Aldi - Customer Needs Analysis

ALDI- Customer Needs Analysis

        Aldi is a grocery chain that started off in a small town of Essen in Germany way back in 1946 with two brothers, Karl and Theo Albrecht. The name Aldi is made from the words Albrecht and discount. Even way back then, the Albrecht brothers felt they knew what the average consumer wanted and that was discounts, quality, and value. Theo ad Karl ran the business in two separate units as early as 1961 with Karl running the south and Theo running the north. The brothers brought everything back together in 1962 in Dortmund where they opened their first Aldi store (Steen,2016, Pg 1).

        Early on, Karl and Theo focused mainly on expanding the business worldwide. They were seldom seen in public and rarely spoke to the media. Their main goal when it came to running Aldi was to keep business and finances confidential, concentrate on being frugal, and produce high quality products.

Aldi has a simple strategy based solely on keeping costs low. This strategy is helpful in order to gain repeat customers who come back to the store for more purchasing. Aldi has tried to separate itself from other retailers by purchasing supplies and products that are somewhat inexpensive. This is what makes Aldi different from many of its competitors. This strategy has helped keep prices low in the long run for Aldi customers. This type of Differentiation Strategy has helped with customer focus. Aldi main focus is keeping prices low, but one of its goal is to not substitute low prices for quality.

Another strategy that Aldi seems to take pride in is there Operational Strategy. Aldi employees are paid one of the highest salaries and hourly wage in the business along with monthly and yearly bonuses. This type of strategy is quite helpful when it comes to turnover rates. Aldi has come to set the bar when it comes to benefits boasting pay for maternity leave and sick leave as well.

        Aldi also sets itself apart from its competitors by implementing their own successful Cost Leadership Strategy model. Another one of Aldi main goals is to keep the cost of operations down by doing some of the things other big name grocery stores are not doing. Aldi doesn’t overstock, like most groceries do. Aldi only carries a couple of options of each product so the customer doesn’t have a hard time trying to decide on what to purchase. Aldi does not provide free shopping bags in order for the customer to bag their groceries. Aldi also only acquires small or cheap buildings when they open up new locations.