There are several changes to supermarket shopping in 2024. Here you can find out what innovations consumers expect.
Munich – Every year there are some changes in the new year, including in the supermarkets. One of them is even on the packaging, but there are also innovations in the deposit and price tags of several discounters in 2024. This is what customers can expect in the supermarket in the new year:
At first glance, some customers may notice when shopping that the Nutri-Score can be seen on significantly more packaging. This is because labeling will be mandatory for all new products from 2024. So far, however, the question has arisen for many: How meaningful is the Nutri-Score? This is also set to change from next year because the Nutri-Score calculation method has changed. The requirements for salt and sugar content and the amount of fiber are now taken into account more strictly. However, this also leads to: Many products will soon have a worse Nutri-Score have.
There will be new price tags at these supermarkets in 2024: Aldi, Lidl and Netto
Three of the largest discounters in Germany are relying on electronic signs instead of paper signs in the new year. Aldi, Lidl and Netto want to save paper waste because the electronic price tags do not have to be replaced. For the same reason, the Rewe brochure is only available electronically. Like, among other things, the Food Newspaper reported, the changeover at Netto is scheduled to take place in the first half of 2024. Aldi Süd plans to complete the change before New Year’s Eve. Lidl is in the process of rolling out the system. This year there was also an innovation in price tags in supermarkets. It is intended to make it easier for customers to compare prices, as the price per kilo must now be stated uniformly under the price of the goods.
However, there is criticism from the Hamburg consumer advice center, which has been warning about electronic price tags for years. It is feared that if demand increases, the prices of goods could be increased in the short term, as a change in electronic signs would be much quicker. Such short-term price increases could occur if many people want to buy the same products, for example during the barbecue season.
Changes in the supermarket in 2024: deposits on dairy products and an end to cheap milk
The most controversial change in German supermarkets in 2024 is probably the new deposit on dairy products. The new deposit rule is already causing a stir, with critics describing it as unhygienic. It is planned to also charge a deposit of 25 cents on milk and mixed milk drinks in the new year. That comes from one notice of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. Mixed milk drinks are, for example, whey drinks. So far, deposits have been charged on numerous drinks in cans, as well as glass and plastic bottles.
But something should also change when it comes to milk itself, at least at the discounter Aldi. It was already announced this summer that cheap milk would be removed from the range as part of an animal welfare offensive. From spring 2024 the time has come and only milk from cows in rearing types three and four will be offered, he explains Discounter. The change applies to both Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. (kiba/AFP)