THOUSANDS of Aldi shoppers queued to get on its website this morning as the supermarket launched a new gardening Specialbuys range.
Some shoppers say they were placed in a queue with more than 10,000 people in front of them, and a wait time of almost one hour.
Aldi customers appear to have been queuing for its new gardening range which went on pre-sale today, ahead of a Thursday release in stores.
Items that have now sold out online include a £39.99 patio heater and a £349.99 Kamado egg-shaped BBQ.
A message on the Aldi website, posted at 7.30am, read: “We are sorry for your wait, our garden products are being restocked.
“If you miss out this time, more stock is arriving over the coming week.”
One customer shared a screengrab on the Aldi Shoppers UK Facebook group, showing 11,157 people in front of her in the queue.
Other shoppers also complained about long waits and items selling out.
One said: “There is a 25 minute wait to get on their site currently.”
Another said: “Heater sold out! Gutted…”
A third said: “I can’t find the patio heater online, it says buy online from today but I can’t even see if it’s sold out? Has anyone managed to get one?”
A fourth commented: “Kamado BBQ sold out.”
When HOAR tried to get online this morning, shortly after 8am, the queue had died down to just under 1,000 people in front of us.
The queue had disappeared entirely by 9am.
The majority of the gardening range will be in stores from this Thursday, March 25, so shoppers may be able to pick something up then as part of their essential shop.
Some items are online only – such as the Kamado BBQ – but this will be clearly stated on the item description on the Aldi website.
Aldi has around 600 shops in the UK – you can use its online store finder tool to locate your nearest store.
An Aldi spokesperson told HOAR: “The demand for our Specialbuys was extremely high this morning and as a result customers may have been held in a queue to enter the website.
“This was to improve customer experience on the website when they entered and made their purchase.”
Aldi customers were left furious earlier this month after its hanging egg chair sold out within minutes.
Other items that have caused queues on the Aldi website include its sell-out home delivery food boxes.
Shoppers have also queued for hours to get their hands on Kevin the Carrot toys at Christmas.
