Many retailers do not shy away from hidden price increases. Consumer advocates have had the topic on their radar for a long time. They are currently warning against an Aldi private label.
Kassel \u15 According to the Hamburg Consumer Advice Centre (VZHB), Aldi Nord is currently pulling out all the stops to deceive its customers. Consumer advocates complain about several price increases for chocolate private labels. For example, the bars of the chocolate brand Chocolat Amandes of Aldi Nord's own brand Moser Roth have become 184 percent more expensive, although the selling price has fallen. At the same time, their content "shrunk from 168 or 150 grams to <> grams," according to the result of the Hamburg-based company.
Hidden price increases at Aldi: Discounter causes price confusion
According to the report by the consumer advice centre, the discounter is literally pulling customers through the cocoa. There is an "unbelievable confusion of prices". For example, the price of the chocolate bar has fallen from 1.59 euros to 1.49 euros, which sounds like a bargain at first. But at the same time, the filling quantity of the bar has also shrunk, which leads to a "hidden price increase of up to 15 percent".
These trademarks are affected:
Deceptive packaging at Aldi Nord: The bars of the own brand Moser Roth are criticized by consumer advocates. © Screenshot: Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg
| Product | Filling quantity old | Filling quantity new |
| Chocolat Amandes Noble Marzipan Whole Milk | 184 grams | 150 grams |
| Chocolat Amandes Noble Marzipan Dark | 184 grams | 150 grams |
| Chocolat Amandes Noble Marzipan Mozart | 168 grams | 150 grams |
| Source: Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg |
Another accusation of the Hamburg consumer advocates is that Aldi sells the "old" chocolate bars (184 or 168-gram packs) at a higher price. For example, the bars do not go over the counter at the otherwise demanded price of 1.59 euros. Customers would now have to pay 1.89 euros for these boards at the checkout. Behind this is a "cheap sleight of hand". Because of the price adjustments, "there is no hidden price increase at all for the new packs with shrunken contents".
Price trickery in retail: Aldi drags out the bars
But that's not all of the trickery. Aldi is now lengthening the outer packaging of its bars, although it contains less weight (150 grams instead of 184 grams). The chocolate had already shrunk by a third of its contents. Last year, for example, the filling quantities of the varieties Edel Marzipan Whole Milk and Edel Marzipan Dark Chocolate had already fallen from 230 to 184 grams, the VZHB continued.
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There can be no talk of a hidden price increase here, as prices have recently risen throughout the chocolate range. We have adjusted the selling price for the remaining quantities for the old 184 g/168 g grammage to 1.89 euros."
Statement by Aldi Nord to the Hamburg Consumer Advice Centre
Part of the discounter's concealment tactics is that there are now five instead of four tablets in the package. The trick here is that a stick weighs only 30 grams instead of the previous 46 grams. Aldi customers therefore have to look very closely. Because the recipe was apparently also worked on. "In the case of the varieties Chocolat Amandes Noble Marzipan Whole Milk and Chocolat Amandes Noble Marzipan Dark Chocolate, only 38 percent of fine marzipan per chocolate bar are now processed, previously it was 45 percent," warn the consumer advocates. Something similar can be observed with the Chocolat Amandes marzipan variety. Here, too, the proportion of marzipan and nougat drops by a few percentage points.
However, consumers are not only deceived when it comes to chocolate. In the case of branded popsicles from Oreo, Daim, Milka, Langnese and Mars, the Hamburg consumer advocates recently found cheating with prices and pack sizes at discounters and supermarkets such as Edeka, Kaufland and Netto. Consumer advocates regularly choose these tricks of the trade as the deceptive package of the month in order to create more transparency for consumers when shopping.
