined up outside stores to not miss out on the bargain.

The furniture, which comes with two sets of legs to allow conversion from a rocking chair to an occasional chair, was so popular, that one store organised a way to avoid any fighting over the product.

As pregnant women, mothers, and their family members lined up for the product, an employee told customers outside the Bondi Junction Aldi that there was a limited number of chairs, so tickets would be given to the first in line.

“Giving the tickets out is a safer way of doing it,” acting store manager Aaron told news.com.au.

“Last time this chair went on sale it was a bit crazy and there were pregnant women involved trying to get the chair. And to me, this is just a safer way to do it”.

A post shared by Lana (@alannah.jean) on Jan 16, 2018 at 3:59pm PST

Some shoppers who had been lining up since 7am at the Bondi store, still missed out.

However, customers around the country have shared stories of other shoppers showing them kindness as they attempted to buy the item.

“Thank you to the kind lady at ALDI Australia Preston Victoria store this morning, who so generously gave up her rocking chair to me,” Melbourne dad Sam Viavattene wrote on Facebook.

“My faith in humanity was restored after the barbaric behaviour I had witnessed only moments earlier!”

Another expectant mum said she was able to purchase the rocking chair after another customer returned it earlier in the day.

“We dropped into a store at lunch time and found it. Apparently a guy had returned it because it didn’t fit through his door. Meant to be!” Ingrid wrote on Instagram.

However, Lisa Marie Scutti from Perth, criticised Aldi for the limited amount of rocking chairs that were in stock.

“Absolutely pathetic… lined up for 50 minutes in the cold for the Saturday sale and the store received 6 chairs for over 100 people in the line,” she reported on the Aldi Facebook page.

“Poor excuse for a sale. Don’t advertise if you can’t deliver the goods. I’ll stick to Coles and Woolies from now on.”

Do you want to see this solution in stores? Let us know in the comments below. 

Tags:
Aldi, new, tactic, stop, shoppers, fighting, Special Buys