How ALDI will not be beaten on price

In 2001, ALDI entered the Australian market with a new business model for selling groceries. Its mission, deliver high quality groceries at the lowest prices to Australian households, every day.

ALDI Australia’s CEO, Anna McGrath said: “At ALDI, our Price Promise is straightforward— we will not be beaten on the cost of your weekly shop, it is the heart of who we are. We achieve this by fine-tuning even the smallest details of our operations, ensuring that every aspect contributes to the savings we pass on to our customers. This means we don’t rely on temporary discounts and our customers don’t have to chase them. Our unwavering focus on streamlining our processes ensures we can bring genuine savings to Aussie families every day.

We’ve been committed to this promise since day one as we understand that trust isn’t built on flash sales, and loyalty isn’t earned through discounts alone. So, while some prefer to play a price-drop strategy, we remain focused on what we do best: delivering quality products at everyday low prices. We are committed to maintaining this promise. Our team regularly review competitor prices to ensure customers always save more at ALDI. Every time you shop at an ALDI supermarket, you can shop with confidence as we simply won’t be beaten on the cost of your weekly shop. We continue to see more and more Aussie families switch to ALDI to save on their groceries, so if you haven’t yet made the switch, we encourage you to swing by ALDI first and see how much you can save.”

How ALDI creates value Every. Single. Shop.

A CURATED PRODUCT RANGE WITH QUALITY AT THE CORE

Curated range of Exclusive Brands
ALDI focuses on developing and stocking items that customers buy regularly, saving them time and money while shopping. While others offer over 20,000 different products, ALDI’s carefully selected range of about 1,800 products deliver on most customers’ needs and wants.

These products are curated with every item specially selected and considered for how it fits into customer shopping habits. For those that think this smaller range might be prohibitive, ALDI says “shop ALDI first”, the scope of its curated range will surprise you.

Based on customer feedback, ALDI continues to refine its range, and over the coming months is adding 300 new products. Customers across Australia will see the range expand to meet more of their shopping needs.

ALDI puts a strong focus on its Exclusive Brand products, which account for 90 per cent of the items on its shelves. Every single ALDI Exclusive Brand product is developed in-house to the highest standards, rigorously tested in ALDI’s test kitchen, before being offered to customers at the lowest prices possible.

Quality testing for ultimate product satisfaction
ALDI’s Quality Assurance and Product Buying teams work together with professional chefs to prepare and sample each product against a robust set of benchmarking criteria, looking for quality markers including look, taste and texture.

Due to the limited number of items in the range, each product must be of the highest standard to ‘make the cut’ and make it on shelf.

This process ensures the excellent quality of all ALDI Exclusive Brand products and has contributed to many awards over the years from individual items like ALDI’s Lazzio Coffee to cheese, wine, nappies and the cleaning range. It is one of the reasons ALDI has been awarded Canstar Most Satisfied Supermarket Shoppers for seven consecutive years.

Less products, less worries. Higher quality
ALDI purposely offers fewer variations of products as part of its range. This makes distribution easier, improves space efficiency, reduces waste, and generates further savings for customers.

For instance, you will only find two types of tomato sauce – a regular option and an alternative with 2 per cent reduced salt and sugar. This streamlines choice and reduces the time it takes for ALDI team members to restock the shelves.

Consistent pricing, week-in, week out
ALDI does not run loyalty programs or offer price mark ups and discounts on its products. This means customers can shop with confidence, knowing there will be no surprises in their grocery bill. It also makes for a more efficient business operation. ALDI will retail products at the lowest possible price point and that price point remains stable for customers.

A BUSINESS MODEL BUILT ON EXTRAORDINARY EFFICIENCY

ALDI maintains low prices by being extraordinarily efficient, with some of the lowest operating costs in the sector and a strong focus on cost-effectiveness.

Efficient layout
Each store is designed around the same standardised layout, which is about half the size of other supermarkets reducing overhead costs. Shoppers can easily navigate the store and have their shop done in under 30 minutes, while employees spend less time replenishing stock.

Shelf ready packaging
The majority of products arrive in ‘shelf-ready packaging’, including in the produce section where ALDI’s fresh fruits and vegetables are kept in the delivery crates that come from the farm. Another efficient process. This makes all stock, no matter where it came from, easy to take out and replace when it’s time to refill a shelf, making the whole process much more efficient for employees, generating savings that are passed on to customers.

Tetris masters in the Distribution Centre
When ALDI products arrive in one of the eight distribution centres around the country, they come in specially designed packaging so they can be distributed across the store network quickly. This efficiency achieves the ultimate freshness.

When products are stacked onto trucks, the most efficient routes are mapped to save time and fuel, so products get to the store quickly. The trucks are also stacked in the most efficient way. The order products go onto the trucks mirrors the store layout so it can be unloaded when it reaches the stores seamlessly, resulting in fewer stock runs to save time, and therefore operating costs. In turn allowing us to keep prices low.

Long term partnerships creates both efficiencies and trust
ALDI has many long-term relationships with more than 1,000 supply partners who have grown their businesses alongside ALDI Australia during the past 20+ years of operations. These long-term partnerships provide more certainty for supply partners, helps reduce administrative costs for both parties, and allows ALDI to provide high-quality products at the lowest possible prices every day.

Aussie first delivers savings
ALDI is proud of its Australia-first sourcing policy which helps reduce freight costs as well as ensuring products are at their freshest when they hit shelves. Fresh is best, not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of price, with 100 per cent of ALDI’s fresh meat, eggs, fresh salmon and fresh poultry, as well as 97 per cent of fruit and vegetables sourced from Australian farmers. For example, ALDI’s strawberries come from Caboolture, which is only an hour away from the Brisbane CBD, and iceberg lettuce is grown about 40 minutes away from the Melbourne CBD in Werribee South.

ENERGY SAVINGS FLOW THROUGH TO THE CHECKOUT

Energy savings across ALDI stores help customers save at the checkout too. ALDI is the only Australian supermarket to be powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity across all stores. As well as reducing ALDI’s impact on the planet, the use of renewable electricity brings down operational costs, creating savings that can be passed onto the end customer. That’s good business decisions that Make a Good Difference.

THE SAVINGS YOU CAN SEE IN STORE

Every aspect of the ALDI shopping experience has been carefully considered to help deliver everyday low prices without compromising on quality.

Trolley tokens
This starts as shoppers come into an ALDI store, where they use a gold coin or one of ALDI’s iconic trolley tokens to operate a trolley. As a result, shoppers are more incentivised to return trolleys meaning less replacements and employees spend less time collecting them, another efficient cost saving.

Store layout
Each store is designed around the same standardised layout, which is about half the size of other supermarkets, reducing overhead costs. Shoppers can easily navigate the store and have their shop done in under 30 minutes, while employees can spend less time replenishing stock.

Digital price tags
The introduction of digital price tags across select stores saves the manual task of printing and replacing price tags, which effectively reduces costs across stores which are then passed onto customers at the checkout.

Bigger, bolder, barcodes for quick checkouts
ALDI has custom-made barcodes that can go around the whole length of the product for a quicker checkout experience. ALDI’s checkouts operate with industry-leading efficiency, with employees encouraged to review and adjust their scan speed based on how quickly or slowly each customer packs their shopping.

Bag packing benches
ALDI customers are also encouraged to pack at their own pace at the long bench behind the tills, which reduces waiting times and allows ALDI team members to carry out other responsibilities, such as filling shelves and helping customers.

All these small operational efficiencies, allow ALDI to continue to deliver the best value groceries in the market. ALDI has focused every day on delivering the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices, and the fundamental differences in ALDI’s operating model allow the business to continue delivering exceptional value for customers.