Retailers in America

Sean Brooks said:Just another quick example—I won't name the company (unless you count being American...) but they’re world-famous, and there's a good chance you have at least one of their products sitting in your pantry right now. So, here's the deal: an American working as a brand manager at the firm's European headquarters over in Canada decided—in the middle of this massive crisis—to actually lower prices for one of our local brands. Want to know what happened?

While all his colleagues—other brand managers, mind you—were busy slashing headcount, cutting salaries, trimming costs, and gutting product lines just to try and maintain last year's profit margins... this guy did the exact opposite. He slashed prices, and in the middle of a recession, he managed to jack up sales and profits for that brand by about 20%...

And believe it or not, it was an American who pulled it off!

What a joke this country is!

Andrew Booth29 said:If it looks like King and tastes like King, then there’s a very high probability it actually *is* King. I mean, would Nestlé really be foolish enough to discount their own branded product like that? It happens all the time—manufacturers selling the exact same product under a different label just to undercut the price. Though, usually, they try to mask it a little bit more than this...

copperhawk37 said:Just a quick side note

There's this ice cream at Lidl that goes for $1.75. It’s massive, basically the size of a Nestlé King, and tastes just as good... but the King costs like 13 bucks or whatever!!! Absolute madness

Jeremy Ward38 said:I wouldn't go as far as saying it tastes like a Nestlé King. To be honest, Nestlé is a hundred times better.

copperhawk37 said:1. This is why our local "entrepreneurs" are all just scammers running shady schemes where they care about profit per unit rather than volume. unknown, I’m buying something he sourced for $17 while I end up paying $83. Instead of grabbing stock for 50 and selling it to me, his sister, and his mom for 100 a pop, he just squeezes every cent out of single sales. It's the same story with those high-end boutiques in shopping malls—the managers of these "fancy" shops live in penthouses in Chicago's "Tax-Free" zone (basically the suburbs), buying high-end knockoffs for 20+€ and flipping them for over 150€.

2. Then you have the staff in smaller shops who are literally paid to sell things. For example: I walk into a Ray-Ban store on Ilica one day and there’s this woman working. First, she rolls her eyes just because I walked in to spend $500. Then, as I try on glasses, she hands them to me with total attitude and keeps rolling her eyes at every question I ask. I wouldn't even leave her enough for a coffee, let alone $500 for some sunglasses. I already messaged the managers to tell them to get their staff under control.

Brenda Morgan44 said:Kaufland has somehow managed to claw its way to the top of the retail game, but honestly, every single time I step foot in there, I end up completely exhausted just trying to navigate the chaos. The way they stock their shelves makes zero sense; you could be hunting for something basic like toothpicks and find them tucked away in some bizarre corner next to the canned tuna instead of where they actually belong.

I’ve been thinking about Tommy lately—isn't he actually Italian? It’s pretty interesting how he’s positioned himself within NTL as a major player in the retail sector.

Joseph Watson3 said:Well, look at that—even a pricier placebo works better than the cheap stuff: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/he...cebo.html?_r=1

So, how can we act surprised when an expensive branded ice cream actually tastes better? 😁

But here's the reality: over in Germany, they have Consumer Reports to test food quality and everything else, and their private labels from Aldi and Lidl often score higher than the big brands. The rest is just marketing—something people swallow whole, especially in places like America, where people would probably even buy premium branded trash bags just so the neighbors could see them.

jelko said:A Lidl opened up in my neighborhood three weeks ago, so I swung by on opening day.
I wanted to pick up a few things:
- mayonnaise: nothing but random brands from Poland I've never even heard of.
- fruit juice: completely unfamiliar brands, including imports you'd see elsewhere, but zero local options like Tropicana.
- deli meat: nothing sliced under $30/lb, and again, all totally unknown brands.
- fruit yogurt: mostly mystery brands, and every single one had a 3-month shelf life due to heavy preservatives—unlike the local stuff that lasts about 3 weeks. The only recognizable brand was Jogobella; everything else was a total stranger.
- cheeses: more unknown brands.
- sweets: we have at least five or six major confectionary factories back home, but not a single one here.

All in all, it feels like Lidl is seriously threatening the retail landscape in America. Local stores usually carry enough imports, but they at least offer one domestic product (like a Walmart brand from Agrokora or a Gavrilović group item). Manufacturers can't get any more pathetic; they struggle to even get shelf space in local shops, yet they aren't even on Lidl's radar?

Joseph Watson3 said:Lidl ice creams have nothing to do with Nestlé; they're just private labels used across all of Europe, mostly produced in Germany. The quality is pretty much on par with Nestlé, but the price is about a third of what you'd pay otherwise.

Honestly, why would anyone pay a premium just for a "brand" when you can just buy the local stuff...

lonetiger52 said:There were some shady bits there too, but hey, after a few little scandals, they cleaned things up. Honestly, though, I find myself trusting the reports in USA Today or something you'd see on a major TV network more.😉

But all in all, products from Aldi and Lidl are very high quality and frequently beat out some of the famous brands.

Generally speaking, most people here in Germany shop at Aldi and Lidl. First off, you know exactly where everything is, and secondly, everything you buy is actually worth the money.

It's not like shopping at a Walmart in Chicago, for instance. You pick up some "Vian" cheese spread because it’s the cheapest option, and once you open it, you realize exactly why it was so cheap—it's so thin you can barely even spread it.

As far as I know, Walmart and Lidl actually share the same owner... which explains why they both have that endless sea of private labels—but honestly, Walmart is the one that actually carries everything under the sun.

So, while I was traveling through Germany—specifically around North Rhine-Westphalia—all I really saw were Aldi, Kroger, and the occasional Lidl. From what I could gather, the prices at Kroger are pretty much on par with what you'd find at Aldi or Lidl. The only real difference is that Kroger doesn't lean as heavily on its own private labels; they have that one specific brand, sort of like our Clever here, and honestly? Some of those items are actually decent quality.

casuallynx8 said:Despite falling consumer spending, Walmart saw profits climb

Well, here are some concrete figures regarding our favorite "budget-friendly local staple" ( 🤮 ). A dip in revenue? No big deal—they’ll just stretch out the payment terms for their suppliers a little longer 🙂 , and suddenly those profit margins look much more impressive on paper again... meanwhile, short-term liabilities have climbed from roughly $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion
.
What is there left to say besides 🙂

casuallynx8 said:Despite falling consumer spending, Walmart saw profits climb

Well, here are some concrete figures regarding our favorite "budget-friendly local staple" ( 🤮 ). A dip in revenue? No big deal—they’ll just stretch out the payment terms for their suppliers a little longer 🙂 , and suddenly those profit margins look much more impressive on paper again... meanwhile, short-term liabilities have climbed from roughly $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion
.
What is there left to say besides 🙂