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Aldi (German pronunciation: ), styled as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two Germany multinational family-owned discount supermarket Chain store operating over 13,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl Albrecht and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when they took over their mother's store in Essen. The business was split into two separate groups in 1960 that later became Aldi Nord (initially Northern West Germany), headquartered in Essen, and Aldi Süd (initially Southern West Germany), headquartered in neighbouring Mülheim." Impressum " Aldi Nord. Retrieved on 14 February 2011. "Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG Eckenbergstraße 16 45307 Essen."" Impressum ." Aldi Süd. Retrieved on 14 February 2011. "Burgstraße 37 45476 Mülheim an der Ruhr Amtsgericht Duisburg HRA 8577."
In 1962, they introduced the name Aldi (a syllabic abbreviation for "Albrecht Diskont"). In Germany, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have been financially and legally separate since 1966, although both divisions' names may appear as if they were a single enterprise with certain or when negotiating with contractor companies.
Aldi is the chief competitor of the German discount chain Lidl in several markets.
Karl Albrecht took over a food shop formerly run by Judt, and he later served in the German Army during World War II. In 1945, the brothers took over their mother's business and soon opened another retail outlet nearby. By 1950, the Albrecht brothers owned 13 stores in the Ruhr Valley.
The brothers' idea was to subtract the legal maximum rebate of 3% before sale. The market leaders at the time, which often were , required their customers to collect rebate stamps and to send them at regular intervals to reclaim their money. The Albrecht brothers also rigorously removed merchandise that did not sell from their shelves, cutting costs by neither advertising nor selling fresh produce, and keeping the size of their retail outlets small. By 1960, 300 stores were in Germany.
After German reunification and the fall of the Iron Curtain, Aldi experienced a rapid expansion. The brothers retired as CEOs in 1993. Control of the companies was placed in the hands of private family foundations, the Siepmann Foundation (Aldi Süd), and the Markus, Jakobus, and Lukas Foundation (Aldi Nord, Trader Joe's).
The former East Germany is served by Aldi Nord, except for one Aldi Süd in Sonneberg, Thuringia, whose regional office is in Bavaria. The regional branches are organised as limited partnerships, with a regional manager for each branch, who reports directly to the head office in Essen (Aldi Nord) or Mülheim an der Ruhr (Aldi Süd).
In Austria and Slovenia, Aldi Süd operates its stores under the Hofer brand. Aldi Süd's first Swiss store opened in 2005, and it has operated in Hungary since 2007. Aldi Süd had invested an estimated €800m (US$1bn; £670m) in Greece from November 2008 until pulling out in December 2010.The first Aldi stores opened simultaneously on 13 November 2008 in Aridaia, Vrasna, Giannitsa, Kalamaria, Larissa, Serres, and Stavroupoli. The untimely investment in expensive real estate at that period, the economic crisis that immediately followed, as well as the dominance of Lidl, contributed to their short-lived presence in the Greek market. They withdrew permanently in July 2010.
While Aldi Nord has renamed its Dutch and Belgian subsidiaries Combi and Lansa to the Aldi Markt/Aldi Marché brand, Aldi Süd tries to maintain a regional appearance, branding its stores Aldi Süd in Germany, Aldi Suisse in Switzerland, and Hofer in Austria and Slovenia.
Aldi launched in Great Britain on 5 April 1990, when it opened its first store there in Stechford, Birmingham, using the wholly owned English-registered company of Aldi Stores Limited. In 1994, it opened its first store in Scotland in Kilmarnock. In October 2013, Aldi opened its 300th store in Great Britain. By 2017, Aldi had over 600 stores there and was opening them at a rate of more than one a week. In January 2022, Aldi launched its Shop&Go concept in Greenwich, London. In September 2022 Aldi overtook Morrisons to become Britain's 4th largest supermarket, with a 9.3% market share. In September 2023, Aldi opened its 1,000th location in the UK and shared its plan to open another 500 as a long-term goal.
Aldi entered the Irish market in 1999. In November 2024, its 163rd store in Ireland opened in Tullamore (County Offaly). "Aldi opens second Tullamore store today" , rte.ie., 28 November 2024. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
Aldi opened its first Australian store in Sydney in 2001 and has grown rapidly since, maintaining a 12.6% market share as of early 2016. Aldi arrives in Australia , ABC Online, 25 January 2001Mike King, Aldi is stealing market share from Woolworths Limited , The Motley Fool, 15 April 2016 It has yet, , to open any stores in the state of Tasmania and in Northern Territory. Financial website Canstar rated Australia's supermarkets based on the feedback of 2,897 consumers who had visited one in the past month with Aldi coming out on top. By August 2019, there were 540 Aldi stores in Australia. Aldi had approximately 11 percent share of the Australian grocery market in 2018.
Aldi Süd expanded to the United States under the Aldi banner, having expanded throughout the Eastern and Midwestern US. Delhaize Group to Sell 66 Bottom Dollar Food Store Locations , MarketWatch, 5 November 2014 Aldi Süd revealed expansion plans in 2015, and it expanded into the Southern Californian market, where Aldi Nord's Trader Joe's is based.Kelly Taylor, Aldi To Open 45 Stores In Southern California By 2016 , Fox LA. Reports in August 2019 stated that the company was in the process of using a $3.4 billion investment to expand to 2,500 stores in the country by the end of 2022. It also invested an extra $1.6 billion to renovate 1,300 of its US stores.
By October 2024, 2,428 Aldi Süd stores were in 39 US states. Groceries ordered online could be delivered to homes in the areas covered by 95% of stores in the US, provided in conjunction with Instacart. In March 2024, Aldi said that it is planning to invest over $9 billion and open 800 new stores in the United States by the end of 2028.
Aldi Süd opened its first 10 stores in Italy in March 2018. In the first year of operation, 51 outlets were opened. By October 2019, 66 stores were in northern Italy. At that time, the company was planning to open 80 new stores in the country, as well as a distribution centre in Landriano.
In mid-2019, Aldi Süd opened two small, upscale stores in Shanghai. Two more were opened in late 2019. This is the first of a planned 100 such locations in the city.
In December 2020, Aldi bought 545 supermarkets and three warehouses of Leader Price and another two Casino supermarkets in France for €717 million from Casino Group. The transaction is part of Aldi's plan to catch up with Lidl in France.
In December 2022, Aldi Nord issued a press release stating that Aldi is withdrawing from Denmark after 45 years of operations there; 114 of the chain's total of 188 stores will be taken over by Norwegian competitor Rema 1000. In August 2023, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority approval of the Rema 1000 acquisition was announced.
Aldi mainly sells Private label products, often very similar to and produced by major brands, A list of no-name brands and the major brand companies behind them for Germany. Aldi relies on relabeled major-brand products. with brand names including Grandessa, Happy Farms, Millville, Simply Nature, Clancy's, and Fit & Active.
Branded products carried include Haribo in Germany, Knoppers in Belgium, France, and the United States, Marmite and Branston Pickle in Great Britain, and Vegemite and Milo in Australia. Unlike most shops, Aldi does not accept manufacturers' , although some US stores successfully experimented with them.
In addition to its standard assortment, Aldi has weekly special offers, some of them on more expensive products such as electronics, tools, appliances, or computers. Discount items can include clothing, toys, flowers and gifts. Special offers have limits on quantities and last one week. Aldi's early computer offers in Germany, such as a Commodore 64 in 1987, resulted in those products selling out in a few hours.
In many of its US locations, Aldi has "Aldi Finds" aisles placed in the center of their stores that feature random specialty items marked down in price, which has been nicknamed the "aisle of shame".
Aldi is the largest wine retailer in Germany. Many Australian stores now sell alcoholic beverages. Some US stores also sell alcoholic beverages, mainly beer and wine, where permitted by local and state laws.
In March 2019, Aldi Süd launched smaller-format stores in the UK called Aldi Local, with the first store in Balham, south London. The store has slightly fewer products than a regular Aldi, a preference for fresh products, two sizes of baskets rather than trolleys, and lacks the notable "middle aisle" of weekly offers.
In 2021, Aldi UK opened its first cashierless store in Greenwich.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, print and television ads have appeared since May 2005. In 2016, Aldi began producing a series of Christmas ads to rival John Lewis' featuring a carrot named Kevin. In 2024, Aldi partnered with British television channel Channel 4 to sponsor its food programming strands.
In Australia, television advertising is common, and the current ads are listed on the Australian website.
In Belgium, print, radio, and television ads started appearing in late 2017. These ads were based on the positive results of taste tests, where the chain pitted its own products against common name-brand products.
In 2016, Aldi committed to transitioning to using 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. In 2024, Aldi completed these transitions for its stores in the United Kingdom.
In February 2017, Aldi overtook the Co-op Food to become the United Kingdom's fifth-largest supermarket chain. In May 2017, Aldi lost out to Marks & Spencer for the title of Supermarket of the Year 2017, published by the magazine Which?. According to 2019 research, nearly two-thirds of households in the UK visit an Aldi or Lidl branch at least once every 12 weeks.
In the United States, due to the relatively low staffing of Aldi locations compared to other supermarket chains, Aldi has a reputation of starting employees out at significantly higher than minimum wage, unusual among American supermarkets.
In Ireland, Aldi has been accused of a "lack of corporate responsibility" to their farmer suppliers by the Irish Farmers' Association.
Aldi was named 2018 Retailer of the Year by Supermarket News.
Australian trucking giant Scott's Refrigerated Logistics was plunged into receivership and liquidation in March 2023 after going into voluntary administration that February. This sparked protests from the Transport Workers' Union, who blamed Aldi Australia for increasing strains on the company during the last few years of shortages and inflation.
Rapping Kanye West mentioned Aldi in the song Problematic in 2024, with the song’s lyrics becoming viral online in November 2024.
”Used to shop at Aldi’s, I ran up some numbers, now I got what y’all need” —Kanye West, Problematic (2024)
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