I find it quite amusing, that a lot of the reasons why Walmart failed in Germany seem to be the direct opposites of the reasons why Aldi performs well in the US
I mean, what the hell was Walmart thinking in Germany?... it's like they never stepped foot in Germany but thought they were German culture experts. It was such a hilarious and expensive poor mistake
Walmart's American model, based on friendliness and extensive selection, clashed with German shopping culture, while Aldi's German model of minimalism and efficiency has been embraced in the U.S. Essentially, what worked well for Walmart in its home country failed miserably abroad due to cultural and market differences, while Aldi successfully adapted and thrived by leveraging its core strengths in the opposite market.
@@maximusasauluk7359 I don't think, they thought of themselves as "experts on German culture". I think they simply didn't care at all. They had their well and tested method of running things and assumed this would work anywhere. I mean come on. We Germans have a worldwide recognition of not liking smalltalk, yet they did it anyway.
This man just tricked me, a german, into 8.5 minutes of watching Aldi US ads while explaining to me how Aldi works (it‘s exactly like every store in germany) while waiting for some kind of plottwist
U.S. Aldi cashiers put the groceries in customers carts? If my German cashier does this, it means I WAS TOO SLOW and couldn't keep up with them scanning
@@JulesAl-Mighty In Germany, you do it yourself, not the cashier. ;) In the scene, the customers just stood around and let the cashier put everything in the shopping cart. And yes, the shopping cart fits exactly in the corner, so that you as a customer can push things that are not fragile straight into it, or the cashier can immediately recognize goods bought in boxes that are not specially placed on the conveyor belt. (E.g. bottles, milk cartons, etc.)
@ the video was patched up with generic stock images. Every Aldi I’ve been to in the States is laid out the same way. The conveyor belt, the cashier, and a shopping cart directly beside the cashier. I ❤️ Aldi, and I’m so glad they are expanding here in the States. Everybody should have one close by.
Yes but Aldi does work their people hard. I'm an employer and always hear these "people need to be paid more" arguments but a lot of people don't want to work as hard as they need to in order to maintain the productivity that can allow a company to pay high wages.
@@objectivethinker3225nothing wrong with being worked hard if you are rewarded accordingly. They pay very well and overtime even more so. In the UK staff get 20 days vacation plus bank holidays, store workers in the US could only dream of that.
I‘m German. What I learned to like about Aldi is their no BS approach. You don’t get a shopping experience (??), you get groceries. It is good to keep things short and simple. If, after saving so much money and time, the only thing left to do is looking out of the window, well then - look out of the window! Or talk to a stranger and have a real experience after all.
and they have their own quality control. They don't add articles just to have more choice, without sorrowly checking them. Everything they sell is at least ok. And since their number of articles is lower, those also don't sit as long in the shelf - less preservatives needed.
Believe me Friend they would be Welcome in the United States! I have shopped Aldi in another City, I was well Pleased with their Store! Come on over and Build More ALDIS. Love your POLAR SALMON Bring Plenty when you come.
That is the way it should be, but a few years ago Aldi's in my area in the US did remodeling work to make a more upscale shopping experience. Also stocking many big name brands. And guess what.... prices went up. I still like them and shop there, but they got away a bit from their original business plan.
@@valevisa8429 Lidl and Kaufland are both owned by the SCHWARZ Group ( Mr. Dieter Schwarz, the owner is the richest German) Lidl and Kaufland combine their buying power to reduce buying prices. It is just a different store concept. Kaufland stores are bigger with more items, but as efficient as Lidl and Aldi.
The cashier is putting the food into the cart after scanning? Wow. This VIP treatment does only happen in the US. In Germany no cashier at any kind of supermarket would do this. They just scan and you have to hurry up to be as fast as possible to pack your things into your cart… otherwise it will fall on the ground. 😂
In Finland Lidl tried that and they quickly had to start doing it the Finnish way where you have space after the cashier that is divided in to two sections with a divider so that your stuff goes to one section and then next customers stuff to next section. You have time to pack your stuff until third person enters. Now Lidl has extended this practice to other countries too. Finnish just laughed when they saw Lidls first attempt with German style stuff. 😂
@@verttikoo2052 German Discounters used to have such packaging-zones with deviders. I never thought about why they are gone. It must be efficiency. Think about what it costs.😅 2qm per cashier more estate.
Coins for using shopping carts is standard in most European countries for decades - but coins to be used are 1 or even 2 Euro, roughly 1 or 2 dollar. Bagging merchandises for the customer is absolutely uncommon in Europe
The one compromise that Aldi makes in the US is that the cashier puts the items in your cart. In Germany the customer is responsible for grabbing the items as quickly as the cashier can scan them. And if you're under 80 years of age, you better keep up with the cashier, or the other customers will get pissed at you. 🙂
I’ve been a frequent customer of Aldi stores in the US and Europe. Americans tend to buy more at a time while Europeans are more likely to make more frequent, but smaller shopping trips. Honestly the speed at which more Aldi cashiers can get goods into a cart… it’s about the same speed as they can slide it down the belt in Europe. As soon as the cart is full and payment is made, everyone know knows the drill - full cart is quickly removed by customer to go to self packing area and next cart is put in place, it’s quite efficient.
Walmart tried to establish itself in Germany in the mid 90s-2005 and competed against Aldi and other discounters (they failed), now it's payback time for Aldi xD
But they failed because they didn't understand the culture. Their methods alienated the Germans. For example a "greeter" is seen as super strange and makes Germans uncomfortable. Also their morning ritual was very bad. Chanting and singing in that motivational manner was a method the Nazis did. So for a German it's very offensive. And their "we have everything" approach broke some competition law. Plus their refusal of unions made some bad press.
As a German who lived at many places, I can proudly say our discount chains are best in class efficiency. I loved it, zero frills, great value. Happy the US can benefit now too!
@@dulcamarabuffoWell, if you are a foreigner who has to rely on train in Germany, you def. have already two of our biggest national disappointments sitting on your back: the burocratic system and the "Deutsche Bahn". Both are indeed perfect signs of inefficiency.
Next step: A plastic/glass bottle deposit scheme like in Germany. We pay 25 cents per bottle when we buy, and when we return the bottle, we get those 25 cents back. It has cut back a huge amount of what otherwise would have gone to trash or just discarded in nature.
@@uwehansen2915in Denmark you can buy in any store and get your deposit back in any other shop, so the system doesn't tie you to a certain store. 8:28
@@gaborbakos7058Not the whole of Europe. Only 13 countries have this schem and all, but one, joind in 2007 when it was introduced, Lithuania joined in 2016. Here, in Spain, we do not have it but More than 80% recycle which includes throw buttles into recycle bins. We do not have "trash pick up days" ( \at least not in cities) as we have big bins for all major types on the streets within a short walking distance, andose are emptied on a regular bases. For more specific thing we have the green collection points that will take most other things (for things like old furniture we need to take them doen in the evening on a specific date for collection). We do pay a collection tax but you can get a discount for bringing things to the recycle centers.
@@uwehansen2915 The good thing about the system is that bottles and cans with 25 cent deposit can be returned at any store. So if you buy a bottle at Lidl, you can return it at Aldi and the other way round. If every store had their own system, that would be horrible. How would I know where I bought what bottle at.
When ALDI first opened near where I lived it was almost a 30 minute drive away. After seeing some of the commercials I decided to make the drive and see what all the hoopla was about. Needless to say, I fell in love with ALDI. It has simplified shopping down to an art. It not only save money, but time as well. I don't have to look at six brands of salad dressing with eight to ten flavors per brand. If I want Ranch dressing it's either full fat or diet, quick decision and saving time not having to figure out which of the eighty types of salad dressing I want. Luckily a few months later an ALDI opened up just around the corner from where I lived! The non-food aisle can impart some great savings on lots of items, but my favorite has to be the small home appliances. I've bought a kettle, a stick blender, and a pod coffee machine. All were great values for the price and work perfectly at a significant savings over other discount stores. That was about five years ago. I've moved to another town and YES! there is an ALDI on the way home from work. In all these years I've only purchased one item that I didn't really like. I never by name brand at ALDI because it's almost as expensive as the typical grocery stores and the ALDI brand is as good or better (especially when you take into account the price)!
My aunt was a branch manager of an Aldi in Germany for most of her life. When I was a kid, cashiers didn't even have item scanners, because Aldi refused to buy and maintain these costly machines. Instead, every item was categorized into a prize like 0.49€, 0.99€, 1.99€, and so on. The cashiers MEMORIZED these and typed everything into the register. They got crazy quick at it too, so the barcode scanners weren't a huge improvement timewise.
You seem to be too young to get your memories right. Aldi did not "refuse" anything, but barcode scanning and the implementation and rollout of EAN barcodes started in the early 1980ies. The Aldi cashiers during the 70ies and 80ies would NOT type in prices, but the internal article no., usually three digits long, of every item. They were able to do this so quickly and precisely that scanner checkouts no longer had any advantage in terms of speed. It was only with the introduction of fully automated stock management systems (SCM) that they became indispensable at Aldi.
@@gerohubner5101 It was definitely not the 70s or 80s, since I was born in the 80s and my aunt was still doing it well into my teens, so late 90s. Sure, it might have been the article number, not the price, but that changes very little in terms of effort. And yes, Aldi very much REFUSED to do it because of the investment needed. I remember, that my aunt talked about it as a huge internal discussing, before it got rolled out. She was a branch manager after all (Filialleiterin).
Agree, those scanners made ALDI slower and I still remember how they did it: put their arm somewhere between the items and than they hammered into the register in lightning speed and when everything up to their arm was tipped in, one swoop to shove everything in the cart.
And Aldi started to use Barcode scanners in the late 90s. And to still be fast, They put the Barcodes on several sides on the packaging so the cashiers can swipe the items in nearly every position.
Until late 90´s ALDI also refuses to have phones in there stores. In these days most products where presented on a Euro-Palet. Only Spices and such small items put on shelfs.
When I was a kid in the late 80s there was a stigma with Aldi due to the poor quality of their offerings. Yes, they were cheaper but you got what you paid for. Aldi of today however is an entirely different story! Their selection and quality is amazing on the private brands they offer at a fraction of the cost of the big stores. I'm a beliver.
Aldi started changing during the 90s. Since the beginning of the zero years the quality of the fresh food and of the non-food is very good an the prices are reasonable. I still have duvet covers I bought 2002 - they are very good and they still look good. They were really worth their money.
I don‘t think that‘s true. Aldi in Germany was always known for it‘s high quality products. What has changed significantly is the variety. Aldi used to just have one of each- which I actually preferred- it added to the savings, as you weren’t tempted as much, and you could be sure the things that are there are of a good quality and fresh. I just HATE having to search through 50 types of joghurt.
Every single video on ALDI USA is missing one very crucial part: It's a private family owned company. They don't have stocks because they don't need outside investors and people interfering with business. It removes this need for constant short term gains and paying out money as dividends constantly. They can just reinvest everything if they want.
Interesting, although do you know if their major bank creditors still have some significant influence over them (when it comes to say renewing loans or taking on future loans)? Surely they don't rely solely on their own capital, right?
@@cheydinal5401 There are no bank creditors. Its 100% owned by the family. The entire company was founded by two brothers who died around 10-14 years ago and everything went to their kids. Its owned by the kids and a holding that they created which is also owned by the family. There are no known outside investor in ALDI. They simply don't need it because they started small with a single store and expanded over the decades.
@@cheydinal5401 Germans are not so keen on horting loans, so I wouldn't be surprised if they used mainly reserves for their expansion into the American market.
I drive 20 miles through LA traffic to get to the nearest Aldi. I save so much it's worth the drive. Kroger/Ralph's and Albertsons/Vons are all ridiculously expensive to shop at.
Give it some more time, and that distance will drop. One of the major advantages of the higher efficiency is that even fairly small shops with an equivally small customer base can still operate profitably. For example in Germany you've got 20k discount markets, basically one for every 4k inhabitants. Only 20% of those are ALDI mind you, as we do have other discount chains over here. LA's 4 million inhabitants could easily house 1k such shops, basically 2 per square mile.
I walk three minutes to the nearest Aldi in my walkable, public transport heavy german city.. I also have two more upscale supermarkets within walking distance. I should check on my car one of these days. Haven't used it in weeks... 😅
It should also be noted that in Germany, Aldi has contracts with producers and manufacturers to rebrand their wares to Aldi brands. Exactly the same product, only without the name brand recognition. If you look closely, you'll see that some of the store brands might look very similar to well-known brands -- similar color schemes and/or fonts, a slightly altered name ... and the ingredient list will be identical to the name band. Aldi still buys in bulk, the manufacturer still sells their product, but the whole advertising machinery and cost is taken out of the equation and leads to cheaper prices. An easy trick that serves both the company and the customer. Also, at least Aldi Nord often is situated right next to a regular grocery chain franchise, like Rewe. Anything Aldi doesn't carry, the customer can get next door just by crossing the parking lot (or worst case, across the street). In fact, my closest Aldi store not only is less than 100 yards from Rewe -- too close to even move the car -- but also has a drugstore discounter literally right next to it. All three stores are thriving, despite some overlap, and can even afford to distribute weekly flyers to the households in the area, so that you don't even have to check online for special offers. This, in fact, builds customer loyalty -- while the chains have regular weekly sales on a number of items in all the stores in a city, some special offers might be store-specific, which is noted in the flyer.
In Germany, the major grocery chains sell similar goods to those in ALDI's core segment at the same price. They hardly make a profit, but the customer then buys other goods that are not available in the small ALDI. Which in turn meant that ALDI stores had to become larger in order to offer more selection.
UK here. I use Aldi and Lidl almost exclusively. Only for a few specific items do I ever go to any other supermarket. I try to buy as little highly processed food as possible, and have no interest in brand names, so my non-Aldi, non-Lidl shopping trips are to a local up-market chain (Booth's) for occasional treat items, and to a large Morrisons maybe once every three months for things I can't get at either Lidl or Aldi. Dried split peas, dried lentils, pearl barley, semolina/polenta, rye flour and spelt flour. Lidl in particular has a good range of vegetarian frozen goods - handy for me to keep a few in the freezer. All the Christmas fresh veggies were being sold before Christmas at each of them for just 8p, so I have already made and frozen several varieties of veggie soup, the main ingredients costing me literally just a few pennies! I'l be going to Aldi tomorrow morning to do a bit of stocking up ...
Love my local Aldi. Especially the European products that I find and get to try. Aldi doesn't have everything, my local Fareway has far better meat at the counter, but Aldi is where to go to get the essentials.
Das ist ein Mythos und wird nur von Leuten behaupten, die noch nie im Ausland waren. Im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung ist Deutschland KOMPLETT abgehängt
We've had Aldi South at various locations in Wisconsin for a long time (maybe because many of us have last names like I do). They are building a new one in my town, New London, which is nice because it's right on my way home from work, and we needed another grocery store.
the shopping cart thing is actually something every german super market does quite a lot stopped it during covid though but due to the whole „bring the shopping cart back“ being so ingrained in our minds (it’s just something you obviously do) there wasn’t really a problem even without the monetary incentive in general most of this stuff is just german efficiency at work haha i work in a grocery story in germany myself and it’s honestly a pretty chill job but they are very focused on efficiency and speed
I can still remember a time when German stores didn't have the coin system on their carts. Not sure who started it or when exactly, but it must have been late 80ies to early 90ies.
Our Aldi still has some shopping parts that are loose, so many in fact that I always get one, so I don't even think about having a coin with me. But I don't just bring it back anyway, I even put it back in the line with other loose carts and usually the one of those with the least carts. I see myself as a sort of supermarket druid, helping to keep balance in the world.
@@Arsenic71 Most private brands are produced by well known brands. You can google lists of who produces what for ALDI. I dont think there are many facillitys in the US that can produce a copy of "Cheerios". Remember ALDI needs huge quantities and reliable quallity. So they have to go to "Cheerios" and barter.
As German I love Aldi. Great products, great prices, also a lot of organic stuff now. We normally get 90% of our weekly stuff there. Some rarer items we get at Edeka or Rewe. But the quality is as good as the main brands most of the times. Funny thing: back in the 90s and before, the cashiers needed to learn all items prices and put them by hand in the cashout (pre barcode area). It was impressive and blazingly fast…
Aldi and lidl here in Ireland.. They are both very popular.. I shop there too..stuff just cheaper there and quality good.. I would recommend them, and there packed stores speak for themselves 🧐🇮🇪
Since these Shops are there the price drops but food quality drops hard to as a german i enjoyed shopping in super valu instead of Aldi or Lidl because the food was so much better quality.
I recently saw food prices in a store around San Diego and it was immediately clear to me that Aldi would just destroy the competition if they opened it their vicinity.
Somethings else, every important is missing in this clip: The QUALITÄT is realy quite good. It is NOT cheap and bad, it is really cheap and good! - Some many years ago people stood up early in the morning to be the first to get the Q1 electronic products, like navigator, PCs or camera. If something is Aldi-Qualität - the price is good, and Qualität is good too.
I don’t see anybody in Europe leaveinhthe cart in the middle of the parking lot. Some basic education is obviously required on the other side of the Atlantic
@@guillaumegermain4951 They intrudiced the coin system and it was not only aldi literally all supermarkets did at the same time here in Austria, because people were lending the carts for transport reasons and often did not give them back, having the carts standing around and having to pay a guy collecting them never was an issue here! They stopped using the coin system and left them unlocked during the covid lockdown phase, now they are back to normal!
@@guillaumegermain4951 The Europeans did it before they had the coin system. That's why the shops introduced it. I think it was 30 to 35 years ago. And in Europe the wheels are blocked when you leave the site. You see no shopping karts on the streets.
Aldi does not usually produce its own goods. The products under its own brand are produced by the major brands and then simply put in different packaging.😉
That is not true. Many major brand companies do not product private label. And if they to, they will make sure they use a different recipe for their own premium brand vs. the private labels or Aldi. Most Aldi products are manufactured by smaller companies that are dedicated to producing private labels.
At least in Germany it is true that Aldi simply has repackaged brand name products. It's even recognizable when you check out the original producer's address, and cross index it with the private label. It may be a different name for the company but it's often still the same zip code. Large name brand companies create tiny subsidiaries who do nothing but packaging the products. That is not the case for all Aldi or discount products, but for a surprisingly large number. In the meantime Aldi has advanced so far that companies aren't reluctant about selling their products there for fear of being associated with cheap or worthless products.
@@Hupjeflupje I agree that the recipies may be slightly different from the branded products, but the private label products come out of the same production line.
@@Hupjeflupje Many, many years ago, I had a girlfriend who worked at one of the then major ready-made meal producers, called Erasco. She was working at the production line and told me that, when filling up tins with soup or similar, they stopped after a certain amount of branded tins were filled and then changed the machine to add an Aldi label. The tin was filled with exactly the same soup as the Erasco-branded one. However, she said with certain products that required expensive meat, they changed the recipe slightly by adding a little bit less meat to the Aldi tins than to the Erasco-branded ones.
Lidl is quite big in Finland. When I used to live there I went to Lidl once a month and bought all the basic stuff from there for the whole month and took a taxi back home. Lots of stuff.
As a european I was shocked and laughing that the shopping cart system was a mew concept to Americans. this can't be real. They would rather hire an entire human for this 😂
From Galicia, we are a region in the northwest of Spain, famous, among other things, for the quality of our food. For a decade, ALDI and LIDL have been among us. At first we saw them as low-cost supermarkets, but over time we have come to see them as basic supermarkets. They have much less variety of products than other supermarkets. They do not have a traditional fishmonger or butcher shop, everything is packaged, but their fruit and vegetables are of quality. LIDL has good prices. According to the Consumers' Organization, it is the cheapest supermarket chain in Spain and for me it is one step above ALDI in terms of quality. Both chains are efficient and practical. They are designed so that people go there to buy, not to look for sensory experiences. Of course, neither in ALDI nor in LIDL nor in any Spanish supermarket do the cashiers put the products in the bags, nor does anyone take the bags to the car and no employee expects a tip, as happened to me in the United States. I don't know what the working conditions of your employees are, but they seem relaxed.
Another very important reason for Aldi's efficiency is that they need much less stock. The sales floor becomes a warehouse. In addition, the logistics are very good, so that stocks are constantly replenished directly on the sales floor.
Aldi is pretty good here downunder. Not surprised the format does well in most markets. The one in my town has self checkouts now. Making it even more efficient and convenient.
As a US Aldi customer, there is no better place to shop than Aldi's. I regularly get the same groceries weekly so it's incredibly easy to walk up and down the isles for what I need. If I did the same thing in Target or Walmart, I'd be there all day.
5:20 This is factually wrong. Customers are not expected to "bag their groceries is a separate area in front of the store" (which would be outdoors). The bagging area is located "in front of the checkout area" or "between the checkout area and the exit area".
Aldi came to Ireland in the early 2000’s and nobody used to shop there as a lot of people thought that you were a cheap shopper. Joke and everything would be plentiful. But the crash came in 2008 and it exploded along with Lidl another German grocery chain. Both now have a massive market share in Ireland and their products are as good as their competitors. And their middle isle is priceless.
No you don’t. In Germany the grocery stores all have the same prices. Differences just occur because of some weekly discounts. But even then Aldi don’t have more or better discounts then the competition
@@ItsJockl All basic products from Aldi, Lidl, ja, and Gut&Günstig have the exact same prices. (I’ve made this experience and various product comparison videos show the same) Apart from that prices might differ if one or another store has an in-house brand or not. For fruits and vegetables the discounters are cheaper, but do not differ from one another very much, at least when I compare the prices. As a result, depending on your consumer behavior, there is not much space for price differences. So even when you come out a bit cheaper with Aldi, because of your product choices, there is no way to save 40%. It is impossible. The food prices in Germany are low overall, so there is no way you could save that much. In particular not if you compare Aldi with other discounters.
40%? Compared to what? Certainly not Lidl, Penny or Rewe, not even Edeka. You'd have to pick very specific items and compare the knock-off brands to the originals in order to get 40%. But if you do a regular shopping tour for the most common items and pick well known brands from both or store-brands from both you'd get way smaller margins.
Just one tiny bit of info about Aldi‘s beginning in Germany: competitors tried to bad mouth Aldi‘s product quality, but Aldi focused on a two-fold strategy even more strictly: to offer the cheapest product of at least the same or better quality than other Supermarkets. And they succeeded. For years they offered the best quality to price ratio. The competition between Discounters and Supermarkets in Germany is fierce (as Walmart can vouch for). Both Aldi companies and Lidl are the three at the top. (At least in Germany) no one comes close in price / quality ratio!
And even Rewe, which isn't a discounter is more efficient as a Walmart. They do have more products, but a lot of products are still in the delivered packaging and you have a lot of self checkouts. Of course they do not do things like bringing shopping cards back. The only other costly thing besides more products is probably that you can buy vegetables and fruits in very small samples and they weigh them for you so you do not have to use different bags and weigh them yourself
This is fascinating to watch from a Dutch perspective. Here in my Netherlands the dust of this Aldi revolution has settled many years ago and large legacy supermarket chains have learned their lesson. Most are now at the same price levels as Aldi (or lower) while stocking more items and providing more service. Consequently the market share of Aldi has shrunk significantly in the Netherlands. Aldi Netherlands recently made a public promise to return to their basics of no frills and unbeatable low prices. So far I haven't seen any proof of that.
Because countries and their people sometimes act differently. Look at Denmark, where Aldi has now (2022/23) completely given up. Here in Germany, I actually avoid Aldi/Lidl/Netto too. The discounters are no longer that cheap. The same goods are available elsewhere for a similar or even the same price. Not to mention the weekly offers.
This is amusing to see just how inefficient US stores are runned compared to the EU standard. The only thing Germany does diffrently then here in Sweden - and worse I might add - is that you don’t have space to pack your groceries directly at the cashier. Our checkouts are bigger and sectioned at the end so two customers can bag their stuff at the same time.
They introduced that system recently to Aldi stores in Germany. I guess they couldn't do it earlier because a lot of people still pai(d) with cash and then the system doesn't work. It only works well when every section at the end has their own card terminal and everybody pays with their card or phone.
@@vonnikonyes because self checkouts are inefficient as f.. They are everywhere in Canada and it is such a pain to use them. Could you imagine if places like Costco had self checkout lol.
It's very common in Germany's ALDI, that the private labelled goods are just rebadged well-known brands. Same stuff, different package. That allowed the brands to ramp up production, increasing efficiency and thus allowing them to increase their margins on their brands, while ALDI got access to what they want to sell at a bargain price. The biggest selling point to me is the no-frills experience. They want to get you in and out fast, so you don't block their small aisles. No "shopping worlds", no "customer experiences" and all that jazz, just get your stuff and go. Just the way I like it - and apparently a lot of other people too. Finally, their own brands that they getting produced for themselves usually fare quite well on comparisons. Ususally the quality is in the top third or better in comparisons, with typically only special brands at significantly higher prices are better.
Their own label foods are also high quality. And the smaller footprint shops are better for older people and the disabled. No hiking round aisles of stuff I don't need. UK stopper
I‘m from Germany and currently visiting the US (San Diego) for the first time. Recently I‘ve been at a Costco (of course also for the first time) and it‘s insane how inefficient they are. Of course with so many employees bringing back shopping carts just because customers are too lazy to do it themselves, but also employees at the entrance checking some weird membership thing, super long checkout times and unnecessary smalltalk, employees bagging my groceries which makes me super uncomfortable, someone checking your shopping cart after you have already paid etc. In contrast, Aldi is always a breath of fresh air, small, efficient and fast, and where I can just be self-reliant and don’t need to talk to anyone, just like how all stores should be. I hope this trend of getting Americans away from this toxic „service-oriented“ culture will continue; luckily inflation is on our side here.
Fan fact about the cashier system. Aldi introduced bar code scanner registers maybe 20 years ago here in Germany. Before this the cashier had to enter a code into the register, and they knew the most common items by heart. They were faster than tzhe supermarkets where they scanned the barcodes. Not having much different items helps with that too. .
They were not only faster than their competition with scanners ... they were also faster than you, the customer, putting your stuff into bags or back into the cart! You needed a friend/spouse helping you to make this a fair fight :) And you'd think they would do a lot of mistakes but, alas, they made so few that checking was a waste of time
I haven't watched the video, but let me guess: Walmart cannot compete because their share holders expect an unhealthy annual growth in combination with high margins, while ALDI simply needs to cover their costs.
I like their special offers. I also bought the first home computer there, and did not regret it. They offer 2 years guarantee. And will deliver on it. Their repair centre in our case could be reached by car, train and bus. I delivered the PC tower, explained what I thought the matter was (virusses). Next thing they contacted me 10 days later: please fetch the PC, its ready. It was like new.
Wait till you hear about Lidl 😅 a much better discounter in my opinion. In France, Lidl is booming while Aldi is really struggling but every market is different. Good job Aldi for changing the grocery store landscape in the US
I like it that the employees can do everything... and actually they change between the tasks throughout their shift... good for their health not to be sitting/standing behind the cashier for 8 hours (with only a break)
My ex girlfriend worked for LIDL/Germany in a shop. She was not allowed to work longer then 2 hours as a cashier. But if she will she could work at this station longer then 2 hours.
While the US is still at ALDI lvl.1: Having to bag their items themselves, our ALDI store recently got renovated and now lets cashiers manage two customers at the same time: There are two separate 'end zones' where the scanned items go into, each one with their own Card Reader and receipt printer. Once your end zone is filled with items and you tell the cashier that you don't want to pay in cash, they are no longer required to help you and immediately start fireing scanned items into the second end Zone. It's amazing. Also from an IT standpoint: the cash registers must be able to handle multiple customers at once and flawlessly switch between them.
Add-on - ours now have this, and additionally also self-service tills managed by the same assistant who's doing the "dual-lane" checkout. So essentially 6 check outs from 1 person.
In Germany anlot of other supermarkets can beat Aldi‘s prices! We have for example Lidl, Netto and Penny, that are also discounters with the same low-price range. All the other supermarkets have a range with no-name products that are as cheap as the equivalent at the discounters.
@@Nuevala Right, but when you look at the quality or quality / price ratio Aldi (and Lidl are best IMHO. Netto, Penny and Norma might have comparable prices, but (at least with some items) quality sucks, is lower. The Supermarkets (Rewe, Edeka) might have comparable quality and prices, but a much smaller range of low cost products. Their regular products are much more expensive. I have shoppen at all of the above, even both Aldis (the demarcation line is just through the city next door. For me, my personal Rating is: Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Kaufland, Netto, Norma, Penny (though I only use the first 6 semi- regularly). Rewe / Edeka rating depends a lot on the local store, they differ. Of course it depends on your own personal choice of items, but over all Aldi and Lidl really try hard to deliver good products for a low price, and they mostly succeed. But it is a fierce battle, fought again every new week.
Excellent video, thanks for the info. Aldi had me at taking care of their employees when I saw their cashiers could sit down. That was it. It's efficient, no biggie, simple, they can scan my stuff, and we move on. No need for them to stand up, and do too much. There seem to be a war in the retail industry and in work places in general, between seeing how much rules and etiquettes we need to have to "wow" our customers, and keeping it to the bare essentials to just get the job done. I personally subscribe more to the later. As a worker so that I can actually focus on the job itself, and as a customer because I know the employees aren't selling themselves away to get me to spend my money
Here in their home market Germany they have large 3 digit numbers on heavy items like bottled drinks or cat litter for example. Customers are asked to leave them in the cart so the cashier doesn't have to lift them. Do they do that in the US, too?
@@BigWhoopZH It depends. From my experience, most of the time yes they lift them. Other times, some stores have hand scanners, so that the cashiers hold them and come around to scan the barcode of the item on the cart. And in few other cases, they have stickers with the barcode of large items on hand so that they can scan it without having to carry them
There are also supermarkets in Germany without locked shopping carts. Mostly people do understand (and maybe are trained - lol) to bringing the cart back. But the majority uses coins.
I switched to Aldi almost a year ago and I'm happy paying 40% less compared to my previous grocery store chain. In the meantime Aldi opened a second store in our area.
@@jaripukki267 who? Maybe Walmart is the only chain large enough to buy everything in large bulk quantities, but still their logistics is more complicated and thereby more expensiva than Aldi. And the more items you have, the longer they will sit on the shelve. The longer food items sit on the shelves, the more preservatives they need. This is one of the reasons, why American food has so much chemical additives, because the retailers want that and pressured the producers to do so. They modelled the merchandize around their store concept, not the store concept around their merchandize.
@@ekesandras1481 talking our country, where there are only 3 chains, and the biggest buy everythin in bulk, and make long time contracts. everything is cheaper than in US, and mainly locally produced
Aldi also was the last store to use Barcodes in their checkouts. Before, the cashier had to type in a 4-digit-Number for every product (trainees had 2 months to learn them all). They only switched to barcodes after all their suppliers printed larger codes on all sides of their products, so that the scanning was as fast as the typing cashier. Aldi was always about efficiency.
I find it quite amusing, that a lot of the reasons why Walmart failed in Germany seem to be the direct opposites of the reasons why Aldi performs well in the US
Because Americans are horribly inefficient in a lot of ways. So its quite easy to improve that with a LITTLE brain usage.
Exactly! I think comparing Aldi in the US and Walmart in Germany is a really good case-study of the grocery industry.
I mean, what the hell was Walmart thinking in Germany?... it's like they never stepped foot in Germany but thought they were German culture experts. It was such a hilarious and expensive poor mistake
Walmart's American model, based on friendliness and extensive selection, clashed with German shopping culture, while Aldi's German model of minimalism and efficiency has been embraced in the U.S. Essentially, what worked well for Walmart in its home country failed miserably abroad due to cultural and market differences, while Aldi successfully adapted and thrived by leveraging its core strengths in the opposite market.
@@maximusasauluk7359 I don't think, they thought of themselves as "experts on German culture". I think they simply didn't care at all. They had their well and tested method of running things and assumed this would work anywhere. I mean come on. We Germans have a worldwide recognition of not liking smalltalk, yet they did it anyway.
I love how this is just the regular German shopping experience.
No we also have Rewe and Edeka, which offer a better shopping experience. I mostly go to Rewe bc they have more items and it’s just better organised
@ bro like I am not from Germany
@@bratwurstler2647 yeah but in the end i dont think theres is a worser but also cheaper supermarket than Penny 😂 or Tedi
@@bratwurstler2647 deutschester kommentar
American grocery stores are robbing people with their sky high prices
This man just tricked me, a german, into 8.5 minutes of watching Aldi US ads while explaining to me how Aldi works (it‘s exactly like every store in germany) while waiting for some kind of plottwist
U.S. Aldi cashiers put the groceries in customers carts?
If my German cashier does this, it means I WAS TOO SLOW and couldn't keep up with them scanning
I would consider that rude for a cashier to pack my bags. Interesting how different societies have different conventions
Yeah same here I am from the netherlands and no way in hell would the cashier bag your products unless they have some kind of disability
The shopping cart is directly beside them, there’s nowhere else for them to put the item after they’ve scanned it. It goes straight into the cart.
@@JulesAl-Mighty In Germany, you do it yourself, not the cashier. ;) In the scene, the customers just stood around and let the cashier put everything in the shopping cart.
And yes, the shopping cart fits exactly in the corner, so that you as a customer can push things that are not fragile straight into it, or the cashier can immediately recognize goods bought in boxes that are not specially placed on the conveyor belt. (E.g. bottles, milk cartons, etc.)
@ the video was patched up with generic stock images. Every Aldi I’ve been to in the States is laid out the same way. The conveyor belt, the cashier, and a shopping cart directly beside the cashier.
I ❤️ Aldi, and I’m so glad they are expanding here in the States. Everybody should have one close by.
Memo: Aldi pays higher wages then many other discounters
And have enough money to buy them chairs, what an outrage...
At least in Germany Aldi is renowned comparatively very good wages
Yes but Aldi does work their people hard. I'm an employer and always hear these "people need to be paid more" arguments but a lot of people don't want to work as hard as they need to in order to maintain the productivity that can allow a company to pay high wages.
In the UK they pay higher wages than any other supermarket.
@@objectivethinker3225nothing wrong with being worked hard if you are rewarded accordingly. They pay very well and overtime even more so. In the UK staff get 20 days vacation plus bank holidays, store workers in the US could only dream of that.
I‘m German. What I learned to like about Aldi is their no BS approach. You don’t get a shopping experience (??), you get groceries. It is good to keep things short and simple. If, after saving so much money and time, the only thing left to do is looking out of the window, well then - look out of the window! Or talk to a stranger and have a real experience after all.
and they have their own quality control. They don't add articles just to have more choice, without sorrowly checking them. Everything they sell is at least ok. And since their number of articles is lower, those also don't sit as long in the shelf - less preservatives needed.
Too much work in aldi, no auto checkout, self checkout. Utterly technologically behind . My indian grocery stores are much faster than aldi. 😅😅
Germans talking to strangers? As an international student living in Germany, that sounds funny to me. They are so reserved
Believe me Friend they would be Welcome in the United States! I have shopped Aldi in another City, I was well Pleased with their Store! Come on over and Build More ALDIS.
Love your POLAR SALMON Bring Plenty when you come.
That is the way it should be, but a few years ago Aldi's in my area in the US did remodeling work to make a more upscale shopping experience. Also stocking many big name brands. And guess what.... prices went up.
I still like them and shop there, but they got away a bit from their original business plan.
Be aware:
- Lidl joined the US Server
- Kaufland joined the US Server
- Ghetto-Netto joined the US Server
Ghetto-Netto 🤣🤣🤣🤣
that was just a warmup. Wait until we send Penny and Norma. Than its Joever for Walmart
Co tam z Bedronką ?
Lidl yes,but Kaufland ?! No ,they are not cheep.
@@valevisa8429 Lidl and Kaufland are both owned by the SCHWARZ Group ( Mr. Dieter Schwarz, the owner is the richest German) Lidl and Kaufland combine their buying power to reduce buying prices. It is just a different store concept. Kaufland stores are bigger with more items, but as efficient as Lidl and Aldi.
The cashier is putting the food into the cart after scanning? Wow. This VIP treatment does only happen in the US. In Germany no cashier at any kind of supermarket would do this. They just scan and you have to hurry up to be as fast as possible to pack your things into your cart… otherwise it will fall on the ground. 😂
never happened any cashier let it fall on the ground but they wit with a verry anoyed look on their face so u feel prerssured to hurry XD
That might keep elder people young😅
In Finland Lidl tried that and they quickly had to start doing it the Finnish way where you have space after the cashier that is divided in to two sections with a divider so that your stuff goes to one section and then next customers stuff to next section. You have time to pack your stuff until third person enters. Now Lidl has extended this practice to other countries too. Finnish just laughed when they saw Lidls first attempt with German style stuff. 😂
@@verttikoo2052 German Discounters used to have such packaging-zones with deviders. I never thought about why they are gone. It must be efficiency. Think about what it costs.😅 2qm per cashier more estate.
@ Now you are not thinking efficiently. That divider gives the cashier faster access to the next customer while the one is packing.
Coins for using shopping carts is standard in most European countries for decades - but coins to be used are 1 or even 2 Euro, roughly 1 or 2 dollar.
Bagging merchandises for the customer is absolutely uncommon in Europe
Most People use coin size metal or plastic tokens these days. (I always carry a coin size washer in my pocket)
@@AndreasKoeniger
It's more "some people".
But still works that customers return the shopping cart to one of the cart bases.
@@jean-emmanuelrotzetter6030 Might depend on the specific country, in Germany it's definitly "most".
Even better: I have one of these keychain tools that can be removed from the cart after unlocking. I still bring the cart back, though.
Problem in the US is that they have a bill for 1$ not a coin. So they‘re using another value for the coin
The one compromise that Aldi makes in the US is that the cashier puts the items in your cart. In Germany the customer is responsible for grabbing the items as quickly as the cashier can scan them. And if you're under 80 years of age, you better keep up with the cashier, or the other customers will get pissed at you. 🙂
And the cashier. And the people watching from outside.
@@Llortnerof ... and everyone in the queue behind you ofc and their babies
Us people are to slow or to lazy, sow they carts wil be packed, so they can move out quickly.
I’ve been a frequent customer of Aldi stores in the US and Europe. Americans tend to buy more at a time while Europeans are more likely to make more frequent, but smaller shopping trips. Honestly the speed at which more Aldi cashiers can get goods into a cart… it’s about the same speed as they can slide it down the belt in Europe. As soon as the cart is full and payment is made, everyone know knows the drill - full cart is quickly removed by customer to go to self packing area and next cart is put in place, it’s quite efficient.
@@Llortnerofyou forgot everyone else on the parking lot and the rest of the city
Walmart tried to establish itself in Germany in the mid 90s-2005 and competed against Aldi and other discounters (they failed), now it's payback time for Aldi xD
"Wollt ihr den totalen Preiskrieg?!?"
Maybe Lidl is next to compete in the US ...
@@Klaffify Lidl is, arguably, even better than Aldi
But they failed because they didn't understand the culture.
Their methods alienated the Germans. For example a "greeter" is seen as super strange and makes Germans uncomfortable. Also their morning ritual was very bad. Chanting and singing in that motivational manner was a method the Nazis did. So for a German it's very offensive.
And their "we have everything" approach broke some competition law. Plus their refusal of unions made some bad press.
Aldi gave up in Denmark. A expensive Norwegian company took over all the shop. It was a bloodbath.
Aldi is probably the current best example of German perfected efficiency.
I have lived in Germany for 25 years and can sadly say that most of Germany is remarkably inefficient and bureaucratic.
@@dulcamarabuffoBut compared to the US Germany is still way better.
@@EmotionalWeathereven Spain at noon is more efficient than US. 😂
As a German who lived at many places, I can proudly say our discount chains are best in class efficiency. I loved it, zero frills, great value. Happy the US can benefit now too!
@@dulcamarabuffoWell, if you are a foreigner who has to rely on train in Germany, you def. have already two of our biggest national disappointments sitting on your back: the burocratic system and the "Deutsche Bahn".
Both are indeed perfect signs of inefficiency.
2:32 This is so normal in Europe
I thought it was normal everywhere 😂😂
LIDL appears to operate in the same way here in Ireland.
It was Normal until zigos and others arrived
Next step: A plastic/glass bottle deposit scheme like in Germany. We pay 25 cents per bottle when we buy, and when we return the bottle, we get those 25 cents back. It has cut back a huge amount of what otherwise would have gone to trash or just discarded in nature.
Hm in the US it woudt bind the poeple ifen more to the Shop but it is a German law so no hope for cleanen City in the US.
@@uwehansen2915in Denmark you can buy in any store and get your deposit back in any other shop, so the system doesn't tie you to a certain store. 8:28
As it works in whole Europe for many decades.
@@gaborbakos7058Not the whole of Europe. Only 13 countries have this schem and all, but one, joind in 2007 when it was introduced, Lithuania joined in 2016.
Here, in Spain, we do not have it but More than 80% recycle which includes throw buttles into recycle bins. We do not have "trash pick up days" ( \at least not in cities) as we have big bins for all major types on the streets within a short walking distance, andose are emptied on a regular bases. For more specific thing we have the green collection points that will take most other things (for things like old furniture we need to take them doen in the evening on a specific date for collection).
We do pay a collection tax but you can get a discount for bringing things to the recycle centers.
@@uwehansen2915 The good thing about the system is that bottles and cans with 25 cent deposit can be returned at any store. So if you buy a bottle at Lidl, you can return it at Aldi and the other way round. If every store had their own system, that would be horrible. How would I know where I bought what bottle at.
As a German this is standard in our country for discounter shops
Fun Fact... Aldi was considered a crappy store back in the 80's and 90's...
@ yes that’s right. I remember at my school in the 90s and children were making fun out of other when their parents go to Aldi. It changed a lot.
When ALDI first opened near where I lived it was almost a 30 minute drive away. After seeing some of the commercials I decided to make the drive and see what all the hoopla was about. Needless to say, I fell in love with ALDI. It has simplified shopping down to an art. It not only save money, but time as well. I don't have to look at six brands of salad dressing with eight to ten flavors per brand. If I want Ranch dressing it's either full fat or diet, quick decision and saving time not having to figure out which of the eighty types of salad dressing I want. Luckily a few months later an ALDI opened up just around the corner from where I lived!
The non-food aisle can impart some great savings on lots of items, but my favorite has to be the small home appliances. I've bought a kettle, a stick blender, and a pod coffee machine. All were great values for the price and work perfectly at a significant savings over other discount stores.
That was about five years ago. I've moved to another town and YES! there is an ALDI on the way home from work. In all these years I've only purchased one item that I didn't really like. I never by name brand at ALDI because it's almost as expensive as the typical grocery stores and the ALDI brand is as good or better (especially when you take into account the price)!
Yes, it saves so much time! I only go to large supermarkets if I need very specific things. For everyday stuff, small supermarkets are much better.
My aunt was a branch manager of an Aldi in Germany for most of her life. When I was a kid, cashiers didn't even have item scanners, because Aldi refused to buy and maintain these costly machines. Instead, every item was categorized into a prize like 0.49€, 0.99€, 1.99€, and so on. The cashiers MEMORIZED these and typed everything into the register. They got crazy quick at it too, so the barcode scanners weren't a huge improvement timewise.
You seem to be too young to get your memories right. Aldi did not "refuse" anything, but barcode scanning and the implementation and rollout of EAN barcodes started in the early 1980ies.
The Aldi cashiers during the 70ies and 80ies would NOT type in prices, but the internal article no., usually three digits long, of every item. They were able to do this so quickly and precisely that scanner checkouts no longer had any advantage in terms of speed. It was only with the introduction of fully automated stock management systems (SCM) that they became indispensable at Aldi.
@@gerohubner5101 It was definitely not the 70s or 80s, since I was born in the 80s and my aunt was still doing it well into my teens, so late 90s. Sure, it might have been the article number, not the price, but that changes very little in terms of effort. And yes, Aldi very much REFUSED to do it because of the investment needed. I remember, that my aunt talked about it as a huge internal discussing, before it got rolled out. She was a branch manager after all (Filialleiterin).
Agree, those scanners made ALDI slower and I still remember how they did it: put their arm somewhere between the items and than they hammered into the register in lightning speed and when everything up to their arm was tipped in, one swoop to shove everything in the cart.
And Aldi started to use Barcode scanners in the late 90s. And to still be fast, They put the Barcodes on several sides on the packaging so the cashiers can swipe the items in nearly every position.
Until late 90´s ALDI also refuses to have phones in there stores.
In these days most products where presented on a Euro-Palet. Only Spices and such small items put on shelfs.
When I was a kid in the late 80s there was a stigma with Aldi due to the poor quality of their offerings. Yes, they were cheaper but you got what you paid for. Aldi of today however is an entirely different story! Their selection and quality is amazing on the private brands they offer at a fraction of the cost of the big stores. I'm a beliver.
It does seem like they have improved their quality a lot over time! I'm a big fan as well.
Aldi started changing during the 90s. Since the beginning of the zero years the quality of the fresh food and of the non-food is very good an the prices are reasonable. I still have duvet covers I bought 2002 - they are very good and they still look good. They were really worth their money.
I don‘t think that‘s true. Aldi in Germany was always known for it‘s high quality products. What has changed significantly is the variety. Aldi used to just have one of each- which I actually preferred- it added to the savings, as you weren’t tempted as much, and you could be sure the things that are there are of a good quality and fresh. I just HATE having to search through 50 types of joghurt.
Thing is that while Aldi's quality has somewhat improved, they're no longer cheaper than the other retailer's store brands (at least not on average).
Aldi Süd was always very ok. I think it was Aldi Nord that sometimes had low quality.
German here: I think pride in the beauty and efficiency of Aldi might be one thing that all Germans can get behind
Kennen Sie Brot?
xD
Every single video on ALDI USA is missing one very crucial part: It's a private family owned company. They don't have stocks because they don't need outside investors and people interfering with business. It removes this need for constant short term gains and paying out money as dividends constantly. They can just reinvest everything if they want.
Almost as if maximizing shareholder profits wasn't the healthiest thing for companies.
Interesting, although do you know if their major bank creditors still have some significant influence over them (when it comes to say renewing loans or taking on future loans)? Surely they don't rely solely on their own capital, right?
@@cheydinal5401 There are no bank creditors. Its 100% owned by the family.
The entire company was founded by two brothers who died around 10-14 years ago and everything went to their kids. Its owned by the kids and a holding that they created which is also owned by the family.
There are no known outside investor in ALDI. They simply don't need it because they started small with a single store and expanded over the decades.
@@cheydinal5401 Germans are not so keen on horting loans, so I wouldn't be surprised if they used mainly reserves for their expansion into the American market.
AMEN public Stocks are fatal for democracy and economy of a republic.
I drive 20 miles through LA traffic to get to the nearest Aldi. I save so much it's worth the drive. Kroger/Ralph's and Albertsons/Vons are all ridiculously expensive to shop at.
My small town of 20k people have two Aldis not 2 km apart ;)
Ralph‘s was already steeply priced 20 years ago.
Give it some more time, and that distance will drop. One of the major advantages of the higher efficiency is that even fairly small shops with an equivally small customer base can still operate profitably.
For example in Germany you've got 20k discount markets, basically one for every 4k inhabitants. Only 20% of those are ALDI mind you, as we do have other discount chains over here. LA's 4 million inhabitants could easily house 1k such shops, basically 2 per square mile.
I walk three minutes to the nearest Aldi in my walkable, public transport heavy german city..
I also have two more upscale supermarkets within walking distance.
I should check on my car one of these days. Haven't used it in weeks... 😅
The real savings at these discounter stores is buying ingredients, rather than ready made, highly processed stuff
I'm German and even work at a grocery store, so it really boggles my mind that American stores seem to *try* to be as inefficient as possible
Tucker Carlson never seen an Aldi shopping car until he went to Russia😂😂😂
THEY ARE LIKE 3rd WORLD SHOPPING!
Not really! In Europe this is normal!😅
trucker is just a rus shill
@@richardbarron8869 und who is They ???
It should also be noted that in Germany, Aldi has contracts with producers and manufacturers to rebrand their wares to Aldi brands. Exactly the same product, only without the name brand recognition. If you look closely, you'll see that some of the store brands might look very similar to well-known brands -- similar color schemes and/or fonts, a slightly altered name ... and the ingredient list will be identical to the name band. Aldi still buys in bulk, the manufacturer still sells their product, but the whole advertising machinery and cost is taken out of the equation and leads to cheaper prices. An easy trick that serves both the company and the customer.
Also, at least Aldi Nord often is situated right next to a regular grocery chain franchise, like Rewe. Anything Aldi doesn't carry, the customer can get next door just by crossing the parking lot (or worst case, across the street). In fact, my closest Aldi store not only is less than 100 yards from Rewe -- too close to even move the car -- but also has a drugstore discounter literally right next to it. All three stores are thriving, despite some overlap, and can even afford to distribute weekly flyers to the households in the area, so that you don't even have to check online for special offers. This, in fact, builds customer loyalty -- while the chains have regular weekly sales on a number of items in all the stores in a city, some special offers might be store-specific, which is noted in the flyer.
Hey, another German here, can you name some items that are de-branded like you explained? I could use saving money this way :D
In Germany, the major grocery chains sell similar goods to those in ALDI's core segment at the same price. They hardly make a profit, but the customer then buys other goods that are not available in the small ALDI. Which in turn meant that ALDI stores had to become larger in order to offer more selection.
With other words: It‘s just very German. Smart, efficient and without unnecessary extras.
UK here. I use Aldi and Lidl almost exclusively.
Only for a few specific items do I ever go to any other supermarket. I try to buy as little highly processed food as possible, and have no interest in brand names, so my non-Aldi, non-Lidl shopping trips are to a local up-market chain (Booth's) for occasional treat items, and to a large Morrisons maybe once every three months for things I can't get at either Lidl or Aldi. Dried split peas, dried lentils, pearl barley, semolina/polenta, rye flour and spelt flour.
Lidl in particular has a good range of vegetarian frozen goods - handy for me to keep a few in the freezer. All the Christmas fresh veggies were being sold before Christmas at each of them for just 8p, so I have already made and frozen several varieties of veggie soup, the main ingredients costing me literally just a few pennies!
I'l be going to Aldi tomorrow morning to do a bit of stocking up ...
Love my local Aldi. Especially the European products that I find and get to try. Aldi doesn't have everything, my local Fareway has far better meat at the counter, but Aldi is where to go to get the essentials.
Deutsche Effizienz in Aktion 🇩🇪
😂 I can read German
Wenigstens in irgendwas müssen wir ja effizient sein 😂
Really 😅
Das ist ein Mythos und wird nur von Leuten behaupten, die noch nie im Ausland waren. Im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung ist Deutschland KOMPLETT abgehängt
We've had Aldi South at various locations in Wisconsin for a long time (maybe because many of us have last names like I do).
They are building a new one in my town, New London, which is nice because it's right on my way home from work, and we needed another grocery store.
the shopping cart thing is actually something every german super market does
quite a lot stopped it during covid though but due to the whole „bring the shopping cart back“ being so ingrained in our minds (it’s just something you obviously do) there wasn’t really a problem even without the monetary incentive
in general most of this stuff is just german efficiency at work haha
i work in a grocery story in germany myself and it’s honestly a pretty chill job but they are very focused on efficiency and speed
I can still remember a time when German stores didn't have the coin system on their carts. Not sure who started it or when exactly, but it must have been late 80ies to early 90ies.
Our Aldi still has some shopping parts that are loose, so many in fact that I always get one, so I don't even think about having a coin with me. But I don't just bring it back anyway, I even put it back in the line with other loose carts and usually the one of those with the least carts. I see myself as a sort of supermarket druid, helping to keep balance in the world.
Außer an Ostern und Weihnachten was ;)
Holy shiz, the things we look at and do in Europe for the last 5 decades are "revolutionary" in America
Just goes to show how much worse the US has at. The cold war ended and it made everyone hungry for even more profit. It's sickening
ldi has the highest quality standards and the best trained employees. The own brands usually taste better than the branded products.
In some cases they are brand products, just labelled differently for Aldi.
@@Arsenic71 Most private brands are produced by well known brands. You can google lists of who produces what for ALDI.
I dont think there are many facillitys in the US that can produce a copy of "Cheerios". Remember ALDI needs huge quantities and reliable quallity. So they have to go to "Cheerios" and barter.
Aldi and Lidl here in the UK are booming. They are constantly opening new stores.
As German I love Aldi. Great products, great prices, also a lot of organic stuff now.
We normally get 90% of our weekly stuff there. Some rarer items we get at Edeka or Rewe. But the quality is as good as the main brands most of the times.
Funny thing: back in the 90s and before, the cashiers needed to learn all items prices and put them by hand in the cashout (pre barcode area). It was impressive and blazingly fast…
Aldi and lidl here in Ireland..
They are both very popular..
I shop there too..stuff just cheaper there and quality good..
I would recommend them, and there packed stores speak for themselves 🧐🇮🇪
Since these Shops are there the price drops but food quality drops hard to as a german i enjoyed shopping in super valu instead of Aldi or Lidl because the food was so much better quality.
I recently saw food prices in a store around San Diego and it was immediately clear to me that Aldi would just destroy the competition if they opened it their vicinity.
Somethings else, every important is missing in this clip: The QUALITÄT is realy quite good. It is NOT cheap and bad, it is really cheap and good! - Some many years ago people stood up early in the morning to be the first to get the Q1 electronic products, like navigator, PCs or camera. If something is Aldi-Qualität - the price is good, and Qualität is good too.
In the Netherlands they have recently removed the coin system on the shopping karts because almost everyone returns their kart.
I don’t see anybody in Europe leaveinhthe cart in the middle of the parking lot. Some basic education is obviously required on the other side of the Atlantic
@@guillaumegermain4951 They intrudiced the coin system and it was not only aldi literally all supermarkets did at the same time here in Austria, because people were lending the carts for transport reasons and often did not give them back, having the carts standing around and having to pay a guy collecting them never was an issue here!
They stopped using the coin system and left them unlocked during the covid lockdown phase, now they are back to normal!
In germany as well since corona !
@@guillaumegermain4951 The Europeans did it before they had the coin system. That's why the shops introduced it. I think it was 30 to 35 years ago.
And in Europe the wheels are blocked when you leave the site. You see no shopping karts on the streets.
@@arnolsi you dont see them in the streets cause europeans got manners
As an American, I love Aldi. I can buy prosciutto and cheese brats at the same store. Walmart can kiss my middle-class ass.
Where do you live in America? Venezuela, Brazil? America is a continent.
Everything you mentioned as Aldi's strength is normal experience in Europe.
I am from Germany, since i am young. Aldi is the way to go ❤❤❤
Aldi does not usually produce its own goods. The products under its own brand are produced by the major brands and then simply put in different packaging.😉
That is not true. Many major brand companies do not product private label. And if they to, they will make sure they use a different recipe for their own premium brand vs. the private labels or Aldi. Most Aldi products are manufactured by smaller companies that are dedicated to producing private labels.
At least in Germany it is true that Aldi simply has repackaged brand name products. It's even recognizable when you check out the original producer's address, and cross index it with the private label. It may be a different name for the company but it's often still the same zip code. Large name brand companies create tiny subsidiaries who do nothing but packaging the products.
That is not the case for all Aldi or discount products, but for a surprisingly large number.
In the meantime Aldi has advanced so far that companies aren't reluctant about selling their products there for fear of being associated with cheap or worthless products.
@@Hupjeflupje I agree that the recipies may be slightly different from the branded products, but the private label products come out of the same production line.
@@Hupjeflupje Many, many years ago, I had a girlfriend who worked at one of the then major ready-made meal producers, called Erasco. She was working at the production line and told me that, when filling up tins with soup or similar, they stopped after a certain amount of branded tins were filled and then changed the machine to add an Aldi label. The tin was filled with exactly the same soup as the Erasco-branded one. However, she said with certain products that required expensive meat, they changed the recipe slightly by adding a little bit less meat to the Aldi tins than to the Erasco-branded ones.
@@ewok4576 So they do change the recipe when switching to Aldi/Private Label.
Hey from Germany 👋🏻
I hope ALDI US also have cleaner ingredients lists for their products. They might also offer healthier choices.
Aldi is great! 60% savings! Smart marketing!
Not in Finland, it is not reasonable market for them to come, as even Lidl can't compete with prices
Lidl is quite big in Finland. When I used to live there I went to Lidl once a month and bought all the basic stuff from there for the whole month and took a taxi back home. Lots of stuff.
@@verttikoo2052 now it's tie with S-group and K-group
As a european I was shocked and laughing that the shopping cart system was a mew concept to Americans. this can't be real. They would rather hire an entire human for this 😂
All these Aldi improvements are just... normal in EU
From Galicia, we are a region in the northwest of Spain, famous, among other things, for the quality of our food. For a decade, ALDI and LIDL have been among us. At first we saw them as low-cost supermarkets, but over time we have come to see them as basic supermarkets. They have much less variety of products than other supermarkets. They do not have a traditional fishmonger or butcher shop, everything is packaged, but their fruit and vegetables are of quality. LIDL has good prices. According to the Consumers' Organization, it is the cheapest supermarket chain in Spain and for me it is one step above ALDI in terms of quality. Both chains are efficient and practical. They are designed so that people go there to buy, not to look for sensory experiences. Of course, neither in ALDI nor in LIDL nor in any Spanish supermarket do the cashiers put the products in the bags, nor does anyone take the bags to the car and no employee expects a tip, as happened to me in the United States. I don't know what the working conditions of your employees are, but they seem relaxed.
Another very important reason for Aldi's efficiency is that they need much less stock. The sales floor becomes a warehouse. In addition, the logistics are very good, so that stocks are constantly replenished directly on the sales floor.
Efficiency doesn’t mean bad quality. Quality in most cases is good at Aldi
Aldi is pretty good here downunder. Not surprised the format does well in most markets. The one in my town has self checkouts now. Making it even more efficient and convenient.
As a US Aldi customer, there is no better place to shop than Aldi's. I regularly get the same groceries weekly so it's incredibly easy to walk up and down the isles for what I need. If I did the same thing in Target or Walmart, I'd be there all day.
5:20 This is factually wrong. Customers are not expected to "bag their groceries is a separate area in front of the store" (which would be outdoors). The bagging area is located "in front of the checkout area" or "between the checkout area and the exit area".
I guess he meant to say "in the front of the store", not "in front of the store".
Aldi came to Ireland in the early 2000’s and nobody used to shop there as a lot of people thought that you were a cheap shopper. Joke and everything would be plentiful. But the crash came in 2008 and it exploded along with Lidl another German grocery chain. Both now have a massive market share in Ireland and their products are as good as their competitors. And their middle isle is priceless.
In germany I pay 40% less at Aldi, compared to other competitors. I love it!
No you don’t. In Germany the grocery stores all have the same prices. Differences just occur because of some weekly discounts. But even then Aldi don’t have more or better discounts then the competition
I do! Same products more volume and also cheaper prices.
And I‘m definitely not talking about discounts.
How do you come to your conclusion?
@@ItsJockl All basic products from Aldi, Lidl, ja, and Gut&Günstig have the exact same prices. (I’ve made this experience and various product comparison videos show the same) Apart from that prices might differ if one or another store has an in-house brand or not.
For fruits and vegetables the discounters are cheaper, but do not differ from one another very much, at least when I compare the prices.
As a result, depending on your consumer behavior, there is not much space for price differences. So even when you come out a bit cheaper with Aldi, because of your product choices, there is no way to save 40%. It is impossible. The food prices in Germany are low overall, so there is no way you could save that much. In particular not if you compare Aldi with other discounters.
40%? Compared to what? Certainly not Lidl, Penny or Rewe, not even Edeka. You'd have to pick very specific items and compare the knock-off brands to the originals in order to get 40%. But if you do a regular shopping tour for the most common items and pick well known brands from both or store-brands from both you'd get way smaller margins.
Just one tiny bit of info about Aldi‘s beginning in Germany: competitors tried to bad mouth Aldi‘s product quality, but Aldi focused on a two-fold strategy even more strictly: to offer the cheapest product of at least the same or better quality than other Supermarkets. And they succeeded. For years they offered the best quality to price ratio. The competition between Discounters and Supermarkets in Germany is fierce (as Walmart can vouch for). Both Aldi companies and Lidl are the three at the top. (At least in Germany) no one comes close in price / quality ratio!
And even Rewe, which isn't a discounter is more efficient as a Walmart. They do have more products, but a lot of products are still in the delivered packaging and you have a lot of self checkouts. Of course they do not do things like bringing shopping cards back. The only other costly thing besides more products is probably that you can buy vegetables and fruits in very small samples and they weigh them for you so you do not have to use different bags and weigh them yourself
This is fascinating to watch from a Dutch perspective.
Here in my Netherlands the dust of this Aldi revolution has settled many years ago and large legacy supermarket chains have learned their lesson. Most are now at the same price levels as Aldi (or lower) while stocking more items and providing more service.
Consequently the market share of Aldi has shrunk significantly in the Netherlands. Aldi Netherlands recently made a public promise to return to their basics of no frills and unbeatable low prices. So far I haven't seen any proof of that.
Because countries and their people sometimes act differently. Look at Denmark, where Aldi has now (2022/23) completely given up. Here in Germany, I actually avoid Aldi/Lidl/Netto too. The discounters are no longer that cheap. The same goods are available elsewhere for a similar or even the same price. Not to mention the weekly offers.
Fascinating that the things mentioned are something special in the US.
This is amusing to see just how inefficient US stores are runned compared to the EU standard. The only thing Germany does diffrently then here in Sweden - and worse I might add - is that you don’t have space to pack your groceries directly at the cashier. Our checkouts are bigger and sectioned at the end so two customers can bag their stuff at the same time.
They introduced that system recently to Aldi stores in Germany. I guess they couldn't do it earlier because a lot of people still pai(d) with cash and then the system doesn't work. It only works well when every section at the end has their own card terminal and everybody pays with their card or phone.
You guys still have cashiers?! Self-checkouts are everywhere now..
@@vonnikonyes because self checkouts are inefficient as f.. They are everywhere in Canada and it is such a pain to use them. Could you imagine if places like Costco had self checkout lol.
@Amir-jn5mo there are handheld barcode scanners which you use to scan everything as you take them from shelves and put in your bags.
Very efficient.
Finde es lustig das genau ein Deutscher Supermarkt bei den Amerikanischen Kunden so gut ankommt
Grüße aus Deutschland
You can translate this Comment 😊
Welcome to German efficiency 😊
We live in that world for decades now.
And the cheap prices too.
Maybe they should start selling houses 😅
Not just German it's the European model (with more or less emphasis on their private label) everyone uses it from Carrefour, to Mercadona, etc.
@@Elkarus yeah but theyre all the sheeps that followed aldi in order to survive
German efficiency ? Deutsche Bahn .......
@@TheAexitus German efficiency has been decreasing for a while. In the public sector perhaps even more than in companies...
ALDI is not invincible. First store opened in Denmark 1977 and after 45 years with profit ALDI left.
It's very common in Germany's ALDI, that the private labelled goods are just rebadged well-known brands. Same stuff, different package. That allowed the brands to ramp up production, increasing efficiency and thus allowing them to increase their margins on their brands, while ALDI got access to what they want to sell at a bargain price.
The biggest selling point to me is the no-frills experience. They want to get you in and out fast, so you don't block their small aisles. No "shopping worlds", no "customer experiences" and all that jazz, just get your stuff and go. Just the way I like it - and apparently a lot of other people too.
Finally, their own brands that they getting produced for themselves usually fare quite well on comparisons. Ususally the quality is in the top third or better in comparisons, with typically only special brands at significantly higher prices are better.
Everything you mention is standard and norm in every market in Poland / Europe probably
Their own label foods are also high quality. And the smaller footprint shops are better for older people and the disabled. No hiking round aisles of stuff I don't need. UK stopper
I never had an Aldi, but shopping carts like that are just standard in Europe.
Low price, good quality! German efficiency delivered to our allies, the people of the United States! 🇩🇪🤗🇺🇸
Ahhh the cringe.. Sorry but you're brainwashed, my fellow german
What do you mean. I thik he or she just wanted to be nice.@@user-ve7hn2dh8h
ALDI didn't last in Denmark..
@@fastertove That was ALDI north. ALDI south is better i think and its the one in the US.
@@Pyriold Okay, I see. Which one does "ALDI" refer to normally?
ALDI is just the GOAT.
I think it's a bit rude to leave the shopping kart in the parking lot.
Egotistical and ignorant. The worst kind of humans
I‘m from Germany and currently visiting the US (San Diego) for the first time. Recently I‘ve been at a Costco (of course also for the first time) and it‘s insane how inefficient they are. Of course with so many employees bringing back shopping carts just because customers are too lazy to do it themselves, but also employees at the entrance checking some weird membership thing, super long checkout times and unnecessary smalltalk, employees bagging my groceries which makes me super uncomfortable, someone checking your shopping cart after you have already paid etc. In contrast, Aldi is always a breath of fresh air, small, efficient and fast, and where I can just be self-reliant and don’t need to talk to anyone, just like how all stores should be. I hope this trend of getting Americans away from this toxic „service-oriented“ culture will continue; luckily inflation is on our side here.
As a German I’m proud to see how German efficiency seems to be appreciated in other countries as well.
Last week I went shopping in the first Aldi store. It is located in Essen, Germany.
🙂🎉
Fan fact about the cashier system.
Aldi introduced bar code scanner registers maybe 20 years ago here in Germany.
Before this the cashier had to enter a code into the register, and they knew the most common items by heart.
They were faster than tzhe supermarkets where they scanned the barcodes.
Not having much different items helps with that too. .
true
I remember that.
Same in UK too. I remember it well in the late 90s
They were not only faster than their competition with scanners ... they were also faster than you, the customer, putting your stuff into bags or back into the cart! You needed a friend/spouse helping you to make this a fair fight :) And you'd think they would do a lot of mistakes but, alas, they made so few that checking was a waste of time
Aldi mention 🔥🔥🔥
I haven't watched the video, but let me guess: Walmart cannot compete because their share holders expect an unhealthy annual growth in combination with high margins, while ALDI simply needs to cover their costs.
Competition is good for us as customeres
It's so funny to see how all these things are mindblowing for Americans while we have been having this concept vor literally half a century.
I like their special offers. I also bought the first home computer there, and did not regret it. They offer 2 years guarantee. And will deliver on it. Their repair centre in our case could be reached by car, train and bus. I delivered the PC tower, explained what I thought the matter was (virusses). Next thing they contacted me 10 days later: please fetch the PC, its ready. It was like new.
Wait till you hear about Lidl 😅 a much better discounter in my opinion. In France, Lidl is booming while Aldi is really struggling but every market is different. Good job Aldi for changing the grocery store landscape in the US
I like it that the employees can do everything... and actually they change between the tasks throughout their shift... good for their health not to be sitting/standing behind the cashier for 8 hours (with only a break)
My ex girlfriend worked for LIDL/Germany in a shop. She was not allowed to work longer then 2 hours as a cashier. But if she will she could work at this station longer then 2 hours.
It’s not an Aldi thing for the trolleys it’s an EU thing
While the US is still at ALDI lvl.1: Having to bag their items themselves, our ALDI store recently got renovated and now lets cashiers manage two customers at the same time: There are two separate 'end zones' where the scanned items go into, each one with their own Card Reader and receipt printer.
Once your end zone is filled with items and you tell the cashier that you don't want to pay in cash, they are no longer required to help you and immediately start fireing scanned items into the second end Zone. It's amazing.
Also from an IT standpoint: the cash registers must be able to handle multiple customers at once and flawlessly switch between them.
Add-on - ours now have this, and additionally also self-service tills managed by the same assistant who's doing the "dual-lane" checkout. So essentially 6 check outs from 1 person.
This is allready 50 years going on in Europe..
I love Aldi. They have really good products
In Germany anlot of other supermarkets can beat Aldi‘s prices! We have for example Lidl, Netto and Penny, that are also discounters with the same low-price range. All the other supermarkets have a range with no-name products that are as cheap as the equivalent at the discounters.
@@Nuevala Right, but when you look at the quality or quality / price ratio Aldi (and Lidl are best IMHO. Netto, Penny and Norma might have comparable prices, but (at least with some items) quality sucks, is lower. The Supermarkets (Rewe, Edeka) might have comparable quality and prices, but a much smaller range of low cost products. Their regular products are much more expensive. I have shoppen at all of the above, even both Aldis (the demarcation line is just through the city next door. For me, my personal Rating is: Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, Kaufland, Netto, Norma, Penny (though I only use the first 6 semi- regularly). Rewe / Edeka rating depends a lot on the local store, they differ. Of course it depends on your own personal choice of items, but over all Aldi and Lidl really try hard to deliver good products for a low price, and they mostly succeed. But it is a fierce battle, fought again every new week.
I bought their celery and it came with smashed flies extra. How cool is that!
You prefer live ones?
Non-smashed flies are virgins, not dead.
Excellent video, thanks for the info. Aldi had me at taking care of their employees when I saw their cashiers could sit down. That was it. It's efficient, no biggie, simple, they can scan my stuff, and we move on. No need for them to stand up, and do too much. There seem to be a war in the retail industry and in work places in general, between seeing how much rules and etiquettes we need to have to "wow" our customers, and keeping it to the bare essentials to just get the job done. I personally subscribe more to the later. As a worker so that I can actually focus on the job itself, and as a customer because I know the employees aren't selling themselves away to get me to spend my money
Here in their home market Germany they have large 3 digit numbers on heavy items like bottled drinks or cat litter for example. Customers are asked to leave them in the cart so the cashier doesn't have to lift them. Do they do that in the US, too?
@@BigWhoopZH It depends. From my experience, most of the time yes they lift them. Other times, some stores have hand scanners, so that the cashiers hold them and come around to scan the barcode of the item on the cart. And in few other cases, they have stickers with the barcode of large items on hand so that they can scan it without having to carry them
@@thegamegabonthanks for the reply, it's always interesting to see how they do things in other countries.
@@BigWhoopZH for sure. I do the same! Glad I could help
Just came back from Germany, they allow market cashiers to sit down which is nice.
No self check out yet that I see in US.
It's not Oldie, it's Aldi!
The locked shopping carts are universal in Germany, just about every super market in Germany has them.
And Denmark as well
There are also supermarkets in Germany without locked shopping carts. Mostly people do understand (and maybe are trained - lol) to bringing the cart back. But the majority uses coins.
Aldi is love, Aldi is life.
American Companies want to copy some of the efficient things Aldi does - but would not want to pass on the savings to the customers.
COME TO CANADA PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired of being gouged by our grocery chains !
Our revenge for introducing Walmart to Germany
I switched to Aldi almost a year ago and I'm happy paying 40% less compared to my previous grocery store chain. In the meantime Aldi opened a second store in our area.
Memo: Aldi buys larger bulk stuff but offers less diversity, others offer more diversity but buy less bulk and are thereby more expensive
and some buy everything in bulk, maintaining variety
Variety often is an illusion as products are so similar...
@@jaripukki267 who? Maybe Walmart is the only chain large enough to buy everything in large bulk quantities, but still their logistics is more complicated and thereby more expensiva than Aldi. And the more items you have, the longer they will sit on the shelve. The longer food items sit on the shelves, the more preservatives they need. This is one of the reasons, why American food has so much chemical additives, because the retailers want that and pressured the producers to do so. They modelled the merchandize around their store concept, not the store concept around their merchandize.
@@ekesandras1481 talking our country, where there are only 3 chains, and the biggest buy everythin in bulk, and make long time contracts. everything is cheaper than in US, and mainly locally produced
I love Aldi and Lidl!!
Lidl has the same prices
Aldi also was the last store to use Barcodes in their checkouts. Before, the cashier had to type in a 4-digit-Number for every product (trainees had 2 months to learn them all). They only switched to barcodes after all their suppliers printed larger codes on all sides of their products, so that the scanning was as fast as the typing cashier. Aldi was always about efficiency.
You deserve more subs. Good video!
I appreciate that! Glad that you enjoyed the video!
Walmart: Tries to enter German grocery market - fails.
Aldi: Halt mein Bier, Bruder.