A few weeks ago, when the Aldi managers had worked out the offers for the beginning of March, hardly anyone expected: Aldi has been offering disinfectants since Monday – at a time when the worry about the corona virus was big and the demand for hygiene products is all the greater.
Long lines at Aldi
No wonder that long lines had formed in front of almost all Aldi branches in the country on Monday morning. Most customers wanted to get hold of some disinfectant that seems to have been sold out in all pharmacies and drugstores for weeks. Now that hand disinfection has been stolen in hospitals, it was clear: This offer will cause a rush.
Bottles with gel or spray and wipes for disinfecting surfaces were offered. Because of the expected rush, customers were only allowed to buy a total of three products – which led to wild discussions and sometimes tumultuous scenes in some branches. In some cases, the disinfectants were not even available in the shop, but were only issued at the checkout upon request.
"Only in certain numbers"
On the Aldi website it said in advance: "The articles are only available on site in our branches and are offered at the usual low ALDI price. There will not be a short-term price increase due to the high demand to be expected. As with all our promotional articles we would like to point out that, in contrast to our constantly existing range, these are only available in a certain number. They can therefore be sold out shortly after the start of the campaign on the morning of the first day of the campaign. "
Accordingly, numerous customers went to several branches of the discounter on Monday morning to dust off numerous bottles of cheap disinfection. But after a few hours the spook was over – and both the more popular hand gel and the disinfectant spray were completely sold out!
Customers report crazy scenes in the branches:
And while thousands of customers in the country's Aldi branches tried to get some of the coveted disinfectant, the shelves in the drugstore that were now refilled were largely unobserved:
At Aldi, the turmoil has come to an end – in almost all branches, all disinfectants – gel, spray and wipes – are now completely sold out.