Initiators of the discount principle
Karl Allbrecht as the richest German
For a long time, ALDI stood for inexpensive own brands, special offers that usually changed weekly and a slim range. The principle of “quality at the top – prices at the bottom” has made ALDI known outside of Germany in 15 other European countries and on three other continents. But how did the company achieve this rise?
how it all started
The story began on April 10, 1913, when the father of the two later success guarantors Karl and Theo Albrecht opened the “baked goods trade” in Essen-Schonnebeck. The mother started a grocery store the following year. The two brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht took over the family business in 1945. According to the “TZ”, the concept consisted of a grocery store in the style of a corner shop with a selected range and good quality goods at low prices and only low costs. This worked, because after ten years, according to their own statement, there were already 100 branches in North Rhine-Westphalia.
ALDI’s discount principle
In 1961, the brothers divided the branch network among themselves. From now on, Karl Albrecht concentrated on the southern part of Germany, Theo Albrecht on the northern part – the birth of ALDI Sd and ALDI Nord. The so-called “ALDI-quator”, which runs right through Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, separates the group’s branch network. At the time of the division, the brothers already had more than 300 branches.
A year later, the very first ALDI (AL-brecht DI-scount) branch followed the so-called discount principle. According to their own statement, instead of a service counter, from now on they used a simply furnished sales room with a small number of staple foods, which were offered directly from cartons on pallets by self-service at rock-bottom prices. The entire branch network was adapted to this format.
The kidnapping of Theo Albrecht
Around a decade later, the group and the Albrecht family were faced with a threatening challenge. On November 29, 1971, Theo Albrecht, head of ALDI North, was kidnapped, which was to last for 17 days. After the kidnappers ransom demand of seven million marks was investigated, he was released. In 1973 the perpetrators were caught. Both were sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. After that, the two brothers withdrew completely from the public. The reason why there are hardly any pictures of the two to this day.
Further development of the product concept
The minimalist product concept that was introduced worked and brought great success to ALDI during this period. But the basic idea of the discounter introduced by ALDI found imitators in various companies, such as Dieter Schwarz, who aligned the Lidl branches according to a similar principle, according to TZ. In addition, consumer demand has changed over the decades. More product groups were gradually added to the range, such as in 1983, when fresh fruit and vegetables were added to the range and refrigerated counters were added to the shop fittings. Own brands in particular covered a very large part of the goods offered at ALDI. In comparison to branded products, these can be offered at significantly lower prices, since these are not subject to fixed prices.
Today you can find goods for almost every need at ALDI, whether food, non-food items, clothing or even electronic devices. The massive expansion of the range to include major brands, non-food product groups and luxury items is moving the group further and further away from the former discounter.
internationalization
Not only was the range at ALDI subjected to a massive expansion – the sales area also expanded over the decades. In 1968, the ALDI group of companies entered international territory for the first time when ALDI Sd bought the Austrian group of companies Hofer and its 30 or so branches. Since then, further branches have followed in numerous countries. In 2017, another sales area was added with China.
Through ALDI Nord, eight other European countries with more than 2,000 branches belong to the group of companies. In addition to six other European countries and Switzerland, ALDI Sd has had five branches in China since 2017, around 550 branches in Australia since 2001 and around 1,980 branches in the USA since 1976. This means that in addition to Germany, ALDI operates in a total of 18 countries on four continents. In total, more than 190,000 people are employed in over 9,000 ALDI branches worldwide.
Germany’s top-selling discounter
A survey by the market research institute Kantar, citing the “Wirtschaftswoche”, places the ALDI Group in 8th place among the largest retail companies in the world with global sales of 110.6 billion US dollars in the past 2020 financial year. Karl Albrecht died in 2014 at the age of 94. At that time, according to the Forbes list, he was the richest man in Germany with an estimated fortune of 25 billion US dollars. His brother Theo Albrecht, who died four years earlier at the age of 88, ranked 3rd among the wealthiest Germans in the same year.
Editorial office finanzen.net
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