ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Compagnie, oHG, doing business as Aldi .(German pronunciation:
[aldiː], short for Albrecht Diskont), is a global discount supermarket chain based
in Germany. The chain is made of two separate groups,
Aldi Nord, headquartered in Essen—and ALDI Süd, headquartered in Mülheim an der Ruhr.
The two operate independently, each within specific areas.
The individual groups were originally owned and managed by brothers Karl Albrecht and
Theo Albrecht. Karl Albrecht retained ownership of Aldi Süd, and with a personal wealth of
€17.2 billion, was the richest man in Germany, while the co-owners of ALDI Nord, Berthold
and Theo Albrecht Jr., follow close behind at €16 billion. Dieter Schwarz, owner of
Lidl and Kaufland came in third, with a fortune of €11.5 billion.
ALDI's German operations consist of Aldi Nord's 35 individual regional companies with about
2,500 stores in western, northern, and eastern Germany, and Aldi Süd's 31 regional companies
with 1,600 stores in western and southern Germany.
Internationally, ALDI Nord operates in Denmark, France, the Benelux countries, the Iberian
peninsula, and Poland, while ALDI Süd operates in Ireland, Great Britain, Hungary, Switzerland,
Australia, Austria, and Slovenia. Both ALDI Nord and Aldi Süd also operate in the United
States; Aldi Nord is owner of the Trader Joe's chain while Aldi Süd operates as Aldi.
According to a 2002 survey conducted by the German market research institute Forsa, 95%
of blue-collar workers, 88% of white-collar workers, 84% of public servants, and 80% of
self-employed Germans shop at Aldi. One of ALDI's direct competitors, both nationally
and internationally, is Lidl.
History
The earliest roots of the company trace back to 1913, when the mother of Karl and Theo
Albrecht opened a small store in a suburb of Essen. Their father was employed as a miner
and later as a baker’s assistant. Karl Albrecht was born in 1920, Theo Albrecht in 1922. Theo
Albrecht completed an apprenticeship in his mother’s store, while Karl Albrecht worked
in a delicatessen. Karl Albrecht took over a food shop formerly run by F. W. Judt who
already advertised that they were the "cheapest food source". Karl Albrecht served in the
German Army during World War II. In 1946, the brothers took over their mother’s business
and soon opened another retail outlet nearby. By 1950, the Albrecht brothers owned 13 stores
in the Ruhr Valley. The brothers' idea, which was new at the time,
was to subtract the legal maximum rebate of 3% before sale. The market leaders at the
time, which often were co-operatives, required their customers to collect rebate stamps,
and to send them at regular intervals to reclaim their money. The Albrecht brothers also rigorously
removed merchandise that did not sell from their shelves, cutting costs by neither advertising
nor selling fresh produce, and keeping the size of their retail outlets small.
When the brothers split the company in 1960 over a dispute whether they should sell cigarettes
at the till, they owned 300 shops with a cash flow of DM90 million yearly. In 1962, they
introduced the name Aldi—short for Albrecht-Diskont. Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially
and legally separate since 1966, although both divisions' names may appear with certain
house brands or when negotiating with contractor companies.
ALDI expanded internationally in the 1950s and 1980s, experiencing a rapid expansion
after German reunification and the fall of the Iron Curtain. The brothers retired as
CEOs in 1993 and gave most of their wealth to foundations.
Business organization
Germany The Aldi Nord group currently consists of
35 independent regional branches with approximately 2,500 stores. Aldi Süd is made up of 31 companies
with 1,600 stores. The border between their territories runs from the Rhine via Mülheim
an der Ruhr, Wermelskirchen, Marburg, Siegen, and Gießen east to just north of Fulda. The
former East Germany is served by Aldi Nord, except for one Aldi Süd in Sonneberg, Thuringia,
whose regional office is in Bavaria. The regional branches are organised as limited partnerships
with a regional manager for each branch who reports directly to the head office in Essen
or Mülheim an der Ruhr. Internationally
The ALDI group operates over 8,000 stores worldwide. A store opens roughly every week
in Britain alone. ALDI Nord is responsible for its stores in
Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Poland, Spain, Denmark, and Portugal, and
also operates the Trader Joe's supermarket chain in the United States. Aldi Süd's responsibilities
are in the USA, Austria and Slovenia, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, and Switzerland.
Aldi Süd's first Switzerland store opened in 2005, while it has operated in Hungary
since 2007. Aldi Süd had invested an estimated €800m in Greece from November 2008 until
pulling out on 31 December 2010. Whilst ALDI Nord has renamed its Dutch and
Belgian subsidiaries Combi and Lansa to the Aldi Markt/Aldi Marché brand, Aldi Süd tries
to maintain a regional appearance, branding its stores Aldi Süd in Germany, Aldi Suisse
in Switzerland, and Hofer in Austria and Slovenia. In Great Britain, Aldi opened its 500th store
in October 2013 and now has a market share of 3.6%. Aldi has opened stores in affluent
locations including Knutsford and Bury St Edmunds Aldi has been aggressively recruiting
management staff at top UK universities. In the USA, as with most American supermarkets,
Aldi accepts public assistance debit-style cards as payment.
In much of Australia, Aldi filled a void in the discount supermarket business that arose
when the discount grocery chain Franklins, in 2002, became limited to New South Wales.
Although Aldi had been operating in a few locations in Australia since the late 1990s,
other discount supermarkets, such as BI-Lo, were either purchased or pushed out of the
Supermarket business by Coles and Woolworths at about the same time. On 17 December 2008,
Aldi opened its 200th Australian store; its supermarkets are in Victoria, New South Wales,
the Australian Capital Territory, and Queensland. Geographic distribution
Business practices Some Aldi practices are common in German supermarkets
but largely unique to Aldi in other countries. These include the system of metal gates and
turnstiles forcing customers to exit through the checkout, and charging customers for shopping
bags. Until 2004, Aldi stores accepted only cash. Debit cards also are accepted in the
USA, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
Ireland, Australia, Slovenia, and Hungary. Electronic-benefit transfer cards are also
accepted in the USA. Aldi generally does not accept credit cards,
though Aldi Australia accepts MasterCard and Visa for a 0.5% surcharge and Aldi Ireland
accepts Visa/MasterCard with no surcharge. In the USA, Aldi accepts Discover Card at
some locations. In Great Britain Aldi accepts credit cards in Scotland only.
Another practice at Aldi stores in Europe, Australia and the USA, is requiring a coin,
or an Aldi-issued reusable token, to use a shopping trolley. When the coin or token is
inserted, the trolley is unlocked from the other trolleys. When the cart is returned,
the customer is refunded their coin, effectively costing the customer only the time to return
the cart. This is a common practice in some European supermarkets. Likewise when Aldi
opened its stores in Australia, coin deposit for trolleys was already commonplace especially
in low socio economic areas to counter theft and subsequent repurposing of trolleys by
customers. By contrast, many U.S. competitors have employees return carts left in parking
areas. In-store layout
Aldi specialises in staple items, such as food, beverages, toilet paper, sanitary articles,
and other inexpensive household items. Many of its products are own brands, with the number
of other brands usually limited to a maximum of two for a given item. This increases sales
for each article, and lets Aldi shops be smaller than stores with more brand choice. This practice
let Aldi avoid price tags, even before the introduction of bar code scanners.
Branded products carried include HARIBO in Germany, Marmite and Branston Pickle in the
UK; and Vegemite and Milo in Australia. In the USA, major brand-name products, such as
Oscar Mayer bacon, sometimes are offered as a 'special purchase': name-brand items that
Aldi has received at a special price from the vendor and can offer for a reduced price.
Unlike most shops, Aldi does not accept manufacturers' coupons, although some USA stores successfully
experimented with store coupons. In addition to its standard assortment, Aldi
has weekly special offers, some of them on more expensive products such as electronics,
tools, appliances, or computers, usually from Medion. Discount items can include clothing,
toys, flowers, and gifts. Specials have strict limits on quantities, and are for one week.
Aldi's early computer offers in Germany resulted in those products selling out in a few hours.
Aldi is the largest wine retailer in Germany Some Australian stores now sell alcoholic
beverages. Some USA stores also sell alcoholic beverages where permitted by local laws.
Aldi mainly sells exclusively produced, custom-branded products with brand names including Grandessa
and Fit & Active. USA, Australian, and UK Aldi stores also feature bargain-priced, gourmet
foods imported from Germany. Aldi's gift certificates must be paid for
in cash. Advertising policy
Aldi has a policy in Germany of not advertising, apart from a weekly newsletter of special
prices called "Aldi informs" that is distributed in stores and by direct mail, and often printed
in local newspapers. It claims this is a cost saving that can be passed on to consumers.
In Germany, Aldi has never used an external advertising agency.
In the USA it advertises in newspapers and on television as well as print ads distributed
in stores and via the Internet. In the UK, print and television ads have appeared
since mid-2005. Reputation
Originally Aldi shops were often ridiculed as being cheap shops selling low-quality goods,
whose customers could not afford to shop elsewhere. However, being held in low esteem by many
did not seem to dent Aldi's profits. In the UK, Aldi has won the Supermarket of
the Year by Which? for two years in a row., and in 2013, Aldi won The Grocer Grocer of
the Year Award. In the United States, due to the relatively
low staffing of Aldi locations compared to other supermarket chains, Aldi has a reputation
of starting employees out at significantly higher than minimum wage, unusual among American
supermarkets. Criticism
In April 2000, Aldi UK paid damages to a shop manager who was fired for being HIV-positive.
Aldi reached an out-of-court settlement with Mark Hedley shortly before an employment tribunal
hearing. Hedley complained of discrimination after he was asked to leave because bosses
said staff were uncomfortable around him. It is thought the damages paid to Hedley were
"six figures". In 2004, German Aldi stores sold garden furniture
made of Indonesian Meranti wood. Because it was not able to show that it was sourced legally,
environmental organisations pressured Aldi to stop selling the furniture. Within days
Aldi announced that all of the timber used in its products would bear the FSC certificate,
which promotes sustainable forestry. In 2008 Aldi UK demolished a historic coaching
inn in Burpham having previously agreed not to until planning consent had been received.
In 2010, over 200 Aldi store managers in the USA filed charges over unfair labour practices,
claiming they were illegally classified as exempt from overtime pay, receiving a fixed
salary regardless of the actual number of hours worked. The plaintiffs claimed that
instead of managing, most of the time was spent stocking shelves, cleaning spills, and
serving customers. Aldi store managers are not responsible for hiring, firing, or promoting
employees. In September 2011, Australian community groups
in Quakers Hill, New South Wales launched objections over Aldi's plans of selling discount
alcohol at several stores. Spying employees
In 2013 Aldi Germany was criticised for spying on its own staff, in the same year it was
also caught up in the horse meat contamination scandal along with Tesco and others. On 8
February 2013, the store group admitted that some of its frozen lasagne and Spaghetti bolognese
products contained 30% — 100% horse meat rather than the advertised beef and that it
had terminated the supplier responsible for the adulterated product.
Slavery in Thailand In 2014, The Guardian reported that Aldi is
client of Charoen Pokphand Foods. During 6 months The Guardian traced down the whole
chain from slave ships in Asian waters to leading producers and retailers.
Aldi Talk
Aldi has a mobile virtual network operator in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands,
called Aldi Talk. Aldi also operates a similar network in Australia using Telstra's 3G network,
called ALDImobile. Aldi Liquor
Aldi has a liquor website serving the east coast of Australia at http:www.aldiliquor.com.au.
The site launched in mid-2013, and was a world-first move into online retailing for ALDI.
The ALDI Liquor website has been shortlisted for a 2014 ORIA award for "Best New Online
Retailer".
References
External links
Official website Template:ALDI Liquor