Aldi trolls Co-op after customers complain about £10.50 Kenco coffee

Aldi has trolled another supermarket after customers complained about the price of coffee.

The German supermarket responded after customers took to Twitter to complain about the price of coffee in Co-Op in Harborne, Birmingham.

An image shared online showed a shelf displaying a small and large-sized jar of Kenco instant coffee priced at £5.50 and £10.50 respectively, and one large jar of Nescafe instant coffee priced at £9.35. 

To make things even more bizarre the coffees were encased in GPS tracking cases on shelves.

The cases came with a caution warning shoppers they will need to be removed at checkout before leaving the store, and shoplifters will be prosecuted.

There was a sticker on the front reading: ‘This product is a dummy. Not for sale. Please ask a member of staff for help.’

The picture, which was shared by @laura_estah, read: ‘Cost of living reaching new heights, my local co-op is now a grocery showroom.

‘Also ft periodic tannoy announcements from mitie security that their cameras are watching you. bleak af. Bleak AF, indeed.’

Aldi decided to make a light hearted jab and tweeted a snap of their own coffee, writing: ‘If only there was a MUCH cheaper alternative…’

They added on some shifty eyes in emoji form for good measure. 

Many chimed in to say that they’ve experienced the same prices in their local shops with some making light of the bleak situation.

One shopper said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. That price for a jar of instant coffee is unbelievable.’

Another said: ‘Il be switching to tea as I can’t afford that price I only ever shop in Aldi but the prices are getting out of control. When will it end? Every time I shop, the prices increase.’

The German supermarket responded after customers took to Twitter to complain about price of coffee in Co-Op in Harborne in Birmingham

To make things even more bizarre the coffees were encased in GPS tracking cases on shelves

The cases came with a caution warning shoppers they will need to be removed at checkout before leaving the store, and shoplifters will be prosecuted

To which Aldi replied: ‘We’re working hard, alongside our suppliers, to protect our customers from the impacts of inflation as much as possible. 

‘The industry-wide inflation has been driven by many external factors, but our customers can be confident that they will always get the lowest prices at Aldi.’ 

Another said: ‘Something really strange with Co-op pricing, our local branch in Suffolk is so expensive too, for comparison Tesco is selling the same Gold Blend for £5.99, what’s going on.’ 

While someone else jocked: ‘I’m just thinking if food shopping will become a 90s Argos style pick from a catalogue and they send it up a conveyor belt to be collected type of thing.’ 

A Co-op spokesperson said: ‘Protecting the safety of our colleagues is a priority and we know shoplifting can be a flashpoint for violence against shopworkers so whilst this is not a nationwide policy, a decision to implement product security measures at a local level can be made, if a store is experiencing a particular issue.’

It was reported last month the rate of price rises at UK supermarkets hit a new high in the year up to May due to coffee, chocolate and non-food goods. 

Prices for fresh food have fallen very slightly, but the cost of coffee has gone up.

Previously the supermarket gently poked fun at McVitie’s after its Milk Chocolate Digestives were put on sale for a whopping £5.39 at another shop.

Shoppers hit out at the cost, with some joking they’ll ‘be a tenner next month’.

However, budget supermarket chain – known for it’s tongue-in-cheek social media team – simply responded with ‘Belmont Chocolate Digestives: 69p’.

Aldi previously went to battle with Marks & Spencer over claims of copying its Colin the caterpillar cake with their own Cuthbert the Caterpillar.

Lawyers had been brought in on the intellectual property claim, which even made it to the High Court last year.

But last year both supermarkets confirmed an agreement was struck to resolve the conflict.

M&S has three trademarks relating to Colin, which the retailer believes means Colin has acquired and retains an enhanced distinctive character and reputation.

Nevertheless, the M&S original has spawned a range of imitators since its launch, such as Sainsbury’s Wiggles, Tesco’s Curly, Morris by Morrisons, the Co-op’s Charlie, Cecil by Waitrose and Asda’s Clyde.

Many chimed in to say that they’ve experienced the same prices in their local shops with some making light of the bleak situation

At the time an M&S spokesman said: ‘The objective of the claim was to protect the IP (intellectual property) in our Colin the Caterpillar cake and we are very pleased with the outcome.’

Meanwhile, Aldi hilariously quipped that Cuthbert was now ‘free’ following the dispute, and announced his return on billboards on a van parked outside branches of M&S. 

The hilarious supermarket even appeared to subtly troll the Conservative’s plan to bring back imperial measurements last year.

Boris Johnson was expected to announce that British shops would be allowed to sell products in pounds and ounces. 

Which prompted Aldi to Tweet: ‘So happy we can finally call them quarter pounders and not 454 grammers.’ 

It comes after Aldi was named Britain’s cheapest supermarket for the 12th month in a row – with an average basket of goods costing £18 less than at Waitrose.

Consumer researchers at Which? compared the average prices of a shop consisting of 40 popular groceries at eight of the UK’s biggest supermarkets.

Aldi was cheapest at £68.60 on average across the last month, while Lidl was just behind at £70.51 – a difference of £1.91, although the gap was up from 65p in April.

McVitie’s Milk Chocolate Digestive biscuits were on sale for a whopping £5.39 at a shop

Aldi has form for trolling other supermarkets, and cheekily announced the return of the Cuthbert cake on a billboard outside of M&S 

Aldi has remained the cheapest supermarket since May 2022. Waitrose was the most expensive – with a basket costing £86.91, or 23.5 per cent more than Aldi.

Which? does not share the 40 items used in its analysis to avoid supermarkets changing their pricing to sway the results, but it describes the goods as ‘popular groceries’.

The experts also compared the cost of a trolley of 131 items – the original 40, plus 91 more, which include a branded items such as Andrex toilet paper and Cathedral City cheese.

For this wider analysis, Which? does not include Aldi and Lidl because the discounter supermarkets do not always stock some of the products.

Asda was again the cheapest for the trolley of groceries – a title it has held since January 2020.

Last month it cost £332.40 on average for such a shop at Asda – beating Morrisons, which was the next cheapest at £334.47, by just £2.07.

Waitrose was £31.59 more expensive than Asda for the trolley, coming in at £363.99 on average, or 9.5 per cent more.

Which? retail editor Ele Clark said: ‘The price of food and drink is continuing to soar, as people suffer through the worst cost of living crisis in decades.