t is to introduce healthier tills at all of its stores in the UK from January 2015.Confectionery will be removed from checkouts and will be replaced with healthier options such as dried fruit, nuts, juices and water.
Aldi conducted a 16-week trial of healthier tills at several of its UK stores from February to June this year which proved to be a success. Giles Hurley, joint managing director of corporate buying at Aldi said, "the healthier foods proved more popular with our shoppers than the traditional checkout offer of confectionery and sweets". Feedback from customers was also positive.
This move has been welcomed by health and consumer groups who say that it will remove the temptation for customers and the likelihood of children pestering parents for sweets. However, the move does have some detractors, with some arguing that customers should be able to exercise self-control and be able to say no to their children and that some of these so-called healthy items are often high in sugar.
Aldi is the latest supermarket in the UK to take this decision regarding confectionery at tills. Tesco and Sainsbury's have already stopped placing confectionery at checkouts, however Sainsbury's Local stores still continue to do so. The other big German discounter, Lidl, has also banned confectionery from the tills of all of its UK stores after conducting a survey of parents.
