Things You Never Noticed At Aldi But Now You Can’t Ignore
The Aldi grocery chain is quite different than the majority of its competitors. It's their unique way of doing business that has the U.S. CEO of Walmart keeping a close eye on them as Aldi profits soar. Customers endure several inconveniences while shopping at Aldi, but that doesn't deter them from coming back. It's quite the opposite, in fact, as Aldi grocery stores have a cult-like following unmatched by other discount stores. Communities even petition for one to open nearby if they don't have access.
How exactly is Aldi raking in profits while keeping up demand? Keep reading to learn about the unique business strategies that set them apart from the rest.
Aldi Has a Unique Way of Displaying Product For a Reason
Many grocery store aisles have tall shelves stacked with perfectly displayed products that are designed to catch your eye. Major grocery chains spend a lot of money hiring store stockers to work through the night unloading product. But not Aldi.
Aldi saves money and increases employee productivity using their product display method. The chain simply lines their aisles, displaying their products in the large packing boxes they came in.
Aldi Staff Is Limited
Aldi saves a lot of money on their staff compared to other major grocery store chains in the U.S. They limit grocery stocker jobs, only offering part-time positions while having other employees fill in the gaps, and keep their overall staff to a minimum.
This means the staff you see at Aldi is probably overloaded with tasks to get done each workday.
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Aldi Looks For Hard Work And High Energy In Their Employees
While Aldi saves money by keeping their staff to a minimum, the workers probably wish that they had more hands-on-deck each shift. The company culture of Aldi emphasizes hard work and meeting "aggressive goals," so new hires without a strong work ethic and high energy won't make the cut.
You'll probably notice that the employees at Aldi are always working as a fast-paced team together. If not, there's a good chance that you won't see that employee during your next visit.
The Limited Store Hours Cut Costs
Many major grocery store chains are open for long store hours, providing customers more time to come in and shop. While this offers customers more flexibility to shop when it best fits their schedule, businesses also spend a lot of money keeping the store operating for all of these hours.
Aldi cuts their cost by only operating for a limited amount of hours, during peak shopping hours. Many of their locations will be open for 12 hours a day, 9am-9pm, compared to Vons stores that are open from 5am-1am. Aldi knows that their loyal customers will make it work, while they save money.
Aldi's Check Out Line Is Designed To Maximize Efficiency
Aldi designed their customer experience so that once the customer has all of the items that they intend on buying, they can quickly check out and be on their way. They have a few methods to make this happen.
You'll notice that most of Aldi's products have multiple barcodes placed on them, so the cashier can locate one, scan it, and move on. The length of the conveyor belt at Aldi stores is also designed to maximize efficiency.
The Reason Why Aldi Cashiers Sit
Many of the Aldi cashiers are full-time store associates who are also expected to stock shelves, help customers, clean-up the store, and collect shopping carts as needed. With a long to-do list presented to them at each shift, Aldi store managers see that employees conserve their energy with the option to sit during cashier shifts.
This is also done to make it easier and quicker for employees to scan and work faster while seated. A Reddit user said, "We had some bosses from Germany come out to our store and they said they did a lot of research and it showed that employees work faster and better when they're sitting down."
Their Stores Are Small, Which Means Lower Rent
Piggy-backing on small parking lots, Aldi also keeps their store sizes to a minimum for the same reason: to cut costs! It seems like a straightforward solution, but many other major grocery store chains go for the large buildings to fit more product inside.
Aldi's grocery carts aren't massive like Costco's, or of various sizes. They keep the carts a consistent size that will fit enough products for the average family's weekly grocery list while still fitting down the aisles and negotiating other customers' carts.
The Return Policy Works In The Customer's Favor
One way that Aldi has built a loyal following is their generous return policy. Customers enjoy having a risk-free shopping experience, knowing that if they aren't satisfied with a product, they can get their money back.
Aldi stores go one step further by allowing customers to return products they weren't satisfied with, even after they might have consumed half of it! Just bring in whatever you have left and Aldi will happily give you your money back.
The Tricky Way They Make Customers Return Carts For Them
There is one thing that peeves some Aldi customers, and that's having to pay to use one of their shopping carts! In order to release a shopping cart from the row, customers insert a quarter. There's a good reason that Aldi does this though.
In order to get their quarter back, customers need to return the shopping carts to the cart station, making it more likely that they'll do so, rather than just to be a good Samaritan. This saves Aldi money by not having to employ people to retrieve the shopping carts from around the parking lot.
They Cut Costs With Small Parking Lots
Parking is expensive. Renting a parking lot to accommodate customers can end up costing businesses a lot. Another aim of Aldi's efficient shopping design is getting the customers in and out of the door, keeping the parking lot occupancy moving.
City zoning laws require a minimum number of parking spaces that businesses need to offer customers. So long as Aldi meets the minimum requirement, they're okay. That's why you may notice that there's just enough parking for everyone, but the parking lot is always a zoo.
The Two Aldis: North And South
Customers who have traveled around the US may have noticed that Aldi stores are broken into two regions: north and south. The split stemmed from the two founders of Aldi not agreeing on whether or not to sell a certain product, and led to them dividing the stores entirely.
The Aldi logo in the north is blue and white while the Aldi logo in the south is orange and blue.
They Built Solar Panels On Their Distribution Centers
Another way that Aldi saves money is by installing solar panels on the roof of their major distribution centers.
Aldi has dramatically cut their costs and carbon footprint by capturing energy from the sun to power its distribution centers and stores around the world.
The Trader Joe's Connection
Aldi grocery stores are expanding their locations across the US, as there are still regions that don't have a store. However, that's probably because those regions already have Trader's Joes, which is owned by Aldi.
Otherwise known as "Aldi Nord," Trader Joe's stores are a subsidiary of Aldi. In 1979, Aldi Nord acquired Trader Joe's, three years after it opened its first US store in Iowa. Currently, there are 1,873 Aldi locations in the U.S. and 474 Trader's Joe's locations.
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