Why Aldi isn't lifting buying restrictions on certain items
While Coles and Woolworths have lifted their purchase limits on toilet paper, implemented as a reaction to coronavirus panic buying, Aldi is yet to do so.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia in a Facebook livestream on Friday, Aldi Australia Customer Experience Director Adrian Christie offered some insight into why the supermarket is yet to relax its limit on toilet paper.
“You can buy one pack of toilet paper,” Mr Christie said.
“There’s plenty of toilet paper that’s filling the stores through the day, but at the moment if we’re to take away that restriction, we think some people might miss out and we don’t want to take that risk.”
Toilet paper is not the only product with restrictions, customers are still limited to purchasing two units of flour, dry rice, hand sanitiser, eggs and liquid soap.
“We think that’s enough to feed families and for people to get access to the goods,” Mr Christie said, before hinting purchasing limits would be lifted in the near future.
“As we work with our supply chain we make sure that there’s plenty of products for everyone and those should be lifted in the weeks ahead.
“We just want to make sure if you go to the supermarket, you’re guaranteed to be able to fill your basket with everything you want.”
However, Mr Christie did point out many restrictions were lifted earlier last week, like mince meat, tinned food and alcohol.
Last week, Coles completely lifted its limit on toilet paper, along with paper towels, due to customer demand stabilising.
Meanwhile, Woolworths relaxed its limit on toilet paper, to four packs per person, per shop.
The limits implemented across Australian supermarkets were a way to combat panic buying and hoarding, while also introducing social distancing measures to the store to help keep staff and customers safe.
In the Facebook livestream Mr Christie explained there was a “big shock to the supply chain” and in a single week Aldi sent out seven million toilet rolls to stores.
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.