Aldi named Australia's most affordable supermarket this winter

Consumer group Choice has named Aldi Australia's most affordable supermarket this winter.

Choice compared the cost of 14 grocery items and winter favourites across Aldi, Woolworths, Coles and IGA in it's government-funded quarterly supermarket price survey.

And it was Aldi prices that came in at the lowest overall.

"Aldi had the best deal for shoppers looking to keep cosy this winter, with the full basket of 14 items without specials costing $55.35," Choice CEO Ashley de Silva told 9honey Money.

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"Woolworths wasn't too far behind at $58.92.

"The Coles basket without specials came in at $59.22, and the IGA basket would cost you $69.74."

Jordan Lack, Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi Australia, told 9honey Money the results are a result of Aldi's "genuine savings".

"Choice's latest findings show when you shop first with Aldi, we deliver genuine savings, no matter what's in your basket," he said.

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"Whether you're picking up winter warmers to beat the cold or just topping up on everyday essentials, Aldi will always deliver unbeatable value through our range of great quality products at everyday low prices," he continued.

"With 88 per cent of the nation's population living within 20km of an ALDI store, our exclusive range of quality products are now even more accessible," Lack added.

In addition to base items, which will be tracked across the year, this quarter's basket surveyed the prices of a number of popular winter products including instant oats, chicken breast, apples, vegetable stock, sour cream, drinking chocolate, butternut pumpkin, quick oats, garlic, and onions.

"Without specials, Woolworths had the cheapest chicken breasts and pumpkin, while Coles had the best deal on apples," de Silva said.

"At IGA, you paid less for carrots and garlic than at the three other supermarkets.

"For all other products in our basket, Aldi is your best bet."

"When taking into account specials, Aldi still came out on top, with its basket costing $54.44," he added.

"Coles was next at $57.67, then Woolworths at $58.86, and IGA at $67.54."

Across the two years Choice has been conducting the price comparison, Aldi has consistently been named Australia's most affordable supermarket, with Woolworths and Coles vying for second place and IGA being named the most expensive.

"We do see movement between quarters with Coles and Woolies, but it has been consistent with Aldi being the cheapest and that IGA has been the most dear," de Silva said.

"And there are some reasons for that, and we've seen that here with some interesting shifts too," he explained.

"So when we looked at this particular basket, which is the first time we've done it, when you take specials out of it and look at it, it's interesting because Woolworths actually had the cheapest chicken breast and pumpkin. Coles had the best deal on apples and IGA even had the best deal on carrots and garlic," he said.

"So it does kind of prove the point that even though it's tricky for consumers to sometimes shop multiple places, there are sometimes better deals to be had at different stores," he said.

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"The thing about IGA is it's a franchise store model, so they have quite a bit of variability in their range, more so than some of the other stores. And so it's quite a different type of supermarket in some ways," he said of IGA's prices.

Aldi is also modelled quite differently to Woolworths and Coles, de Silva explained, "because it has a lot more house brand products".

"But we make sure we include IGA, because not every state has actually got an Aldi, and we don't want the analysis to just focus on Coles and Woolies," he said.

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