Aldi is a hard discount supermarket chain of German origin (actually two chains but commonly referred to as one). The brand name "Aldi" is an acronym derived of "Albrecht" and "discount". Historically, Aldi is said to have been the first real discount supermarket chain to get established in Germany. Aldi (i.e. both Aldi chains) could best be described as "absolutely no frills supermarkets" (see below).

The company was founded in 1946 by the brothers Karl and Theo Paul Albrecht in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Back then, it comprised only one small food shop. In the year 1961, the then Aldi chain of supermarket stores split into two companies (each belonging to one of the brothers) over a dispute whether to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products at the checkout. Thus today, Aldi consists of Aldi Nord (Aldi North) Aldi Süd (Aldi South). The chains initially covered the respective different regions of then West Germany. The companies have since expanded internationally, into e.g. European and North American markets. In principle, the two firms share nothing but the name and a similar corporate identity, however there appear to be agreements between the two insofar that they don't compete with each other and (except for Germany) never both operate in the same countries:

Aldi Nord operates in

• Northern Germany
• Belgium
• the Netherlands
• Luxembourg
• France
• Spain
• Denmark

Aldi Süd operates in

• Southern Germany
• the United Kingdom
• the USA
• Ireland
• Australia
• Austria (in Austria, it trades under the name Hofer).

Aldi specializes in food, beverages and drinks, sanitary articles and other inexpensive household items, as well as (occasionally) discount clothes, plus weekly special offers on more expensive products such as electric appliances or computers. As regards the sale of alcoholic drink, Aldi is the largest wine retailer in Germany. Aldi mainly sells exclusively produced own/custom branded products. Despite Aldi's marked emphasis on very low prices, various reports from a German consumer watchdog suggest that the quality of Aldi products appears not to have suffered.

Aldi's "strictly no frills" approach is evident for instance in that typically Aldi stores do not decorate aisles — or even fill shelves for that matter: Pallets of the products on offer are commonly simply parked alongside the aisles, and customers picking up products will gradually empty them. When all items on a pallet have been sold, it is replaced. Queueing at the checkout counter is also relatively common, which probably means that Aldi's staffing levels don't reflect peak time but rather average demand; at actual peak times, customers may have to wait. These and other cost-cutting strategies save Aldi money and arguably the general price level in Aldi stores — as compared to more "upmarket" supermarkets — appears to show that at least some or most of these savings are passed on to consumer. Aldi has successfully carved its own (actually rather large) niche with this approach: While shoppers may not normally like shopping in a bland or industrial looking (and possibly congested) store, such utter lack of frills has become part of the accepted norm with Aldi and consumers appear to be willing to accept it because of the "incredibly low prices" they expect to get in exchange. ("Top quality at incredibly low prices" is an Aldi marketing slogan.)

In West Germany, before about 1990, Aldi shops were oft-ridiculed as being cheap shops selling poor quality goods. Aldi's customers were alleged to be only people who couldn't afford to shop elsewhere. Being publicly held in such low esteem didn't seem to dent Aldi's profits however. After the German reunification, many German middle class families had to cut down their spending and Aldi's popularity and public acceptance grew. Many individual consumers "discovered" that the poor reputation of Aldi's products was apparently undeserved. This shift in public perception was boosted by a series of cookbooks that only used Aldi ingredients, which led to the emergence of a kind of Aldi fandom into the German mainstream. In other countries however, such as the UK, Aldi's public reputation doesn't appear to have improved in a similar way, again, without this state of affairs apparently being a burden on the chains' profits.

Aldi Germany occasionally is called Feinkost Albrecht (approximate translation: Albrecht Deli) in an ironic way.

Recently the similar Lidl chain has grown faster than Aldi.

External links

• http://www.aldi.com
• Yahoo! - ALDI Group Company Profile (http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/54/54910.html)

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