OVER 3 MILLION

 I have to write AN OFFICIAL THANK YOU POST now @MarkHowitt has reached OVER 3 MILLION VIEWS WORLDWIDE...

I already had views and a bit of local @htafc fame when I started writing more in public on the net in 2009... yet if you let me know then I'd be over 3 million...

Never would believe you.

As a writer you must believe in yourself. Thank you to all my true readers.

Aldi Assistant

 @Morrisons

@AldiUK

this classic is coming out again even though aldi are shit german thieves now

The Supermarket War: Aldi vs J Sainsbury plc And Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plc

How does a shopping experience at Aldi compare to J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY) and Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plc (LON:MRW)?

Posted by

Mark Howitt

Published 18 July, 2014 2:56 pm BST

It’s 8:00am on Friday morning. I live in quite a middle-class area, but there’s an Aldi near me. And already there is a pretty long queue of elderly people eager for the doors to open…

As I shop there every week, I make a note of the kind of people who frequent the store. I’ve shopped there at different times: I would say around 70% of the people are over 50; some may describe them as thrifty. It’s a good job they are, because Aldi will charge them for a plastic bag.

There is no music playing in Aldi. You have to shove a pound into the trolley if you want one. The floor is made up of yellow tiles, some of which are cracked. At 8:00am, the narrow aisles will often be half obstructed by big boxes.

Yet the prices are all cheap. You could go to a shelf and randomly pick more or less anything and it would actually be good value for money probably, not just cheap. The fresh vegetables and fruit are quite good. And there is always a massive queue at the checkout of people waiting to pay for their goods, rushed through quickly by till operators. At the front of the till, they advertise for new staff.

Even at 8:00am, the car park is so full it’s hard to get a place.

Anyway, I do the other half of my shopping at Morrisons (LSE: MRW). It’s only a few hundred metres away from Aldi; I go there straight after. The car park is much bigger and there’s plenty of space. You don’t have to pay for a trolley and as you walk in there is music playing and the store is warm and bright. There are much more staff around, in fetching green aprons no less.

However, and this is key, the store is nowhere near as busy as Aldi. I’ve been shopping in Morrisons for a long time, roughly from when the store opened 20 years ago. There used to be more customers.

Overall the ‘shopping experience’ is much better than in Aldi, but the prices are quite a lot worse. My tip for shopping in Morrisons is to only buy things that are on offer, or only buy Morrisons’ own brand — but even then it’s still dearer than Aldi.

You can check out your shopping much more quickly at Morrisons, and at the tills they are advertising their online shopping service. Better late than never.

Hopefully this snapshot has given you some insight into how the businesses may be operating on a personal level — it’s important to look at figures with shares, but it’s also great if you can get personal experience with the business. That’s why I check out branches of HSBC when I’m in town, too.

Aldi aren’t on the UK stock market and I don’t have shares in Morrisons. I do, however, have shares in Sainsbury’s (LSE: SBRY). I was attracted by the good dividend yield (currently 5.41%) and the nice P/E ratio (currently 9.6). I believe that Sainsbury’s will be affected less by the likes of Aldi and Lidl than Morrisons or Tesco, but they still will be affected in some way, shape or form. That’s probably why they’re going to open 15 Nettos by the end of the year, and there are rumours that a Sainsbury’s store might be turned into a Netto! Overall, though, I think Sainsbury’s business model has a decent chance of retaining most of its middle-class customers, especially down south.

Looking at Morrisons as a share is interesting, too. The dividend yield is a stonking 7.24% and the P/E ratio is only 9.5. Seems cheap as chips. However, you should think carefully before investing in this share. I have no current plans to do so, even though it’s trading around the level of its Net Asset Value (NAV). Take a look at how much the share price has dropped over the last six months and over the last year. Just over a year ago the share was trading at 312p. Six months ago it was 250p.

I believe Morrisons will be effected quite a bit more than Sainsbury’s by Aldi, Lidl and other discounters. Sainsbury’s has many more stores, including convenience stores, located in London and the South East. And the shopping experience is different in Sainsbury’s, too — some Sainsbury’s have a pharmacy and even a bank to pull customers in and retain them. What’s more, Sainsbury’s online offering is more advanced than Morrisons.

Big Views X

 Impressions

4,156

Engagements

380

Detail expands

39

New followers

1

Profile visits

145

on just this post thanks

@htafc

@KevinNagleMLS

Views

 Views over past year for @MarkHowitt on @X Impressions

Times your posts were seen on X

328,326

A lot of my readers have been asking me if @MagnusCarlsen REALLY is the GOAT?? What do you think @JonathanLevitt7 and @Atomrod ?

 A lot of my readers have been asking me if @MagnusCarlsen REALLY is the GOAT?? What do you think @JonathanLevitt7 and @Atomrod ?

GM LEVEL

 THE TRUTH IS........

YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T LIKKKKKKKKKKE it at the GM LEVEL.......

Why would you want to spend 18 MONTHS of your life writing a novel............

READ 3000 books........ just let that sink in for a second........ THREE THOUSAND BOOKS..........

GET REJECTED MANY TIMES

CHEAT DEATH MANY TIMES

GET 2.5 MILLION VIEWS WORLDWIDE......... but not get paid THAT MUCH for the actual writing...... like people like KEVIN NAGLE.... know when to keep their money in their pockets...........

WHEN YOU'RE THERE YOU'RE THERE.......

MORE TO COME

All Time

 United States

85.2K

United Kingdom

68.8K

Singapore

44K

Hong Kong

28.3K

Russia

14.3K

France

13.5K

Germany

9.82K

Canada

4.94K

China

2.6K

Other

58.3K

Rapture

 La

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

La

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

The night I laid my eyes on you

Felt everything around me move

Got nervous when you looked my way

But you knew all the words to say

Then your love slowly moved right in

All this time, oh my love where you been

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

La

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

La

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

I'm mesmerized in every way

You keep me in a state of daze

You're kisses make my skin feel weak

I'm always melting in your heat

Then I soar like a bird in the wind

Oh, I glide as I'm flying through heaven

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

Since we connect behind closed doors

Spark this fire even more

No telling where we will be next

Surrender to your rapture arrest

Lay your head, let the slumber float

Can't resist, that's why words were wrote

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so, yeah

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

Mi amore, don't you know

My love, I want you so

Sugar, you make my soul complete

Rapture tastes so sweet

Mi amore, don't you know

Chess Comeback

 For

@MarkHowitt

fans/readers waiting for my OTB comeback... or just more chess in general... now played over 3100 games. Spoken with Leo Keely and we both know my readers and fans worldwide will not accept a defeat. Still unbeaten in graded games since 2007. Book me for coaching.

I'M NOT STOPPING

 @MarkHowitt

·

3m

More to come thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GM

@MarkHowitt

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

3m

I DON'T KNOW SOME OF THESE GUYS AND GIRLS........ I do know who it is when DEAN HOYLE or ANDY BOOTH chat to me though!!

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

3m

I'm at the stage now where PLENTY OF PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW in Huddersfield come up to me etc......... people offering me drinks, showing me pics they did years ago!!!

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4m

Reality is when I go into

@Morrisons

even smart guys who went to

@GreenheadCol

DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO GEORGE ORWELL IS......... LET ALONE HAVE READ ALL HIS NOVELS BY THE AGE OF 17 like I have..............

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

Just read 3000 books guys! Then you'll be a READER GM!

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

You only KNOW the GM level when you've reached it!!!!!!!!

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

GMs in my DMs from at least 4 diffffffffffffferent areas guys!

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

I coulddddddddddddd have died just like he could but God and orrrrrrrr the UNIVERSE didn't want us to die...........

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

No wayyyyyyyyy

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

You think I ever thought I'd get to chat to some of them GMs I have in 2009 like

@Financial_Orbit

???

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

MY READERS know me........ on

@X

/twitter since 2009...............................

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

2s

No stopppppppppppppppppppppppping for me baby.........

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

I'm at the stage now where I will come back and REREAD his novels that I read 10 years ago...........

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

2s

@BernardCornwell

still got a book out end of 2024 guys.......... HE'S 80 years old!

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

4s

How Do u thinkkkkkkkkkkkk George Orwell would feel if I stopped?

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

3s

You do know most writers are MORE FAMOUS AFTER DEATH RIGHT?

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

7m

Sure I've done 3 walks today but now......... just a pure blast.................

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

7m

When u get around the 2.5 MILLION MARK.............. U DO NOT WANT TO SLOW DOWN............

Player Cards

 GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

3s

We need player cards for

@itsandreabotez

tbh...... like chat....... looks...... intelligence....... (London is Capital of England btw babe)....

GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

1s

A GM I know has just rated

@itsandreabotez

a 7.5................ too low????????

Famous

 GM Mark Howitt

@MarkHowitt

·

8h

Replying to

@MagnusCarlsen

Last tweet before sleep... pretty surreal in many

@YouTube

videos I'm alluded to by CHESS GMs. So far I've counted

@FabianoCaruana

@MagnusCarlsen

@DavidHowellGM

and

@GmNaroditsky

....

Just inspiration for young writers that when you get over 2 million views things happen...

Huddersfield Town Pass

 

Anyone who wants to buy this

@htafc

car parking pass let me know. I'll get you a good price.

Fujitsu Scandal

 The more I read about it, the more shocked I am at the Fujitsu Post Office Scandal.

People killed themselves over it.

This company should be badly fined.

Donation

 Thanks for all views on this site.

I am open to adverts for products which are high quality- feel free to contact me about this and already in some discussions.

Sponsorship opportunities available.

I am in training to play more OTB chess. Any donations you can make will go towards this and creating even more content so please donate if you can.

Donation

French Views

 What surprises me is the views from France both over past 7 days and 6 months...... I know the Freestyle is there and @MagnusCarlsen but still... past 7 days

France	1,235
Singapore	415
Hong Kong	206
United Kingdom	154
Mexico	143
United States	46
Germany	8
Russia	5
Israel	4
Ireland	3
India	3
Japan	3
Switzerland	1
Netherlands	1
Philippines	1
Sweden	1
Other	9

France

1.24K

Singapore

415

Hong Kong

206

United Kingdom

154

Mexico

143

United States

46

Germany

8

Russia

5

Israel

4

Ireland

3

India

3

Japan

3

Switzerland

1

Netherlands

1

Philippines

1

Sweden

1

Other

9