ALDI is seeking 100 new volunteers for its popular product Testers Club. The company expends a good deal of resources on bringing new own-brand products to market and uses the Testers Club to rate new products prior to release. The company is usually overwhelmed by the number of applicants and, as the saying goes, many are called but few are chosen.
“The ALDI Testers Club is a one-year program that gives our customers not only the opportunity to trial our products for free, but also have a significant influence on our product development and selection of what products ALDI stores will stock in the future,” an ALDI spokesperson told C&I WEEK.
“At ALDI Australia, we value feedback from our customers. As we expand, it is our priority to remain nimble and responsive to changing tastes and preferences to ensure we meet the needs of tomorrow’s consumer.
“Unique to the Australian market, the Testers Club was first launched in August 2015 and received more than 17,000 applications, from which we selected 100 official members. “
Once every three months, the 100 successful applicants each receives a free package containing ten new products. Members then evaluate the products over the following two months and rate them by logging on to the Testers Club website, where they can also see what how other members rated the product.
ALDI encourages its testers to share the products with friends and family. Members are not expected to rate all of the products. However, continued membership of the club demands that they test at least half of them. After one year, a new set of 100 testers is chosen. Members can opt out at any time.
The products sampled are shelf stable food and non-food items which are not gender specific. Testers are expected to overlook products to which they may be allergic, are unsuitable or products that that are not relevant to them. ALDI has strict privacy rules with the Testers Club, but reserves the right to publish ratings and various comments made by Testers.
On its Testers Club website ALDI says: “We’re looking for Testers who are interested in ALDI’s products and generally in product testing. We hope testing and rating products is something they enjoy doing. If you’re an ALDI shopper, or a fan of our brand in general, make sure you mention it in your application, as this is seen as a big plus. We will carefully assess every application before selecting the lucky group of Testers.”
“We valued the input from last year’s Testers, using many of their reviews on our website, catalogue and in-store,” ALDI said.
“We were delighted with their feedback about the quality of ALDI products, and how comparable – if not better – they were to market leading brands. Those interested can simply visit www.alditestersclub.com.au, tell us a bit about themselves and why they want to be part of this year’s Club. Applications close on 27th February, 2017 and the Testers will be chosen by the 6th March, 2017. ALDI will be sending the first round of products to the 2017 Testers on the 27th March”