"The Swiss roll from the neighbor's house expired before it was finished! Fortunately, Aldi's small packaging makes it affordable to buy more or less!"

A German discount supermarket called "Aldi" has unabashedly implied Sam's Club on a billboard in a Shanghai subway station to highlight its own cost-effectiveness.

Indeed, Aldi has taken a completely different path from Sam's Club, being known as the "poor man's paradise" in Shanghai for not charging membership fees and offering light and compact packaging.

Even netizens from other regions can't help but sigh: "When can you open in other cities and give us poor people from other places a chance!"

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What has Aldi, a discount supermarket that only has stores in Shanghai, done right to make Chinese consumers so enthusiastic?

Aldi's predecessor was a small grocery store in Essen, Germany. As its business grew larger and its scale expanded continuously, it gradually spread to the whole world.

According to statistics, it has more than 4,000 stores in Germany, and as many as 75% of Germans often shop at Aldi.

Even the "discount pioneer" Walmart suffered a crushing defeat when it entered the German market, losing nearly $1 billion and eventually having to withdraw from the German market in 2006.

In Walmart's home base of the United States, Aldi has opened more than 2,000 stores and is one of the most popular supermarkets among Americans.Until now, Aldi has always maintained the reputation of a discount supermarket. Even in the face of the wave of physical store closures, Aldi remains unaffected, and its business map continues to expand steadily. Today, Aldi has more than 10,000 stores in over 20 countries around the world, becoming a century-old store known worldwide. However, it is surprising that Aldi's first step into China was not a physical store, but e-commerce. In 2017, Aldi partnered with Alibaba to sell its own brand products on Tmall's flagship store. It is said that before this, the Aldi team had conducted research in China for 3 years, visiting thousands of retail stores across more than 40 cities. During the e-commerce period, Aldi also made many efforts to collect data and analyze consumer shopping preferences. After two years of quietly diving, Aldi finally officially opened its first batch of offline stores in China in 2019. On the day of the opening, there were tens of thousands of people, and the shelves were quickly cleared. However, most netizens who have visited since then have said that Aldi is not like a discount store, but more like an internet celebrity boutique supermarket.In response to this, the legal representative of Aldi China, Chen Yougang, said:

"As a foreign-funded enterprise, competing on price in the Chinese market is not the best approach for Aldi."

It should be noted that at that time, platforms like Taobao and Pinduoduo had already seized the initiative in low pricing, and Aldi simply did not have the local advantage.

However, the purchasing power of the middle class at that time was still acceptable, so Aldi positioned its development path as a "middle-class paradise."

Nevertheless, Aldi was clearly dissatisfied with the evaluation of being a "trendy boutique supermarket."

Moreover, in recent years, people have been more enthusiastic about saving money rather than consuming blindly, so high-quality products at low prices are more favored by consumers.

Therefore, since October last year, Aldi has begun a major reform to prove that it is a true "discount supermarket."

Now, when you walk into any Aldi store, you will find that the 9.9 yuan value versions of fresh fruits and vegetables, rice and flour, grain and oil, and cleaning products have taken the center stage in each category.

In addition, to avoid the waste that large packaging might bring, Aldi has also thoughtfully customized appropriately packaged products for small-sized families of 2-3 people in Shanghai.

For example, the capacity of fresh milk has been reduced from 1.5 liters to 950 milliliters, and the price has been lowered to 8.6 yuan.Not only that, but Aldi also introduces popular products that cater to local consumer tastes based on market demand and habits.

Previously, Aldi noticed that mochi has become a well-received internet snack in recent years, and people in Shanghai generally prefer the taste of scallions.

Therefore, Aldi catered to the trend and launched "scallion-flavored mochi" that suits the taste of people in Shanghai.

As expected, the product was snapped up by Shanghai customers as soon as it was launched.

In addition, it is reported that Aldi's range of ready-to-eat products reaches six to seventy types, and compared to similar products in other supermarkets, Aldi's prices are more competitive.

It is said that at its best, Aldi's ready-to-eat products can account for 1/3 of the entire store's sales.

In Shanghai, a cup of coffee or a piece of bread can easily cost dozens of dollars, yet white-collar workers, nearby residents, and even students can enjoy a delicious meal at Aldi for the same price.

For a while, Aldi has become a welfare canteen in the hearts of Shanghai consumers, and it is usually fully booked during meal times.

Clearly, every step Aldi takes is to get closer to consumers.

In response, many people exclaim: "Aldi, which does not charge membership fees, is simply a substitute for Sam's Club and Hema."However, since Aldi is different from membership-based supermarkets, its profits mainly rely on the sale of goods, not on membership fees.

Therefore, if it wants to continue providing high-quality products at low prices to the public, it needs to put in a lot of effort not only in the sale of goods but also in cost control.

Thus, unlike other large supermarkets, Aldi does not choose to open stores in expensive, bustling areas, but instead opts for commercial and residential projects and communities with concentrated foot traffic.

At the same time, Aldi does not establish large stores, and its decoration also strives for simplicity and elegance.

The variety of products it sells is not extensive, and it generally does not stock a large amount of products, except for bestsellers.

This strategy not only simplifies the procurement and distribution process, reduces operating costs, but also ensures the freshness of the products and reduces the waste caused by excess inventory.

In terms of product display, Aldi is also very simple and straightforward, basically placing entire boxes on the shelves for consumers to take products directly from the cartons.

This move saves the time for employees to restock and replenish, improving work efficiency.

Because of this, the number of employees at Aldi is not large, with a typical store only requiring 4-5 employees, and at most about 10 people, and each employee can flexibly take on multiple roles.

According to a report from China Merchants Securities, Aldi's labor costs only account for 4% of its sales, while other supermarkets have a ratio of 10% to 16%.Of course, high efficiency requires adequate compensation to support it, and Aldi pays its employees an hourly wage that is generally higher than the average salary.

In addition, Aldi also saves costs by limiting its business hours, with most stores operating from 8/9 am to 8/9 pm.

This strategy of only operating during peak traffic hours not only reduces the workload of employees but also reduces the company's costs.

However, although Aldi has done a lot of work in low prices and cost control, according to surveys, the number of discount stores in first and second-tier cities has soared in recent years, but the speed of bankruptcy is also very fast.

The root cause is either unqualified quality or too serious losses.

As a discount store, why can Aldi always be invincible?

In fact, low price is the key to Aldi's victory, but the supply chain and its own products are Aldi's biggest confidence.

Since Aldi entered the Chinese market, it has been building a local supply chain. After more than four years of effort, more than 80% of suppliers now come from the local area.

It is precisely because Aldi has a strong supply chain locally that it can not only flexibly adjust the quantity and retail price of products, but also control the quality of products at any time, in order to continue to provide more and more cost-effective products for Chinese consumers.According to statistics, Aldi has launched ten private brands in China, covering fresh produce, snacks, bakery, and more, with private brand products now accounting for over 70% of their offerings. As per Aldi's plan, the proportion of private brands in the Chinese market is expected to reach more than 90% in the future. Compared to Sam's Club at 30% and Hema at 35%, Aldi undoubtedly holds a leading position, and its success also validates the effectiveness of the private brand model. From its initial entry into China to opening its first brick-and-mortar store, Aldi spent a full five years conducting research. Now, in order to provide Chinese consumers with low-priced yet high-quality products, Aldi has gone to great lengths to optimize its local supply chain, and all these efforts demonstrate Aldi's emphasis on Chinese consumers. Consumers are also not sparing in their praise, stating, "I don't care which country Aldi is from, as long as the products are sold at a low price and the quality is good!" However, Aldi has not stopped there! In an effort to fully embrace the "poor man's supermarket" label, in March of this year, Aldi even invited Wang Lin, the actress who played Aunt Snow in the TV series "Romance in the Rain," to endorse its value product series. Those who have seen the TV drama "Romance in the Rain" must have a deep impression of Aunt Snow's frenzied mental state in the drama, and even though more than 20 years have passed since the show aired, the character still stands out.Thus, Aldi joined forces with Aunt Snow to bring consumers a unique "crazy" event.

Firstly, Aldi adapted a series of creative slogans based on Aunt Snow's catchphrases and emoticons:

"Good on you, Aldi," "Classic old brand no queue, Aldi pick at will,"

"Dare to eat spring vegetables," "Follow auntie, grab Aldi's great deals"...

When Aldi attached these slogans to Aunt Snow's "sarcastic" expressions, for a moment, you might have the illusion that Aunt Snow seems to come knocking on your door, calling you to rush to Aldi for a shopping spree!

In addition, Aldi also specially launched bags and stickers printed with Aunt Snow's emoticons and slogans, allowing consumers to enjoy Aunt Snow's company in all aspects during the shopping process.

What's more interesting is that Aldi also guided consumers to check in with the giant Aunt Snow emoticons displayed on Aldi's outdoor big screens, in order to obtain Aunt Snow's peripherals.

Whether it's fun-packed emoticons, creative peripherals, or offline check-ins, Aldi has accurately stimulated consumers' "active crazy" mental state.

When consumers started to share their offline check-in content on social platforms, it not only sparked a wave of secondary creation of Aunt Snow's catchphrases among netizens, but also expanded Aldi's brand influence.

In the past few years, Aldi's development positioning in China has focused more on the middle-class population, with generally higher customer transaction values.As the "pragmatic" consumer trend took off, the public shifted from blind consumption to rational consumption. Aldi then decisively repositioned its development as a haven for budget-conscious shoppers, launching a variety of value-for-money product lines. Now, it boldly experiments with "crazy" marketing strategies.

With products that offer great value capturing consumers' hearts, and creative marketing bringing freshness to consumers, it is indeed due to its strength that this foreign player, Aldi, can stand out in the fiercely competitive Chinese market.

Moreover, while major new retail supermarket brands are pursuing "high-end cost-performance ratio," Hema's future is uncertain, and Sam's Club emphasizes "big and comprehensive," not only charging membership fees but also offering oversized portions.

Only Aldi has achieved differentiation while controlling total costs: "Not only does it not charge membership fees, but the products also come in small packaging, which is cheap and convenient!"

Clearly, Aldi's products are not only affordable but also come with a sense of prestige, naturally capturing the simple consumption psychology of Chinese consumers.

As for the future, whether the supermarket界的"Pinduoduo" Aldi can continue to grow against the trend in China depends on how much "conscience" it has.