German discount chain Aldi has again beaten out Australia’s supermarket powerhouses Coles and Woolworths in the customer satisfaction stakes.

That’s according to comparison site Canstar, with Aldi taking top spot in the supermarket category of the site’s Most Satisfied Customer Awards for the eighth time in 10 years.

Aldi scored five stars this year in the “overall satisfaction”, “value for money”, “freshness of fruit, vegetables and meat”, “quality of supermarket-owned branded products”, “deals/specials available” and “store layout” categories.

Woolworths came in second place, followed by Coles in third, and IGA in fourth.

Aldi topped the supermarket customer satisfaction ratings. Photo: Canstar

ALDI has previously won Canstar’s “most satisfied customers” award in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2012.

Aldi buying director Simon Padovani-Ginies attributed this year’s win to the supermarket’s combination of quality and low prices.

“Our commitment to providing the highest-quality products at incredibly low prices is clearly resonating with our customers and is something we are extremely proud of,” Mr Padovani-Ginies said.

Aldi expands Australian offerings

The win comes as Aldi celebrates its 20th year in Australia, and begins to up the ante against Coles and Woolworths.

A new era for Aldi in Australia began in July, with the discount supermarket chain launching its first smaller-format convenience store, dubbed the ‘corner store’ in North Sydney.

The format represents an embrace of a convenience strategy the two biggest supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, have long banked on with their Local and Metro offshoots.

In June, after long watching rival supermarkets’ self-service moves from the sidelines, Aldi began trialling self-serve checkouts at 10 of its stores in NSW and is considering a national rollout.

The move was hyped as a game changer for Australia’s lowest-priced supermarket, one that will address a huge customer criticism of Aldi – long checkout queues.

“Anecdotal feedback from the first day of the trial was overwhelmingly positive, with more than half of our customers opting to use the new self-checkouts,” Aldi said of the move.

After holding out on the online shopping revolution despite the pandemic eCommerce boom, Aldi has also hinted at plans for a digital future.

In March, Aldi’s Australian boss flagging the possibility of online offerings in the future, including alcohol and the cult favourite ‘special buys’.

Aldi chief executive Tom Daunt revealed the discount chain would inevitably give in to the demand for online shopping, but did not specify a time frame.