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Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

• siruncledrew 7y ago
  IMO, what Aldi succeeds in is doing more with less. Aldi's aisles, stores, and product ranges are smaller compared to big grocery stores. However, Aldi leverages a 'curated assortment' of products to offer good quality items at a lower price than other grocery stores. There's also 1 "Aldi Finds" aisle in the stores which seems like it's to beta test potential items or offer short-term deals on limited items (? - just my guess). The German discount grocery chains are really taking off in the US with Aldi and Lidl. I would like Rewe to come to the US next.
  • sofaofthedamned 7y ago
    The 'curated assortment' bit is interesting. If I go into my local Tesco, which isn't a huge ones, they've got about 15 types of coleslaw. The Lidl has 2. But they're nice ones. The cheapest is not awful, like the cheap Tesco one. The most expensive isn't ridiculously priced, but it is superb. Baked beans - one type at Lidl, their own brand, but it's nicer than Heinz these days. The dishwasher tablets are half the price of the branded ones but better in my dishwasher. I honestly love both Aldi and Lidl. They do have their gaps (you need to do ~10% of your shop in Tesco for these) but for the rest...
    • noir_lord 7y ago
      I was happy when they opened a lidl half way between my home and the local massive asda, I can go get the few bits I need from ASDA then hit lidl on the way back for the majority. LIDL's meat is amazing compared to asda's and they get a lot of cheese and stuff off the continent making it excellent quality for less than ASDA sells a block of bright orange 'Red Leicester'.
    • dingaling 7y ago
      Lidl do have some shortcomings. Other than a couple of wobbly bicycle racks out the front of the local store, Lidl UK are entirely car-orientated, in every aspect from location of the store to making pedestrians walk through the car park without pavements. That surprised me for a European chain. My other main gripe with Lidl is that they don't do home delivery. I'm not going to walk 25 minutes to their store, dice with cars and then haul groceries home when Tesco will bring shopping into my kitchen for £4.
  • greggeter 7y ago
    I was about to post this exact sentiment. Great companies in the future will curate products, experiences, processes, providing less choice and convincing the user they don't need more.
  • tannhaeuser 7y ago
    Maybe Tchibo and German whole-foods chains will be more novel in the US (but I don't know really). Tchibo is originally a coffee company focussing on quality and price (with whole-beans-grinding at the store) but they've long expanded into selling all kinds of clothing and home/gardening stuff. They're fanatic, too - their slogan has been "every week a new world", and they'd decorate their small shops anew every week.
• sofaofthedamned 7y ago
  My sister has worked in Aldi in the UK for 15 years. She loves it. She started as a normal member of staff - they expect people to pitch in - you're on the checkout, moving boxes, helping deliveries, etc. Nobody is immune from having to do work. She's now an Area Manager and still pitches in when visiting a store - she doesn't walk around with a clipboard, she helps the staff to do their job. The wages are so much better than other supermarkets in the UK, but they expect you to work for them. Our local Aldi has been closed for 5 months while they rebuild it. I miss it so much. The Tesco nearby is far more expensive and has staff just chatting. The Lidl is more austere but is more efficient and cheaper. As soon as it opens again i'll be doing 90% of my shop there.
  • ljf 7y ago
    I was running a table at a graduate fair for my company and stood opposite the Aldi grad scheme guys. The grad salary ofter 5 years (if you are accepted on the programme) was great (£75k) and they expected you to be managing multiple stores in an area. They had quite a queue of students. https://www.aldirecruitment.co.uk/area-manager-programme/our-area-manager-programmes/graduate-area-manager-programme/ https://www.aldirecruitment.co.uk/area-manager-programme/our...
    • opportune 7y ago
      I find it so weird how in the UK and much of the rest of europe, store managers and lots of blue collar jobs get paid so much more than software developers, even at large companies.
      • foota 7y ago
        Are you saying your software engineers make below 75k?
        • opportune 7y ago
          No, I live in the US. But from what I've heard about software engineer salaries in the UK, even at most large multinationals (except only Google?), it seems someone with 5 yoe as a store manager at Aldis in the UK makes (afaik) more than basically every software engineer with 5 yoe in the UK
• ThJ 7y ago
  Most of the stuff they're doing seems to be entirely commonplace for the supermarket chains we have here in Norway. The coins for the carts. Stacking crates instead of individual items. Training every employee for everything (it's not uncommon to see a store manager operating the cash register). Expecting customers to fill their own bags and charging for those bags. Smaller selection. The only unique part seems to be the tendency to promote the shop's own brand over name brands. On a related note: Lidl tried and failed to get a foothold here in Norway with similar tactics. It didn't work. Perhaps because our mainstream store chains are already so similar to Lidl, except our domestic chains offer actual name brand products and the Lidl stores didn't, and I think that's why they failed. Also, people who are really desperate to save money can just go to Sweden to shop. It's not a very long drive.
  • ThJ 7y ago
    It helps if you just imagine that every large brick and mortar chain in the Nordic countries operates kind of like IKEA. Lots of self service, spartan shop interior, and also, since labour is expensive here and you can't fuck your employees over with low wages like you can elsewhere, store owners tend to want to cut down on the number of staff.
    • Glawen 7y ago
      My god, aldi/lidl and ikea are the worst shops in europe. I can't imagine a country filled with the same awful shops
      • ThJ 7y ago
        The Nordic countries are not big on service, because you're a big boy and can take care of yourself. The reason IKEA came from Sweden is because that's the attitude here. Shop clerks aren't there to be your servants. They are your equals. Foreigners often complain of the awful service they get here, but it's a deliberate part of the working culture.
        • learc83 7y ago
• antidaily 7y ago
  It's such a dump and yet, their wines and beers are pretty damn good. And they have cheap organic produce. Just got to eat that day.
• oftenwrong 7y ago
  It appears that the dupe filter missed this one. Can we merge with https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19939376 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19939376 ?
  • theandrewbailey 7y ago
    The domain is different.
• Glawen 7y ago
  Wow i didn't know that Aldi was in the US. Aldi and lidl keep opening stores like crazy in Europe, there must be like 15 of them in my city in France. They are great on price, and the high end product are actually nice. But the rest is just average, and the cheese is really low quality (for french standard i mean) . The most annoying thing is that i can never find all the things i need. I just shop there for the basics : milk, egg, water, fruits and occasionally the tools they sell. The really good thing with aldi (more than lidl) is that they purchase local food, and you can sometimes have really nice surprises.
  • chris11 7y ago
    For awhile I lived in a city with both an Aldi and a Trader Joes. Over all I prefer Trader Joes, but Aldi had some cheap products I liked. And it was a nice surprise when I found some random household item I needed.
• starbugs 7y ago
  It's quite impressive how things have turned. Not long ago Walmart was about to disrupt the German supermarket landscape. They even tried to cut prices to below market cost to conquer Aldi, Lidl, and the other big discount supermarket chains. After a couple of years they gave up and left. Now Aldi appears to be "fighting back" successfully in the US. The history of Aldi's efficiency [0] is pretty impressive. It actually started with two brothers nearly going broke with their small grocery store. Then they realized that if they'd reduce the diversity of goods they offer and instead sell only the most common goods in bulk, they could undercut the competition's prices. This concept was so successful that it led to a multi billion dollar business which is still dictating the prices of common groceries in Germany. Still there are other supermarket chains that have adapted to the Aldi strategy and are actually causing growth issues for Aldi. Their concept is to offer basic goods at the same price as Aldi does, then upsell more special and higher price items while offering a better shopping experience. I guess that's what's going to happen in the US as well eventually. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi#History
  • ww520 7y ago
    Quite an insight. Costco has the similar product strategy with narrow product offering, and it's doing quite well.
  • Tsiklon 7y ago
    On some level I rather like the idea that Aldi, after fending off Walmart on their home turf are now making successful inroads in America in an effort to take Walmart's lunch.
  • FabHK 7y ago
    It's not uncommon in Germany to go to Aldi first, then buy everything that you could't get at the "full service" more expensive super market next door.
    • lqet 7y ago
      It's the only reasonable thing to do. REWE / Edeka / ... also have standard groceries (yoghurt, cheese, pasta, cans of tomatoes, corn, etc) from their discount brand which cost exactly as much as the Aldi product, but they are usually vastly inferior in taste and quality. Just go to REWE and buy a can of ja! corn. It tastes like somebody yellow-painted puffed rice.
• hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
  I think the point that this article drove home to me is that a lot of Aldi's "bare bones" mentality actually leads to a better experience for most shoppers, even separate from the lower prices. For example, the comment from a customer about the store layout making it easier to get in and out with kids in tow. The Aldi store brands have a reputation for good quality without the "50 kinds of salsa" paralysis of choice. The register lines move faster because there is no bagging. Store employees are more helpful because they are cross-trained, etc. I think this contrasts with a place like WalMart where employees are often less-than-helpful, so much of the products are low quality, etc.
  • mongol 7y ago
    The "50 kinds of salsa" paralysis is so real. Some shops have a great selection, everything looks tasty, exciting, worthwhile to buy but you can only buy so much. In Lidl, there is no problem of choice, because much less to choose from, you are relieved from having to choose. I prefer it for staples.
  • joezydeco 7y ago
    The register lines also move faster because of how they place barcodes all over the packaging. It’s genius. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/secret-how-aldi-lidl-scan-14354993 https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/secret-ho...
• oflannabhra 7y ago
  So, "Aldi" actually means lots of different things. Two German brothers (Karl and Theo Albrecht) formed ALDI in 1946. In the 60s, they split the company in two, resulting in Aldi Nord (Theo) and Aldi Süd (Karl). In the '90s, the brothers retired as CEOs and transferred ownership to family trusts. The companies operate in different geographical areas. Originally, the brothers split across the Rhine, but now Aldi Süd includes North America, Australia, and half of Europe. Aldi Nord operates in the other half of Europe. The same trust that owns Aldi Nord also owns Trader Joe's (acquired in 1979), and they use similar operational values: (minimal advertising, limited selection, private label goods, work ethic, etc) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi
  • cs02rm0 7y ago
    I'd associated that story with Aldi vs. Lidl. Seems the two are unrelated, other than Lidl being in the style of Aldi.
  • jaflo 7y ago
    This is mentioned in the article along with the tidbit of "the brothers [splitting] the business in two, reportedly over a dispute over whether to sell cigarettes" and the "dividing line between the two in Germany known as the “Aldi Equator.”"
  • Someone 7y ago
    ”Two German brothers (Karl and Theo Albrecht) formed ALDI in 1946. In the 60s, they split the company in two” Brothers starting a company and splitting up later to produce two successful companies seems to be a German thing. The Dassler brothers did it too, forming Adidas and Puma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas#Split_and_rivalry_with_Puma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas#Split_and_rivalry_with_...) Back to Aldi: it always surprises me that the two Aldi’s don’t get accused of forming a cartel. It is fairly clear that they agreed to split the market. I guess that doesn’t get them into trouble because a) there are other large players and b) they can’t be accused of doing it to prevent a price war.
    • detaro 7y ago
• petra 7y ago
  Most of those things are easy to do and easy to copy. But how do you find private label suppliers for 1000+ products, how do you know how to define great products, how do you verify that, and do you still manage prices low ? That's a key skill aldi acquired over decades, and it's really hard to copy.
  • bluGill 7y ago
    Most grocery stores have more private label products than Aldi. It isn't hard, most produces of product will put whatever label you want one (within what is legal) if you order a quantity.
    • petra 7y ago
      So if I go to a grocery store, and buy only their private labels - would the products be great, as people here describe Aldi?
      • bluGill 7y ago
        Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Private labels can set quality levels - for a price - if they want to. Most are trying to be cheapest and so they don't. Private labels order from the brand names. Sometimes they order a different recipe, but often it is the exact same recipe as the name brand just the box is different. If there is still more pickles in the vat after making 1000 jars of the private label they will finish the vat into 17 jars of their brand. Sometimes a batch will not meet the brand's quality standards (taste) but it is still food safe so they dump it into a private label box with lower standards.
• learntofly 7y ago
  I used to work for the UK's largest Supermarket Chain. In 2012 when an ALDI was due to open close to a store I managed, head office sent in a delegate from the small "Continental Discounter" (ALDI/LIDL) team who explain that the ALDI brand was a cleverly worked phallacy, it wasn't cheaper, the products weren't better and customers didn't like it as much as people made out. Six years later, the impact of ALDI and LIDL have effected fundamental change in the giant, Supermarket Chain, the whole corporate strategy seems to emulate what ALDI does well and there is a pilot where some of the smaller stores are rebranded under a different name and basically modelled on a German discounter. ALDI and LIDL have changed the UK supermarket landscape in a fundamental way and customers seem to love it.
• geff82 7y ago
  I live in Aldi's motherland and even if I could easily afford to buy groceries in other stores from major brands I usually go to Aldi first, buying the 10% they do not sell later somewhere else. Why? Because I blindly trust them. What they sell is usually good quality with a good taste (I even do not look at the prices). The juices they sell: perfect. The fruits they sell: mostly sweet (there is a fruit quality problem in Germany, as the country usually only gets second grade fruits because of the low prices eveywhere). Milk, joghurt, cheese: best quality. And I can actually remember where stuff is! So shopping is fast. This is in stark contrast to most other retailers who try to trick you into buying more by hiding stuff in unexpected places. Many years ago, someone told me something from behind the scene at Aldi. She was working for a producer of toilet paper and similar. She said: in contrast to other clients, we are not allowed to produce one lot without some people from Aldi being present. Before they produced for them, they had to call Aldi so they could have engineers at the factory to oversee everything that was done. She said no other customer did this. This really reinforced my trust in their Quality.
  • AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
    YMMV, but TP is one of the few things I don't buy from Aldi. We tried a pack and the wipes felt like they were rice-paper thin.
    • taco_emoji 7y ago
      At least in the U.S., TP is one of the few things that's differentiated--they have 3-5 different ones, each a clone of a different brand like Charmin Ultra or Quilted Northern or Angel Soft. There's a little thing in the corner of the packaging that says "Compare to Cottonelle" or whatever. I took a photo of the one we like so I know which to get next time :)
  • plausibilities 7y ago
    The only things I don't care for from Aldi are their canned sodas and some of their yogurts due to the sugar contents being somewhat higher than many typical name brands. The rest is great!
• AdmiralAsshat 7y ago
  In addition to being the cheapest, I'm often impressed by the quality of some of Aldi's pantry staples. Specifically, I'm blown away by their onions. I buy a bag of onions every 1-3 weeks. Since I can't individually inspect every onion in the bag, I'm resigned to the fact that anywhere from 10-30% of the onions will be unusable when I start to cut into them and find the rot. This is true of pretty much every grocer I've ever shopped at, with some faring worse than others (I remember almost half of the onions I'd get from an average bag at Target were unusable). Not so at Aldi's. I can buy a bag and every onion in the bag will have a nice, firm skin that feels fresh and tight when peeled, rather than old and slimy. I suspect it's probably shelf life more than anything else--if they keep just enough stock of them that they're constantly being bought and restocked, they don't have time to sit on the shelf and wilt.
  • zepearl 7y ago
    A friend of mine worked for a logistic company and he told me many times that dealing with Aldi was a nightmare for them because they were extremely demanding: very thin profit margin, tough quality checks (when delivering the items to the warehouses the checks were done on many more samples and in a much more detailed way than what other supermarket chains did) and if the truck arrived at the warehouse anytime after the agreed delivery time you were basically screwed (ranging from at least having to provide a discount to the whole delivery being rejected therefore having to find another chain willing to buy it or just throw it away). All this might as well explain (additionally to your "shelf life") the good & cheap onions. I'm an onion lover - Go onions! :) (ps: this is just a neutral comment - so far I mostly ignored Aldi, excluding the exercise bike I bought from them which is still working perfectly ~3 years later)
    • TazeTSchnitzel 7y ago
      High standards and tight margins? Sounds like Apple.
      • odux 7y ago
        Tight margins and Apple don't belong in the same sentence
• deleted 7y ago
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• croisillon 7y ago
  related (in the UK): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19341448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19341448
• Simulacra 7y ago
  For some, I think the low cost is a reason to shop at Aldi, but I found the experience too brutal. It was like shopping at a Goodwill grocery store, too tedious for me.
  • noir_lord 7y ago
    For me it's not the cost and the 'brutal' is what I want, products stay where they where the last time you where in, the signage is clear and the product choice is decent cheap, good and not expensive. It's basically what I want a shop to be, somewhere to buy stuff not an 'experience'.
• mongol 7y ago
  How similar is Aldi and Lidl? There is only Lidl here where I live. They seem very similar conceptually. What are the tangible differences, which one do you prefer?
  • k__ 7y ago
    We have both here in Germany. I prefer the Lidl products, but Aldi isn't bad either.
  • Glawen 7y ago
    They are very similar in size or product. Aldi has more local food products than lidl, but lidl has a more interesting "aisle of shite", with their own brand of tools/garden equipment. I keep watching this aisle to expand my toolshed :) Here is a great website to avoid missing the famous parkside tools: http://offers.kd2.org http://offers.kd2.org (it also shows aldi stuff)
    • mongol 7y ago
      Actually that aisle is well known to me. It feels like a hidden gem. I plan my visits to Lidl after following their offers on this aisle :-)
  • zaarn 7y ago
    The difference isn't that great, though I personally prefer to shop at Lidl/Rewe. Locally there is an ALDI, Lidl, Rewe and EDEKA within a 5 minute drive, by experience, ALDI is the cheapest of them but I usually prefer shopping at Lidl since they provide more higher quality stuff (ALDI doesn't always stock actual parmesan, it's very often just generic grated hard cheese). ALDI offers everything but only one of everything, Lidl has more a bit more variety. 99.9% of my Saturday grocery run can be satisfied from any of them however, so there isn't much reason to prefer any of them over the other in my area, other than EDEKA, the prices are mostly the same.
• deleted 7y ago
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• post_break 7y ago
  I guess I'm a weirdo who likes shopping there. Compared to Kroger or HEB I usually walk out of Aldi with a bill 50% cheaper than the other stores. We have our own bags and a picnic like basket thing we keep in the truck for Aldi stops. Yes it's "generic" but my uncle worked for a big food company that made big brand food and "generic" is often just a label change over the brand name. I can see why the rich people would think it's like shopping for food at the salvation army. No selection, a quarter to get a cart, 4-6 isles, no in car delivery, you have to bag your stuff yourself. I'll take all of those inconveniences if it means I spend 50% less per trip to the grocery store to feed us.
  • spiderfarmer 7y ago
    The problem for me with Aldi in The Netherlands is that most of the stuff I buy there are so salty, it just tastes bad.
    • switch007 7y ago
      What kind of stuff? I usually buy raw ingredients from Aldi, maybe except curries and pre-cooked rice packets if I'm very lazy. I haven't found the pre-made stuff especially salty
    • eliaspro 7y ago
      The only products I encountered it so far are the frozen microwavable meals. I don't get it why they're that salty - stretching them with rice or noodles to 200% makes the saltiness acceptable.
  • kemayo 7y ago
    The article does cover all these points about well-off people shopping there, too. In fact, it points out that "Aldi’s core shopper tends to make more money and have a slightly higher education level than the overall grocery shopper".
    • kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      Their streamlined checkout is the secret. Much better than waiting 10 minutes in line at Wal-Mart for the privilege of checking yourself out and then exiting past the "greeter" who assumes you're a thief.
• vondur 7y ago
  I like them. Quick to find items and quick to check out. Sure, the selection isn't the best, but I can find most everything I need.
• londons_explore 7y ago
  Aldi is famous for paying managers a lot of money. Far more than similar roles at other grocery stores. Not just 10% more, but in many cases 100% more. Perhaps paying extra money for better brains leads to better decisions being made in the long run.
  • tonyedgecombe 7y ago
    It is unusual for a business that is so cost focused to do that. Normally low margin businesses can't turn off that frugal mentality when it comes to rewarding staff.
• SubiculumCode 7y ago
  ' And at checkout, cashiers hurry shoppers away, expecting them to bag their own groceries in a separate location away from the cash register.' Food4Less in the central valley of CA have done that for years. They are pretty cheap too.
• tssva 7y ago
  In the last year in my neighborhood Aldi and Lidl have opened up stores across the street from each other. Lidl announced they were building a store and the following week Aldi announced they were opening their store across from them in a space which used to be another grocery store. Aldi should have been able to open long before Lidl but the renovation of the space took forever. Whenever I drove by the were ever at most a handful of workers and for periods of time no work got done. Lidl had to wait until their proposed building gained zoning approval to start construction which was several months after Aldi began construction; however, whenever I drove by the Lidl site it was full of construction workers. They managed to open only 3 or 4 months after the Aldi when it should have been at least 8 months after. During the 3 months before Lidl opened Aldi did good business due to their low prices but no one I spoke to was thrilled with the place. The inside was dark and uninviting. The vegetable and fruit selection was poor and in very bad condition. Often it was moldy or wilted. The selection was awful but everyone assumed that was part of what you traded for the low prices. Lidl opened and the building is full of light and welcoming. There is a frequently changing selection of quality fruit and vegetables. In almost all product categories Lidl has more selection with prices similar and frequently lower than Aldi. The Lidl has remained constantly busy since opening and the Aldi has become a ghost town. If the experience here is typical than Aldi is going to have a tough fight on it's hands as Lidl expands in the US.
  • HillaryBriss 7y ago
    > Lidl announced they were building a store and the following week Aldi announced they were opening their store across from them long ago, that was supposedly Burger King's strategy too: wait for McDonalds to spend the time and effort to research where to put one of their restaurants, then open a Burger King across the street.
• SubiculumCode 7y ago
  Aldi vs Grocery Outlet Flame War! Funny how two grocery store stories appeared on HN within a day of each other.
• mthwl 7y ago
  Just a quick alternative viewpoint: as a parent, I’ve been turned off by Aldi in the past. Often with a toddler and/or car seat in hand, unlocking a cart (for example) is not just an inconvenience, it’s a dealbreaker. I’m into the pursuit of efficiency and low prices, but there are some real world benefits of “full service” grocery stores. One being an nicer experience for the disabled (in my case, due to being a parent). I’m guessing they don’t have those motorized carts either? Anyway, I’m happy that there are alternatives. We’ll probably give Aldi another chance when our kids are older.
  • deleted 7y ago
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  • velcrovan 7y ago
    My kids are 3 and 5 and we've shopped at Aldi continuously since they were born. I'm not sure what you're talking about. Unlocking a cart takes almost no extra effort beyond what you'd expend to get one at any other store.
    • itronitron 7y ago
      Unlocking a cart is a foreign concept in the US. Not sure if the parent is in the US but any grocery store that has locked carts there is doomed to fail.
      • hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
        The entire article is about how Aldi is growing like crazy in the US, and explains why they have locked carts. A far cry from "doomed to fail".
        • itronitron 7y ago
          Props to Aldi then, they are definitely disrupting supermarkets.
      • velcrovan 7y ago
• bezoisevil 7y ago
  I don't find Aldi all that special. Very limited selection, their store brands are no where near as good as organic alternatives such as Simple Truth (Kroger). I'm not really saving all that much when you factor in how far behind Aldi is in convenience factor either. A lot of their policies are annoying and I hate the lack of customer service because the employees are too busy wearing many hats. They don't offer curb side pickup or online ordering. Coupons? Nope Fuel? Nope To top it off, I'd rather keep all my grocery dollars in American companies - they do far more for our communities than Aldi/Trader Joe's. Aldi has carved out a niche but they aren't a huge disruption. Grocery loyalty is big business no one is giving up on. PS: be wary of Aldi articles, they're notorious for astroturfing Reddit and news blogs.
  • romwell 7y ago
    >I don't find Aldi all that special. I heavily disagree. They have a selection of German chocolate that I have trouble finding anywhere. From Ritter Sport squares to that white chocolate 'n' coffee bars, they absolutely shine there.
• msg3 7y ago
  I'm a huge Aldi loyalist now. Alongside the low prices and decent quality food, a major bonus is that I can do an entire weekly shop in about 20 minutes.
• madengr 7y ago
  Expensive cars in the Aldi’s parking most likely means a fat car loan, not an indication of wealth.
  • task_queue 7y ago
    Getting a fat car loan is much easier if your credit is good, you aren't in debt, and your income is relatively high. It's an indicator of relative wealth.
    • hn23 7y ago
      2019... and we still measure wealth in terms of car size.
    • lotsofpulp 7y ago
      Car's are easy to repossess, it's really not too risky to lend out a car and you don't need to substantiate much more than a half decent income and history of timely payments.
• froindt 7y ago
  I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the packaging in an obvious way. Blueberry and blackberry yogurt typically look very similar, but the lids are obviously dark and light purple at Aldi. They can glance down and count how many of each, scan one, then hit the number pad for the quantity. I haven't seen the number pad used extensively at any other grocer. -they combine varieties (like flavors of granola bars) of product in the same box. This greatly reduces the shelf space required. -depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts -they keep product the box from the manufacturer. This eliminates labor from unboxing and facing product. -they don't have plastic bags. You can grab boxes (normally a waste stream) and take them home with you. -they don't list a phone number for their stores. With as few as 2 people on site during the slow times, they can't afford to have anyone on the phone. -their conveyor belt is far longer than most stores. You should be able to get your entire cart worth of groceries on the conveyor at once. This minimizes the slowness of people handing one item at a time to the next checker. -They're big on turning inventory over. If they trial a product and it doesn't sell well enough, they have no problem simply not carrying it anymore. You can't always get everything set Aldi, but you can get 85-95% of items you need there. -they wanted to avoid vendor lock-in, so they had two POS vendors develop solutions simultaneously, awarding the contract to the one which provided the best solution.
  • hobofan 7y ago
    > depositing a quarter for a cart eliminates the need to pay people to collect carts What's the alternative? Growing up in Germany I've literally never seen it any other way.
    • Youden 7y ago
      Usually there are return bays spread throughout the carpark where you can theoretically return trolleys/carts and they'll be taken back en-masse by a store employee later. Often this results in them being left all over the place or stolen though.
• usr1106 7y ago
  Ah, the Americans have not forced Aldi on their knees and have them change the checkouts. Finland used to have a oligopoly of pretty expensive grocery chains and no price competition. Until Lidl (another German chain very similar to the Aldis) entered some 16 years ago and started real price competition. Of course with their efficient checkouts. The first years Lidl didn't do so well. Then they changed the checkouts to the less efficient local models (and some other adaptations) and started doing pretty well. They just learned their lesson that in Finland you can sell the same product with a 30% premium compared to Germany and accept some inefficiency. Of course they are still a bit cheaper than the incumbants. Finns are very proud of having defeated a multinational giant (and don't see that they have to pay for it). Like Germans have defeated Google when it comes to street view, although that price if there is any is more difficult to measure.
  • hn23 7y ago
    Let me know when you find out what the price for the missing street view is;)
• CDSlice 7y ago
  At least in the part of the US I live in, Aldi is just a much better place to shop then Walmart and the other grocery stores. I can just unlock my cart (which are never just hanging out in the parking lot), grab the food I need (which is always in the same location), check out, bag my food in my reusable bags (which Aldi pretty heavily pushes), and be done with it. The only store that comes close is the Walmart Neighborhood Market but that still isn't as cheap and nice as Aldi is.
• duxup 7y ago
  I'm not surprised by the success, I am a bit by the praise for quality. I find Aldi has good quality....for the price, and their prices are pretty low....Aside from a handful of items I know are usually good at Aldi I find lots of items that the quality matches the low price. I shop there for a few things but especially when I'm cooking I avoid Aldi and it seems like when I try something new it is pretty bleh. Pretzels that are basically dust with shape, etc. I feel like the odd man out not being an Aldi fan but I suspect that has something to do with cooking.
• m0zg 7y ago
  I find it remarkable how positive the tone is of this article compared to how a decade or two ago US mainstream media was wailing about WalMart killing mom&pop shops and corner grocery stores. I wonder why that is? If anything once this chain expands it'll drive all the remaining small grocers out of business, since it's considerably cheaper than even walmart.
  • task_queue 7y ago
    Post-Walmart/2008 America is living paycheck to paycheck. It's harder to vilify those who undercut competitors if that means people get to eat this week.
    • m0zg 7y ago
      I think America lived paycheck to paycheck well before WalMart. You could make the same argument for WalMart that you're making for Aldi here.
  • eredengrin 7y ago
    The way Aldi works I wouln't expect it to ever completely take over the market. Its selection is not intended to be big enough to do so. Generally you buy 80% or more of your stuff at Aldi, then go to the grocery store right next door and finish the rest of your list which Aldi doesn't carry. Also, what does a "small grocer" even look like these days? The only grocery stores I see that don't seem to be part of larger chains is ethnic food stores, and Aldi is definitely not in that market.
• everyone 7y ago
  How USians see Aldi.. https://youtu.be/mXHJN1nsJ1Y https://youtu.be/mXHJN1nsJ1Y
• maxxxxx 7y ago
  It would be nice if the US Aldi stores were similar to the current stores in Germany and Scotland I have seen. The ones I have been to in the LA area feel like how Aldi was 30 years ago in Germany. Super cheap but crappy products. Not like the European stores where you can find cheap high quality stuff.
• thinkling 7y ago
  Another thing: I'm guessing they don't have paid staff to bag groceries for customers like many US stores, but what they may have that's common in Europe but unknown in the US: the boat-tiller-like divider in the conveyor belt space past the cashier. Customer A's things get rung up and continue to side A. When done with customer A, the cashier shoves the divider across so the belt now takes customer B's stuff to side B while customer A continues to put their stuff in their bag or their cart. My DuckDuck-Fu is failing me to find a picture of this.
  • detaro 7y ago
    EDIT: disregard, misread.
    • omnimus 7y ago
      Thats not what he means.
    • frosted-flakes 7y ago
      No, that's not it. Those things are common everywhere. Thinkling meant that there are two conveyor belts past the cashier, and the tiller arm switches between them. See your sibling comment for a WinCo photo.
  • kodablah 7y ago
    > unknown in the US Commonly seen in the US in fact, such as in WinCo stores [0]. 0 - https://images.app.goo.gl/HN1mQyCw5fUbcnTr8 https://images.app.goo.gl/HN1mQyCw5fUbcnTr8
    • jldugger 7y ago
      Aka the grocery store that doesn't take credit cards.
      • jvagner 7y ago
        ? Do you mean debit cards too? They do take those, and gosh, I feel bad for people who need to put food on credit.
• Improvotter 7y ago
  It's strange to see this hit the US only just now. Chains like these are huge in Europe. In Belgium, where I live, Aldi isn't very big. They're being outplayed by a bigger local player: Colruyt. Aldi stores are usually pretty small while Colruyt stores are pretty large. You can see the staff driving around carts inside of the store to put everything on the shelves. They also always have a huge refrigerator room instead of seperate refrigerators. It allows for them to drive into these rooms so everything is faster as well. Colruyt also got subsidiaries that have smaller stores for city centres like Okay which is just a tad smaller because it's in the city centres. Colruyt's own stores are often in smaller cities or around towns where there's plenty of room to build a store. The reason Aldi is not very big in Belgium is because they're perceived as being lower quality. Perhaps it's because people don't want to change brands, but want to pay a lower price. They can get the same items/brands at Colruyt, but for a lower price. From personal experience I can also say that Aldi stores aren't as pleasant to shop in as Colruyt. This is because Aldi's aesthetics are pretty old. It feels like you're walking in some old store that's from the 90s or older. Colruyt and Okay stores feel more like you're walking into a warehouse. Just my two cents. I just went shopping to Okay today and on other days I go to a Spar, which is also a Colruyt subsidiary, but a tad bti more upscale. Though not as upscale as Delhaize in Belgium. Delhaize is one of the more expensive ones, though you also get some more upscale items like freshly made juice, fresh sushi, fresh lobsters... compared to the others. They can be either owned independently or by the chain. The ones that are owned independently are imo better because they often have "home-made" food because they've got a bakery, kitchen, and butcher and it's of good quality. (I personally adore one of the Delhaize's bakeries at my parents' house.) That's all. What a rant.
• glitcher 7y ago
  WinCo Foods in some of the western US states attempts to drive down costs with some similar tactics, although not to nearly the extent that it sounds like Aldi does. Plus WinCo is employee owned, which I think is kinda cool. In the western US states, I only see Aldi locations in southern California currently. It will be interesting to see how they affect other competitors as they expand to more cities out here.
  • kodablah 7y ago
    In north Texas and Oklahoma, you'll find Aldi and WinCo as essentially neighbors.
  • Fripplebubby 7y ago
    As someone who has not worked in retail I don't know much about how "employee owned" actually manifests for WinCo employees (esp. shop floor non-managers), but it does seem like they have much better benefits than other chains. And it's quite cheap, so would recommend to Western US folks.
• golemiprague 7y ago
  I always find that I spend more money in Aldi than in the regular supermarket if I stick to discounted items and home brands which I got not problem to do, I actually prefer it. But I do buy in Aldi from time to time just for the variety because they got their own products which you can't get in regular supermarkets.
• mimixco 7y ago
  When I went in Poland, I wasn't a fan. But I recently visited a Houston store and it's terrific! They're really onto something.
• bubblewrap 7y ago
  "brutally efficient" - I'm surprised cnn.com is still permitted on Hacker News, with manipulative headlines like that.
  • FabHK 7y ago
    Eh? What's manipulative about it? I'd call it descriptive and evocative, even.
    • bubblewrap 7y ago
      It suggests that Aldi is winning by unfair measures, exploiting workers and what not.
      • FabHK 7y ago
        Oh ok, thanks for clarifying. Interesting - I didn't interpret it that way (unfair, exploitative), as in brutal violence, but rather as stark and focused, as in brutalist architecture.
  • elPorkchapo 7y ago
    bru·tal direct and lacking any attempt to disguise unpleasantness.
    • bubblewrap 7y ago
      So what is unpleasant about it? Isn't it manipulative to suggest Aldi's way of conducting business is unpleasant?
• kyokpae 7y ago
  Fun fact: one of the founders of Aldi was kidnapped in 1971. A ransom of $3M was paid. After he had been released he fought a court battle to classify it as tax deductible business expense. Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9729434/Billionaire-Aldi-heir-Berthold-Albrecht-dies-at-58.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandco...
• kostko 7y ago
  Wait untill you get Aldi mobile provider. In my country i pay 10eur a month for unlimited calls+sms and 20gb of data. For 15eur you get same but 50gb data. Simplest cell provider, no hiden costs, and everything is resolved online. They do not have offices where you register. You just but a sim card. And then they can either charge your bank account or you buy vouchers at Aldi registers - printed on the receipt paper. Its cheap and awesome!
  • Scoundreller 7y ago
    What is your country?
    • kostko 7y ago
      Slovenia. Hot.si
• resoluteteeth 7y ago
  I like Aldi but I wish they got rid of the weird weekly non-food stuff they have in the middle and used the space for more food.
• pygar 7y ago
  Aldis Checkout lines are always so long and everyone is buying a months worth of groceries when I'm there that i won't shop there most of the time. The staff are very fast but customers are slow to bag/move the items. I don't shop in bulk, I buy groceries for one person and i buy a handful of items every few days. The competitors in Australia (Coles and Woolworths) all have about 10-15 self checkout machines, so the chances that i have to wait for one to be free is small. I accept that if i go to Aldi, I'll probably find most of the items i buy cheaper, but they are usually within 0-10c of the private label brands of the other supermarkets. Aldis success has pushed down everyone's prices (to as low as they can get, while staying with their current setup). If you combine the faster turn around time, with the greater variety (I occasionally like trying new brands/items) of the "traditional" store, It's worth the ~10% premium (for me). On a side note: Over here, Aldi designates only one lane (out of the two or three that are open) for purchasing of Alcohol. Can anyone explain why?
• sam0x17 7y ago
  The one in my area is crap, many of the items are stale, and there is no produce.
  • jryan49 7y ago
    I live in a major city and 10 years ago it was like that. It's only recently, after a neighbor said it had changed, I went back. They have fresh produce there now, and it's good quality, and cheap. The selection isn't huge, but it has like 90% of what I want.
    • sam0x17 7y ago
      Yeah this one is still like that :/
• mixmastamyk 7y ago
  One of the things that drives me crazy at our local Albertsons is that it is very expensive in general but they change the price (reduce to reasonable) every week on one brand per category. Result is one usually (4/5) can’t buy a favorite product without overpaying ~30%. Hopefully Aldi doesn’t do this, I know Trader Joe’s doesn’t.
• _pRwn_ 7y ago
  mwahaha! Americans encountering our unfiltered, brutal, German efficiency ... you better start learning how to pack your groceries at the checkout at German speeds ... see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LfkwjJdITA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LfkwjJdITA
  • johnpowell 7y ago
    We have a place called WincCo here that has a divider. The cashier sends your groceries down one side and when they are done ringing your stuff up they slide the divider over and send the next persons stuff down the other side while you bag yours. https://i.imgur.com/K6A78XA.jpg https://i.imgur.com/K6A78XA.jpg
• lqet 7y ago
  As a German, I frequently enjoy tourists being unable to cope with the speed of Aldi cashiers. They have the possibility to begin scanning the products of the next customer while you are still paying, which adds additional stress if you are not used to it. If it takes you longer than one second to answer the mantra-like "Bar oder Karte?" ("cash or credit card?"), the cashier will stay friendly, but get visibly annoyed, because if you quickly say "Bar", she will actually begin to count out the change she expects you to receive while you haven't even opened your wallet yet (for example, if it costs 17.95, she will expect you to pay with a 20 and count out 2.05) I think Aldi is the best supermarket in the world, but it certainly is an acquired taste :)
• sys_64738 7y ago
  You haven't been to the Aldi near me in the USA. They suck compared to other US supermarkets. BTW, Aldi in Ireland is unbelievable. I'm still not convinced it's the same company even though the names are the same.
• GCA10 7y ago
  I'm not quite sure what's "brutal" about Aldi's practices. They are thrifty. But that's different.
• kjjw 7y ago
  The uses of the words “brutal” and “fierce” are good examples of American xenophobia. Aldi pays its low-wage staff a living wage (far above the minimum required by law) in the UK and elsewhere. Walmart, no chance.
• chiefalchemist 7y ago
  > "New customers may be jolted at first by the experience of shopping at an Aldi, which expects its customers to endure a number of minor inconveniences not typical at other American grocery stores..." The "unconvinces" listed are true. However, what I believe this article, and the rest of the "super market" industry is missing is that inexchange customers get simplicity and a sense of normalicy. Aldi's success is as much about what they do offer (i.e., low prices) as what they do not (e.g., a ridiculous number of peanut butters that overwhelm your already saturated brain.) My gut tells me there are lessons to be learned from this "trend" for other brands and products.
• maxhedrome 7y ago
  This CNN News Story paid for by Aldi
• dude01 7y ago
  I love all Aldi's! The main reasons are : 1. Time - I can be in and out in 10 minutes. 2. Prices - the prices are about 20 to 30% cheaper then the other major grocery chain near me. Also, it's the only brand that I will praise to random people, that's how much I love it.
• snarfy 7y ago
  Do the keep the meat, dairy, bread, and produce on the back walls like every other grocery store?
• moron4hire 7y ago
  Yeah, the three other grocery stores in a mile radius around our local Aldi are all quaking in their boots. It's just been exhausting, wondering if every day is going to be the last day you open the doors. They've each only been able to complete one renovation in the last two years, and I'm sure they'd double the number of auto-check out lanes if it weren't for that meddling Aldi! In other words, I haven't exactly seen anything "upended" yet.
• quickthrower2 7y ago
  In Australia food seems very expensive in general, so having Aldi isn't so much about getting cheap food, but getting reasonably priced food. Although I think they generally stock less healthy foods, so you have to be careful with dips and things like that. But fruit, veg, meat, milk type stuff it's a winner. They also sell a lot of homeware on a rotation basis, so one week you can buy a drill, the next and air compressor, etc. I guess this works well for them as it creates scarcity.
• orliesaurus 7y ago
  I wonder if eating food from these super cheap places will shorten your life span compared to other more expensive and focused on healthy places. Basically, sure cheap is good, but how less or more healthy are these cheap supermarkets comparing them to on quality and healthiness metrics?
  • sgift 7y ago
    The quality of Aldi products - at least here in Germany - has been assessed time and time again and the result is usually: Same quality, different packaging. That's the whole point. Aldi cuts everything that's not needed, but they don't cut corners at the product.
    • orliesaurus 7y ago
      Great to hear! That's really good news: hopefully is the same thing in the US, about product quality! I used Aldi in London, UK but always felt weird about it, could never understand how they could have such low prices. This article and comments opened my eyes!
  • taco_emoji 7y ago
    I'm not sure what you mean... If you're buying fresh produce, there's not going to be any difference between stores unless one of them is spraying sugar & fat onto their tomatoes. And if you're buying nacho cheese tortilla chips, you're already going for something less healthy.
    • orliesaurus 7y ago
      yeah, that's exactly what I mean! Fresh produce origins matter and so does handling and care!
• interfixus 7y ago
  > Aldi, which expects its customers to endure a number of minor inconveniences not typical at other American grocery stores. Shoppers need a quarter to rent a shopping cart. Plastic and paper bags are available only for a fee. And at checkout, cashiers hurry shoppers away, expecting them to bag their own groceries in a separate location away from the cash register Interesting glimpse into a parallel universe. Everything mentioned is standard practice in the parts of Europe I know, except the trolley fee is the equivalent of two to four dollars. Where I live, that fee works as intended, but I remember living in the UK more than thirty years ago - I regularly scooped several pounds by picking up abandoned trolleys in the Safeway parking lot and returning them to their designated shed. As for bagging, I'd quickly turn hostile if anyone attempted to handle the goods I just payed for.
• demoo 7y ago
  Got a friend who is overseeing manager of about 5-6 Aldi supermarkets in my area. At the end of every day, every supermarket calls him with the daily results. He writes them down, takes a picture and sends that to his manager at the national HQ. He just uses his phone and the occasional meeting to do business, there is no computer/laptop or system on his end. Aldi is always portrayed as brutally efficient. So I was wondering what to read into this. Best I was able to come up with is that it's cheaper for them not to have an overseeing system to manage this.
  • tonyedgecombe 7y ago
    I've seen plenty of corporates automate systems that don't warrant automation. Somehow development gains a momentum which nobody is able to stop. SAP sites seemed to be the worst for this.
    • ahartmetz 7y ago
      Yes. When the org my sister worked at was trying and failing to automate vacation tracking, I was curious and asked some questions. As a software guy, I saw the frequent rules updates, hard to codify rules, increased effort to fix mistakes, smallish headcount, and expensive consultants... and said: This probably just does not make sense to automate.
• cagataygurturk 7y ago
  I am surprised that noone mentioned about the bottle collectors phenomenon in Germany. [1] Basicly you pay a deposit (.25 eur for plastic ones, 0.08 for glass.) for each beverage you buy and then sell those bottles back in supermarkets. This is maybe the easiest and most efficient way to force people to recycle. Are you lazy to do that or you don‘t have a place when you finish your beer walking in the street?[2] Then you simply leave the bottle next to a trash bin and in couple of minutes someone takes it to cash it back and call for a day. It‘s a serious revenue stream for a large group of low income people. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/02/german-cities-bottle-collectors https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/02/german-cities-... [2] In a country famous with rules and strictness, it is also surprising to see stuff which are not forbidden or no one simply cares, such as drinking on street or public transport, quite openly shopping and using drugs, smoking in bars etc. However some of these might be true only for Berlin, which became a island of freedom in the middle of Europe.
  • dminor 7y ago
    This is common in several US States.
  • ahartmetz 7y ago
    The drugs thing is only Berlin, at least in Germany. Drinking everywhere (though not at all times) is normal in all of Germany AFAICT. It's legal and nobody cares if you still behave.
    • tannhaeuser 7y ago
      Drug selling and smoking pot in the public (or even schools) is also not uncommon in other major cities in Germany eg. Hamburg, Frankfurt, Köln, etc. Hamburg has areas near the habour feeling quite extraterritorial in this respect. Munich I don't know; it's a much cleaner place than those other cities. Though drinking beer there and going to the Biergarten is kind of their way of living, and it's certainly a relaxed place with respect to nudity, love affairs, and sex.
      • 7y ago
• mlok 7y ago
  The best quality/price laptops I've bought in the last couple of decades were from Aldi (their brands : Medion and Lifetec) It took 5 years for the competition to reach the same offering at that price. (That was in 2002, now it's less spectacular) I kept using these laptop for 5-7 years...
• INTPenis 7y ago
  >Shoppers need a quarter to rent a shopping cart. Plastic and paper bags are available only for a fee. And at checkout, cashiers hurry shoppers away, expecting them to bag their own groceries in a separate location away from the cash register. This just described how I've been shopping here in Sweden since the 90s.
• hjk05 7y ago
  > without compromising on quality This might be true of the new American stores but is definitely not true in Northern Europe, they regularly have rotten fruit in the stands and I only once dared buying the frozen fish which led to a nasty case of diarrhea. This was back in my student days, when I realized paying 3% more for meat and vegs was worth the extra cost if you can avoid spending 2 days in bed because of a good price on salmon. At the end of the day I can’t really blame the store personal, they where 2 people running everything, at a size that usually see 8+ for competing chains and the wage was the absolute minimum allowed by law.
  • kachurovskiy 7y ago
    This is my experience as well in Germany. Fruits and vegetables are also quite tasteless. Some common items are simply missing. I'm afraid same will happen in US once the initial hype and attention to the details wear off and ROI considerations kick in. Or maybe it will work out great - Trader Joe's is an amazing example of that.
    • tannhaeuser 7y ago
      FYI: those looking for quality vegetables in Germany buy at the "market" (traditional place with sellers and producers coming with trailers once or twice a week). Maybe not anymore in Berlin, where this tradition may have been stopped during the time when the city was isolated from its surrounding agricultural suppliers (west), or vegetables were only available through "Konsum"-style socialist unit stores, if at all (east).
      • kachurovskiy 7y ago
        On our farmer's market prices are usually through the roof. We buy at Lidl where cheap produce is ok and there are also more expensive but still reasonably priced tastier options for most items.
• antihero 7y ago
  Fucking love Aldi. I'm pretty sure without them I would have literally starved to death. I can get food to eat for a week for like £10. The nearest Tesco to me (Crystal Palace) doesn't stock any basics stuff, and the larger stores seem to demand a car or nearly an hours walk.
• pxi 7y ago
  I like ALDI - i just i wish they would stock WeetBix HiBran - other than that it's a pretty cool store.
• mensetmanusman 7y ago
  For our family, Aldi + Instacart has measurably changed our lives for the better. Not having to go to shopping with toddlers and still paying a reasonable amount for groceries has been amazing.
• purplezooey 7y ago
  It’s not uncommon to see luxury cars in Aldi’s parking lots There's something that bothers me about that caption I just can't put my finger on what it is.
• Calib3r 7y ago
  Am I the only one here who doesn't prefer self-service? Although I definitely appreciate the idea of having options for people who do not share my mentality, my ideal shopping experience is where I have to do the least amount work. I don't want to have to put my cart up. I don't want to do self-checkout. I'm not going to tell a robot what kind of vegetable I want. I appreciate being able to call a store to resolve an outlier issue. As a consumer, I will always be willing to pay extra $$ for what I suppose is now becoming a premium perk.
• oddibe 7y ago
  I haven't seen this specifically mentioned about the carts, but the cart storage at Aldi is covered so the carts don't sit out in the weather and rust. They also don't get bent or have wonky wheels like most other supermarkets, probably because they're not getting inadvertently or intentionally hit by cars in the parking lot.
• DanielleMolloy 7y ago
  Nice thread. Want to add that the founders of ALDI, Theo and Karl Albrecht managed to stay secretive throughout their lives (especially after Theo was kidnapped in the 70s). They managed to have almost zero photos or video recordings of them in public, despite both appearing on the world's top 10 richest people list quite a few times (they were the richest people in Germany anyway). They were like phantoms. Also, Theo Albrecht loved collecting typewriters. Just sayin', as we are on HN.