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Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

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Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#241

Post by vinay427 »

kome wrote: post #78
ThJ wrote: post #4

Most of the stuff they're doing seems to be entirely commonplace for the supermarket chains we have here in Norway. The coins for the carts. Stacking crates instead of individual items. Training every employee for everything (it's not uncommon to see a store manager operating the cash register). Expecting customers to fill their own bags and charging for those bags. Smaller selection. The only unique part seems to be…

yes, reading this article as European (that never visited the US) was a weirding experience. I lived in 4 different countries in Europe, and that's exactly how every supermarket work. And to be fair, I thought that every supermarket in the world worked like that... Can you imagine when the Americans will find automatic counters instead of cashiers? :)

Self check-out seems even more common in the US than in many European countries.

No offense, but it sounds like you need to travel more if you assume that businesses everywhere work like in a few European countries. Consider the vast differences in many Asian countries, to start.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#242

Post by [deleted] »

froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

[deleted]

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#243

Post by gniv »

orthoxerox wrote: post #128
froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

TIL you can call American stores. Why do people do that?

I called a few times to ask the pharmacy hours, which are shorter than the main store's.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#244

Post by pygar »

Aldis Checkout lines are always so long and everyone is buying a months worth of groceries when I'm there that i won't shop there most of the time. The staff are very fast but customers are slow to bag/move the items.

I don't shop in bulk, I buy groceries for one person and i buy a handful of items every few days.

The competitors in Australia (Coles and Woolworths) all have about 10-15 self checkout machines, so the chances that i have to wait for one to be free is small.

I accept that if i go to Aldi, I'll probably find most of the items i buy cheaper, but they are usually within 0-10c of the private label brands of the other supermarkets.

Aldis success has pushed down everyone's prices (to as low as they can get, while staying with their current setup). If you combine the faster turn around time, with the greater variety (I occasionally like trying new brands/items) of the "traditional" store, It's worth the ~10% premium (for me).

On a side note: Over here, Aldi designates only one lane (out of the two or three that are open) for purchasing of Alcohol. Can anyone explain why?

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#245

Post by esotericn »

mthwl wrote: post #47

Just a quick alternative viewpoint: as a parent, I’ve been turned off by Aldi in the past. Often with a toddler and/or car seat in hand, unlocking a cart (for example) is not just an inconvenience, it’s a dealbreaker. I’m into the pursuit of efficiency and low prices, but there are some real world benefits of “full service” grocery stores. One being an nicer experience for the disabled (in my case, due to being a par…

Why would you have a car seat in hand whilst unlocking a trolley?

Wat?

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#246

Post by greeneggs »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #214
task_queue wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies will often sign shelf-space and display agreements with supermarkets when it comes to displaying their brands' products in-store. There very well might be an agreement between Safeway and Nabisco when it comes to their inventory display.

I don't see how this could lead to the observed results. Nabisco shouldn't be any less interested in selling more Parmesan Garlic triscuits while selling the same quantity of other triscuits than Safeway should be. There is no party who gets a win out of just not ordering/selling the triscuits; this is a pure loss for everyone involved.

Safeway might be required to devote equal shelf space to each of the 24 varieties of Triscuit [1], or perhaps at least the same minimum amount of shelf space to each variety. Nabisco doesn't want some competitor to grab that shelf space. And maybe Safeway doesn't find it worthwhile to train its stockers to restock one variety more frequently than the others.

[1] https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/triscuit-flavors-how-many-a...

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#247

Post by walshemj »

Scoundreller wrote: post #231
microcolonel wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought is that, although much of this is common sense, retailers have largely lost the will to live. They waste a lot of money on typical corporate money pits, but tend not to try improving the retail business itself. From what I gather in what people say, having only been to one Aldi before (so I don't really have enough experience to say much); I think Aldi has bucked the trend, and is trying to do a good job ,…

The coin thing is psychological. If you want to avoid carrying bags by hand, melt it for scrap, push your friends around, or get to your car 2 minutes faster, foregoing a quarter is great value. Unfortunately for them/me, if I’m coming by chance by bicycle, I usually don’t have a coin and reduce my shopping to the necessities without a cart. When you feel the weight of each item, you think more about every item you b…

Probably why they use a pound coin in the UK

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#249

Post by sam0x17 »

orthoxerox wrote: post #128
froindt wrote: post #96

I'm an industrial engineer and geek out about Aldi frequently. Here are a few things I've noticed (and researched) which differentiate them from others. -they have barcode on 5 or 6 sides of their products, and they're typically huge! They nearly never need to orient a product to scan it. Their scan speed is far faster than any other supermarket I've been at. -if two products are very similar, they'll change the pack…

TIL you can call American stores. Why do people do that?

If you are picking up catering from say Whole Foods, being able to call is essential. Also helps a lot to call and see if X item is out of stock that is almost always out of stock.

Re: Aldi, a brutally efficient grocery chain, is upending America's supermarkets

#250

Post by task_queue »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #214
task_queue wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Companies will often sign shelf-space and display agreements with supermarkets when it comes to displaying their brands' products in-store. There very well might be an agreement between Safeway and Nabisco when it comes to their inventory display.

I don't see how this could lead to the observed results. Nabisco shouldn't be any less interested in selling more Parmesan Garlic triscuits while selling the same quantity of other triscuits than Safeway should be. There is no party who gets a win out of just not ordering/selling the triscuits; this is a pure loss for everyone involved.

Brands went on a diversification kick less than a decade ago. If a customer prefers Triscuits Flavor #5, but stores only stock popular Flavor #3, that person might not choose to buy the brand at all when they go shopping. They could reach for, and learn to prefer, a competitor's brand.

If a potential new customer doesn't like popular Triscuits flavors, but sees a newer but a less popular flavor, the availability and visibility of the less popular but still desirable flavors might convert them into a customer.

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