Is too much choice an issue and how do you decide what to buy?

aussiejohn

My word, there is so much rubbish, and half-truths written here. Talk about ignorance. I am appalled by some of the complete and utter garbage I am reading.

I will agree that Coles and Woolworths have delisted some products, and that is annoying. My favourite Vita Wheat Cracked Pepper biscuits disappeared a few years ago, and have never reappeared, though Arnotts told me they still make them. I am not going to traipse all over town looking for them. I go without now. Arnotts' loss, not mine.

As for Coles and Woolworths own label products, well some are ok, many are not. But interestingly, quite a few Coles and Woolworths products I used to buy have vanished. I find there are now LESS own brand stuff there than there used to be. But because the myth keeps getting perpetuated on sites like this, and in groups where older, less informed people congregate, people believe this rubbish. I don't doubt that Coles and Woolworths want to increase sales of house brands to help their bottom line. It has been clearly articulated for a long time in their future strategies. They are only following trends that exist all over the world. This is nothing new.

Coles and Woolworths - and any other store for that matter - have sophisticated point of sale systems now. They know exactly how many 500 gram tubs of Meadowlea Margarine in all variants, how many 200 gram packets of Tim Tams in all variants, etc etc, they sell in every store, in every state, all over Australia. They have finite space in their shops. They cannot afford to have products on the shelf THAT DO NOT SELL. No shop anywhere can do that. All you are demonstrating here is your complete ignorance of how retail works. In addition, there are probably hundreds of new products hitting the market each week. Some will be successful, others not. Stores have to make space for new products, therefore old stuff that does not sell gets deleted. Simple.

If you don't want your favourite products to disappear, make sure you buy lots of it, tell all your friends, and make sure everyone else in Australia buys it as well. Otherwise - well you know what will happen. But the problem with common sense is that it is not common.

Aldi, well this could be the subject of a whole new discussion. I am not a major fan, but due to economic reasons (I'm on a pension), I do some of my shopping there. Flour is flour, sugar is sugar, salt is salt. What beggars belief is this ongoing garbage about everything being imported. When was the last time you ACTUALLY went into Aldi and checked the products. Judging by the comments here, most of you have never been there, you just rely on the same old garbage people tell you over and over again, because they are just as ignorant as you. I am not defending Aldi, I have no connection with Aldi, quite frankly, I don't even like Aldi much. But in the interests of a good old Aussie "fair go", I will not sit idly by and watch you slander them with your ignorance.

Aldi have made great strides in building up their Australian Made product range. Most of what I buy there is quite clearly marked Australian Made. I buy those products FOR THAT REASON. They do have imported products, and I rarely buy those things, mostly because they are things I don't normally buy anyway.

I feel for people with dietary considerations, but the supermarkets can only do so much, and they can only stock what manufacturers make in any case. There is enough evidence around now to show that many so-called dietary products are worse for you healthwise than the normal product. The standard advice always given by doctors, nutritionists, health experts, etc, for these situations is to stick to fresh food, avoid processed food, and to MAKE YOUR OWN food, where you can control things like fat, sugar, salt, gluten, and all the other known and imaginary food allergies.

There are a number of other points I could reply too, but this is too long now as it is. Take this as a wake up call to take control and sort out your own lives and what you want. Then work out a CONSTRUCTIVE way to have a dialogue with the Australian retail, and manufacturing industries to get the right food, at the right price.