A decade or so ago, Aldi didn’t have olive oil on their shelves, today, they have 4 different brands. Nowadays, in Aldi, you can find everything from organic hummus and vegan kale burger to a variety of gluten-free products.
Aldi is also speeding up their launch of superior products that they market as fresh, organic, and natural. This is a part of their remodelling and expansion efforts they’re taking nationally.
Aldi will have fresher food varieties and different products in their almost 200 Chicago-area stores.
However, let’s not make a mistake- Aldi is still one of those thrifty stores where you pay a quarter to check out a cart and if you don’t bring your own, you need to buy theirs at the checkout.
In order to keep the costs down, the samples are solely doled out at store openings. And, a gallon of milk still is around 95 cents in some parts of Chicago.
Will Aldi really Make Significant Changes?
The company representatives believe that the investment in the new products and the making of stores more aesthetically pleasing will help attract more customers.
US Aldi CEO, Jason Hart stated that the motivation is resonating more with their customers. And, they think they’ve discovered the spot of concept that agrees throughout various income levels.
The brand is already witnessing positive results in the remodelled stores that offer the new products; however, they don’t give specific details on how much the impact’s been on the average transactions and basket sales and the average amount bought by individual consumers.
This private company is known to be less opened to the public with these figures.
The New Look of Aldi Markets?
This new look will give Aldi the opportunity to transform into a more suburban like middle- and upper-income communities.
Due to their low prices and relatively small footprint, they’ve been remaining strong in some of the low income communities in Chicago. However, those stores will also benefit from these changes.
With their ongoing addition of fresh and premium specialty products, the market will up their average basket size and become a more attractive destination for bigger part of the population. This will lead to higher transactions and encourage a growth in sales.
In some way, Aldi is becoming more like Trader Joe’s distant cousin. Both originate from the time of the Albrecht brothers in Germany who created a grocery empire and split the company in half- Aldi South operating as US Aldi and Aldi North, operating as Trader Joe’s.
These chains are smaller format stores that depend on private label products; although Trader Joe’s has been more aggressive in the luring of customers with on-trend products.
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