Aldi
No shareholders, private company, family run. Most profits run go to family who usually re-invest.
UK Grocery market is worth £193bn pa, £130bn 10 years ago
Aldi 6% market share, 5th position
Typically 20% cheaper than the big 4 supermarkets
Special buys – 2 big weekly promotions on non-food items e.g. cycling, cots etc
Loss leader on a lot of items such as baked beans and most items they normally sell
Aldi and Lidl don’t do BOGOF and multi buys because they can’t actually go any lower without making a big loss
Aldi and Lidl have differentiated with compost, other gardening things as they have a huge mark up and very profitable, plus they can be sold outside of the store so don’t take up any space
Aldi advertising – Kevin the Carrot. Xmas advert was more popular than John Lewis advert. It cost £5m over Xmas.
Most adverts are based around pricing with comedy and being cheap unlike Waitrose, M&S and Sainsburys which are based on quality.
Different advertising and promotions for different areas e.g. lower demographic areas are more focused on value lines
Do a lot with Olympics
Reading will have 4 Aldi stores
Aldi will test items out in different positions on shelves to see where they sell best, best possible combinations
Facebook – anyone within a 5 mile radius of a new store will have an advert pop up on their timeline. Costs £200 per week.
All aisles are the same in very store so customers shop quicker – this means less staff needed
Have a lot less product lines but more emphasis on ensuring the products are always in stock
Much more own brand items so can do their own pricing but they use actual branded items replaced with own brand.
Aldi always ensure they’re 20% cheaper, Aldi employ 100 people who monitor competitors prices so they can react straight away
Brexit having a big impact on Aldi, a lot of imports now more expensive, so having to cut costs elsewhere to keep prices low
Aldi opening 100 stores per year whereas big four are closing stores
Aldi won’t do online delivery, too expensive. Delivery charge for customers is £5 but the cost to the firm is £16 so making loss but keeps customers loyal.
Aldi has the special buys right in the middle of the stores, never change place so people always go to middle of store to look at them.
Products don’t change place very often other than seasonal e.g. ready meals winter and ice cream summer.
Social media big with Aldi because cheapest and easiest way to reach people.
Aldi doing television adverts comparing themselves against big brands e.g. baby brand vs Pampers nappers.
Aldi promotes wine etc in higher demographic areas such as Wokingham.
Hero lines – 6 lines for specials for new stores e.g. in Banbury they are doing 50% off on lawn mowers, juicers.
Aldi have leaflets in store for the next week’s special buys and hero lines.
Aldi not under as much pressure to make profits so can afford to sell cheaper and make less profit, more focus on market share. Also Aldi doesn’t have to publish results unlike the big four.
Do give out free samples e.g. Glastonbury store is struggling so giving out free samples.