Welcome to our celebration of 20 years of ALDI Australia, a digital time-capsule of the major milestones and memorable moments which have defined our first two decades.
We’ve touched upon our progress as a brand and business, the people, partners and of course customers who’ve grown with us, some of the conversations, and a few of the Good Different elements of what we do and how we do it. As valued members of our team, supplier partners or part of our incredible customer community, it would mean a lot to us if you too could find the time to share any of your favourite and fondest recollections. All you need to do is click on the ‘Click here to share your memory’ tab and follow the prompts to submit a contribution.
Thanks for dropping by and helping us grow, we appreciate it more than you can imagine.
With several years of planning and preparation under our belts, the unfounded terror of millennium bug now a thing of the past and the Olympics en route to Sydney, the time was right for us to start making meaningful moves towards our Australian debut.
That meant a focus on a place to work, people to work with and selecting some of the places we wanted to set up our very first stores in Australia.
We knew we had an opportunity to provide an affordable alternative for Australian households so we simply had our heads down working towards establishing ourselves in a tough new market - one which we knew to be highly competitive.
Following a stint operating from a temporary NSW base in Baulkham Hills the previous year, our first regional office in Minchinbury welcomed a growing team of employees from October 2000.
Plans for the initial network of Australian stores continued apace, with early 2001 openings the goal for those leading the charge.
“There are two main reasons Aldi causes so much change. One is that prices typically are 30 per cent below those of conventional supermarkets. The other is that its business model - bare-bones warehouses, a small product range, few employees and goods stacked high on pallets - is almost impossible for established players to imitate or challenge.”
*This segment from A Current Affair - Channel Nine was independent editorial and not paid for by ALDI.
Recruitment efforts that had kicked-off in 1999, to fill store, operations and key management positions, continued throughout the year.
Early engagement with local suppliers commenced, including Ferndale Confectionery, who reached out to us from VIC before we had even opened a store to discuss a potential partnership!
All the team’s planning and attention to detail started to bear fruit in 2001, with the grand openings of our first pair of suburban Sydney stores. Eager customers took their place in the queue to get up-close-and-personal with our unique brand, ‘Smarter Shopping’- which meant exclusive branded products and consistently low prices.
Some carefully selected opening Special Buys (known as Specials at the time) certainly helped, but it was the low prices, high quality and limited range which had everybody talking.
By the time the year was out, we’d opened 20 more stores and accelerated our push to foster long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with Australian suppliers, many of whom we continue to collaborate with today.
Our first two Australian stores opened at Bankstown Airport and Marrickville in the Greater Sydney area, just in time for the Australia Day long-weekend, with queues stretching beyond the carparks.
A further 20 stores opened across NSW in 2001, including Arndell Park, Quakers Hill and our first country outlet in Nowra.
A National office joined the party in Minchinbury, NSW.
174 supplier partners were already onboard and helping us keep shelves well stocked.
Although our share of the market was small at this stage, we’d started to attract customers thanks to typical shopping basket savings in the 20-30% range.
*The segment from 9News - Channel Nine was independent editorial and not paid for by ALDI.
“Before the doors opened at 9am there was a line-up of eager customers similar to what might be seen when popular concert tickets go on sale”.
Our first wave of store openings meant new employees and new suppliers, many of whom we’ve continued to work with ever since, giving us a chance to lay strong foundations so they could thrive with us over the long-term.
With a promising first year of trading under our belts, providing our service to customers was very much on our minds in 2002. We worked hard and trusted that our simple and consistent approach would allow us to keep passing on great savings to customers and help us open up even more stores in VIC.
We also started to look in other states for expansion opportunities that would ensure exciting times lay ahead for our employees, customers and the supermarket sector at large.
By this point, charging customers for reusable shopping bags was already impressing savvy customers and industry observers alike, as we began to build our sustainability credentials that would remain a point of pride for us to this very day.
Another 14 stores opened their doors in NSW through the year, with February seeing our first ACT foray in Tuggeranong.
We then turned our expansion attention into other Eastern states, with VIC top of the list.
Charging for reusable shopping bags and a trolley deposit system was a new idea at the time, but most of our customers were happy to support these eco-endeavours long before they became the norm.
With our NSW and ACT presence continuing to grow, it was the VIC team’s turn to roll out the yellow tiles for a spate of store launches.
Not only did we double-down on our now highly anticipated ALDI experience, but we also raised a special glass to Victorians by introducing our first local liquor sales to select locations.
21 new stores hit the streets between January and December, including our first VIC offering in Heidelberg West.
We achieved 1.5% market share nationally, with expansion into QLD next on the agenda.
Liquor licenses in NSW and VIC were applied for, relevant employee training was undertaken and our own limited private label range was introduced in VIC.
We opened the ALDI Helpdesk to ensure customer questions and queries could be dealt with as swiftly and seamlessly as possible.
The blue ink dried on new multi-year deals with local wineries in VIC, including one that later went on to produce our award-winning South Point Estate Rose.
After all that time and work in the more southerly states, warmer weather and tropical climates were calling – it was time to head north, to QLD.
When we arrived, it seemed the locals had certainly got wind of our efforts elsewhere, turning out in force.
We’d now invested significantly in getting the right people, properties and products for an Aussie audience, helping us prove our customers right in championing value but not compromising on quality.
A digital rostering system was introduced to our Stores and DCs, allowing our operational employees to punch onto their shifts digitally, and replace all paper-based time sheets to up our efficiency.
NSW store market share increases, driven by an increase in shopper numbers and trip frequency.
Mid-year welcomed the brand’s first QLD stores, starting with Salisbury and Chermside.
Our 2004 new store openings totalled 26, with plans for 200 more in the pipeline.
Our regional office for the Sunshine State rolled out between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in Stapylton.
We launched Mamia, our premium range of baby care products designed to be as hardworking as the families who use them.
Customers gained more flexibility at our checkouts as we started to accept credit card payments.
Deutsche Bank reported a trend of other supermarkets near ALDI stores dropping their prices by an average of 4.6%.
“Every time ALDI comes to a community, everyone stands to profit from that.”
As well as designing every store and solution with energy efficiency and pollution minimisation in mind, we continued to lead the way in plastic minimisation policy with the launch of a Australian-made, fully recyclable bag.
Our bag options have evolved over time in line with new techniques and technologies, and we are proud to have never offered customers single use plastic bags in any of our Australian stores.
When we started out in Australia, competitors and shoppers alike would surely have struggled to believe there would be 100 ALDI supermarkets here full stop, let alone 100 in our first four years of operations. But, thanks to the consistent hard work and dedication of our employees, the partnerships with our suppliers and loyalty of our customers in getting us to 50 stores across NSW and the ACT alone that’s exactly where we found ourselves in 2005.
And there were plenty of other milestones to celebrate as employee numbers trebled, we topped supplier relationship ratings for our industry and almost half of local grocery manufacturers were now part of the extended ALDI family.
The ALDI team were busy planning new ways to convert and retain customers, sharing our fresh food message, building a rapport with independent traders and introducing a Snow Gear Special Buys!
2.4% of the national Australian grocery market was shopping with ALDI for the first time.
The 100th national store opened in Bundaberg, Queensland in August, following on from the 50th across NSW and the ACT, in North Sydney.
Reports surfaced of plans to open 36 new stores per year over the next three, via Eastern Seaboard expansion and a big move west.
The first ALDI fresh food marketing campaign launched, letting customers know that our fresh fruit and veg was Australian grown.
*This segment from A Current Affair - Channel Nine was independent editorial and not paid for by ALDI.
The Australian team topped 1,000 employees, recruited and retained with some of the best packages in the retail industry.
Our supplier relations were the best in the Australian industry according to an AC Nielsen survey, with 70% saying their relationship with the business was either good or excellent and citing fair trading terms and supply chain efficiency as key factors.
“I am really proud of our great team and your achievement to date. Without your dedication we wouldn't be where we are. I feel really privileged to be able to work with such a great and capable team.”
Chills hit the tills as our inaugural Snow Gear Special Buys swept through stores, an annual event which has since gone on to grow 387% in scale.
When we placed a thermal sock order in summer for our Ski Gear Sale, DMD Importers suspected we had a screw loose, but when we doubled it the following year, they knew we were a partner worth having and went on to supply us with kitchen accessories, homewares and Back To School products as well as socks.
Even though the previous year had brought a slowdown for the retail market generally, it hadn’t had the same effect on the dedication and determination of our team. So, as the second half of the decade settled in and served up cyclones, drought and the loss of the iconic Steve Irwin, we were really hitting our stride.
With new openings in all four of our active states and territories we had 139 East Coast stores in operation by the end of 2006, a feat which led to customers rewarding us their business to position ALDI as the fastest growing retailer in Australia by revenue estimates.
What’s more, we were recognised for something we always prided ourselves upon – maintaining good relationships with suppliers. The dedication of our team to build local relationships based on trust and fairness – led to an ACNielsen survey of manufacturers voting ALDI as their preferred retail partner.
139 stores were now in operation across NSW, ACT, VIC and QLD.
Our product range had broadened somewhat but was still coming in at around 922 items, as we introduced loose and random weight produce for the first time to help customers buy only what they need and us reduce food waste and packaging.
Our warehouses went Wi-Fi, with the technology installed to improve real-time reporting and communications.
Our ever-expanding Australian store footprint, now in NSW, VIC, ACT and QLD.
Our logo got a fresh look, for the first time since the early 80s!
Findings from AC Nielsen's bi-annual Retail Barometer survey, which captured responses from 100+ Australian FMCG manufacturers, deemed us overall preferred retailer after coming top in areas including understanding consumer needs, trading term fairness, store compliance and supply chain efficiency.
“Ballarat shoppers gave an early thumbs up to Aldi’s new supermarket…Sebastopol resident Peter Riske said it would be good to have a new competitor in the market. “They are a little bit cheaper and every little bit helps,” he said. “It might make some of the other supermarkets in Ballarat wake up.”"
Getting down to business in Ballarat, VIC and beyond in 2006.
Above all else, 2007 was to go down in ALDI Australia history as the year which saw us achieve 150 stores. The 150th going live took us to a total of 65 supermarkets in NSW, 45 in VIC, 34 in QLD and 6 in the ACT.
With further revenue estimates moving us up to #7 in Inside Retail’s ‘Top 10 Australian Retailers’ rankings, our focus on customer satisfaction seemed to be paying dividends, giving us confidence that a longer-term vision of 500 Eastern Seaboard stores and another 150 spanning South and Western Australia was achievable.
We launched a special selection of new products including gourmet, diet and organic to keep the health of our customers a priority, unleashed some serious training and development for our employees, and debuted a weekly catalogue which put a little something called Special Buys front-and-centre.
Our 150th Australian store was welcomed by customers in Melbourne’s St Kilda on 13 September 2007, another huge moment for us which led to our national market share surpassing 5%.
By this point, we’d contributed approximately $300 million to the VIC economy and expected to reach 1,000 employees in the state by the end of the year, as we looked ahead to achieving our next goal of 50 more local stores within five years.
The now 900-strong limited product range extended to include gourmet, diet and organic foods, which sought to deliver a fresher, healthier and more diverse offering to customers whatever their tastes or dietary requirements - be that lactose free or vegetarian.
As well as integrating racking into our warehouses, this was the year we introduced the business to email.
The official ALDI catalogue began hitting letterboxes and stores every Thursday, led by the newly renamed ‘Special Buys’ (previously ‘Surprise Buys’), sharing our product range and rallying customers to understand our commitment to unbeatable value.
“In the past 12 months, ALDI market share has risen from 3.7 per cent to 5.3 per cent. Instead of expensive advertising campaigns, ALDI relied on word-of-mouth to help spread the news about its stores.”
*These segments from A Current Affair - Channel Nine were independent editorial and not paid for by ALDI.
Our 150th store brought with it some bonus materials to mark its opening, including a commemorative 15c shopping bag, special edition trolley token and 150c produce promotion.
The talk of our industry in 2008 was regulation and unit pricing, with a major report into competition released. Unit pricing was mandated by the Rudd Government and we were pleased to have offered this to our customers in keeping with our principles of transparent trading and consistent value - we were thankfully ahead of the curve on this front.
Amongst these industry level considerations, growth ambitions continued to burn brightly across the team as we took another 38 stores to market and raced past the big 200 national count the week before Christmas. We actually managed to sneak one more in before the New Year, making it a happy festive season for all who made it possible.
Expectations were set internally that we would have opened 200 stores by the end of 2008 and we delivered on these with trademark efficiency, hitting the magic number on 18 December thanks to the collective of Belmont in NSW, Sunshine, Alfredton and Southland in VIC, and Beaudesert in QLD.
An ACCC investigation into local market competition saw us described as a “poster child for lower prices in Australia’s supermarket sector”, in line with savings of up to $19 on a basket of staple items when compared to other players.
With the launch of their price comparison website grocerychoice.com.au, we were pleased when the Government pushed through mandatory unit pricing to enhance transparency for supermarket customers, it being something we’d championed independently since way back when.
“More than one million customers a week now pass through Aldi’s checkouts.”
*This segment from A Current Affair - Channel Nine was independent editorial and not paid for by ALDI.
To date the smallest item to be featured in Special Buys has been an SD card at 0.0003 cubic metres, with the largest a garden shed at 1.397 cubic metres.
It’s no exaggeration to note that Minchinbury had become the biggest ALDI distribution centre anywhere in the world by the time it was carved up to create the Prestons one in 2009, but it was clear that to better serve our ever-expanding NSW network we needed to expand. A new distribution centre was the answer, with Prestons going on to house one of our largest global facilities to satisfy the scale of operations.
Aside from logistics, our focus for the year was quality, consistency and responsibility. We got hands on with our in-house product development, testing and tasting, received continued customer satisfaction, and clearly labelled our position when it came to health information on packaging with a little help from celebrity nutritionist Susie Burrell.
Another big moment for us was the debut of our first Australian TV ad. Featuring a selection of our products in the spotlight, with a little humour to close, the ad put our approach to Smarter Shopping on show and paved the way for many even more creative concepts that would follow in later years.
A regional office and distribution centre for Prestons opened in October and November respectively, with the latter being one of largest ALDI facilities in the world at 56,000 square metres and servicing more than 80 stores in our NSW network. Today it services more than 120 in the state!
We welcomed a purpose-built Product Development and Quality Assurance Centre at the National office, which included a sampling kitchen where Buying teams and in-house chefs could conduct rigorous blind taste testing on all products, five days a week.
In 2009 we became the first retailer in Australia to offer front-of-pack Percentage Daily Intake (%DI) labelling across our everyday exclusive brand grocery range, providing customers with insight to help them make healthier choices.
The November 2009 Choice Supermarket Survey crowned us as still the lowest priced supermarket in Australia by at least 25%, and we finished the year on a high with the best rate of customer satisfaction for the second half of the year, according to Roy Morgan’s Customer Satisfaction Awards.
Our first ever Australian TV ad shone a light on the essence of Smarter Shopping – value, quality and no added nonsense.
Our transport fleet continued to rise to the challenge of our ever increasing logistics needs, putting it well on its way to the 120-strong fleet and 16 million kilometres of annual travel it boasts today. In more good news for our sustainability endeavours, approximately 75% of our everyday product range now included recyclable packaging where possible and we were recognised by the industry for excelling in the field of packaging waste management.
This year was all about ‘responsibility’, as we aligned with other international ALDI markets in rolling out a National Corporate Responsibility Policy. Its primary purpose was to document our values and commitments to do the right thing for our customers, the community, our employees and our supplier partners as well as make a positive impact on the planet. These commitments included energy saving in stores, health and nutrition initiatives, the fair treatment of people within our supply chain and waste management.
By this time we had accumulated a strong team of employees who could put our plans for ongoing action and accountability into practice across the business, whilst achieving 6.3% national market share.
We launched a National Corporate Responsibility Policy as part of an international rollout, a statement of intent to employees, suppliers and the broader community centred around our three core values of consistency, simplicity and responsibility.
Priorities included reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimising fridge coolants and global warming potential, reducing, reusing and recycling, energy efficient store designs, health and nutrition, and fair and humane working conditions across our supply chain.
By mid-winter the 140 employees who had been training and working in the Derrimut region of VIC for the previous 18-months began work in our new Dandenong distribution centre for the state, making up two warehouses to service our growing number of stores.
Tom Daunt, who joined the ALDI business in 1998 as a UK Area Manager before returning to Australia in 2003, was named our new Group Managing Director, a position he’d step up into the following January from his role as Managing Director of Buying.
We unveiled a new graduate program and attended career fairs along the East Coast to promote the many benefits of joining our team.
A total of 46 dedicated employees celebrated 10 years with us in 2010.
“ALDI nappies are fantastic...we have not had one single leak and they are cheaper!”
An international survey proved our reusable bag policy was better for the environment, with ALDI customers doing themselves and us proud by purchasing only 0.59 new bags per trip in comparison to customers at competitors who used 2.5.
Our longstanding support for charities close to our heart continued with product donations, product ranges and even, in the case of children’s charity Barnardos, over 5,000 Easter eggs!
In our stores, customers were excited to experience some Special Buys double-vision, as the promotion went twice-weekly, and our branded suppliers got on board to join us in embracing no artificial colours across our food products sold at ALDI stores – an Australian first.
This was also the year the extended ALDI team was recognised by the industry for its commitment to customer experience, as we took out our first two Supermarket of the Year awards from Roy Morgan and Canstar Blue.
We’d also launched our own coffee capsule and machine line – Expressi!
The sustained success of Special Buys led to us doubling the promotion to two instalments each and every week, moving from a Thursday only to both a Wednesday and Saturday.
Product categories featured in the first week of dual Special Buys included bike equipment, men’s clothing and DIY.
Meanwhile, we became the first supermarket in Australia to banish artificial colours from our entire range of food products, ensuring healthier food and drinks for children.
By 2011, Marcello, the owner of Moni’s Cleaning had already been making sure we stayed spick and span for a decade, having started off cleaning our first NSW stores before taking on the ALDI National Office, a role he expertly fulfils to this day.
“I’ve worked with ALDI since the early days when they were in a small temporary office in Baulkham Hills. I’ve loved every minute of it. My business has grown alongside ALDI and I am grateful for our partnership.”
Following consistently strong monthly satisfaction ratings, we were deemed Australia’s 2011 Supermarket of the Year by both Roy Morgan and Canstar Blue’s annual customer voted awards.
The lowest priced items sold in a Special Buys so far have been sticky (book cover adhesive) and tasty (noodles), with both coming in well over $2,000 cheaper than the highest – a notebook computer.
We surpassed 280 Eastern Seaboard stores in October with our Redbank Plaza store opening in Brisbane, just in time for the festive season, which saw us introduce Surfing Santas to the world with our first major Christmas advertising campaign.
Behind-the-scenes we were looking at how to optimise our fresh produce supply chain, to ensure that customers were able to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of our Australian produce suppliers labour.
For the second year running we scored awards for Australian Supermarket of the Year, as customer satisfaction with our unique spin on grocery shopping remained high.
In early 2012, we started to improve our fresh produce quality by reducing handling in store. Something we were able to bring to market the following year via a new generation crate developed with Australian pallet and container specialists CHEP.
We were again humbled to take out the customer led Supermarket of the Year awards from Roy Morgan and Canstar Blue.
As we dialled up marketing efforts around our ‘Smarter Shopping’ mantra, more ads from the light-hearted Switch & Save series we had launched in 2011 hit screens, showing just how much ALDI’s exclusive range of everyday items like hairspray and dog food could save you.
In our first major Christmas campaign, a swarm of Surfing Santas hit the beach to catch some festive waves, casting off a few well-worn white Christmas clichés with the perfect Aussie antidote – sun, fun and a scrumptious ALDI ham.
This year saw more new store openings than any other year in our Australian history, with 40 added to our national total. This number notably included the home of one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest astronomical telescopes and the annual Elvis Festival, Parkes in NSW.
We also made a call to launch our own range of great value mobile phone plans and dipped another toe into the digital domain with the launch of ALDILiqour.com.au, a destination designed to service our liquor product enthusiasts as well as those customers not near one of our licenced stores.
Australian supermarkets’ first (and still only) national instore battery recycling program powered up at ALDI, with collection bins made available for most common household batteries to encourage customers to help reduce the thousands of tonnes of them which hit landfill each year.
August heralded the launch of a 200+ product online liquor store housing the everyday range alongside Australian-exclusive digital specials, created to allow over-18s in areas without an instore alcohol offering to enjoy the quality, satisfaction guaranteed selection.
The introduction of ALDImobile provided a wake-up call for overpriced mobile plans, offering access to a trusted network, no lock-in contracts and more.
August heralded the launch of a 200+ product online liquor store housing the everyday range alongside Australian-exclusive digital specials, created to allow over-18s in areas without an instore alcohol offering to enjoy the quality, satisfaction guaranteed selection.
The introduction of ALDImobile provided a wake-up call for overpriced mobile plans, offering access to a trusted network, no lock-in contracts and more.
Our Parkes store was one that had been on its way for a while, ALDI having acquired the former Diggers Bowling Club site several years earlier. We were humbled by the volume of applicants who applied for a role in the new store and recruited 12 local residents who took the reins on opening day, one of which still serves customers at ALDI Parkes today. Customers made the most of opening day Special Buys, which even included a circular saw for only $24.99!
It was important to stay sharp and look our best at all times to showcase what we had to offer, so we introduced a dedicated Merchandising team based in our National office to ensure products were displayed as pleasingly for customers, as efficiently for stores and consistently across our store network .
Lots went down in 2014 – Australia said farewell to The Big Day Out festival, Frozen became the biggest animated movie ever and the Ice Bucket Challenge became a thing, to name but a few.
For us, after plenty of planning and consultation, we were ready to start making good on our long anticipated move to bring ALDI to another state – SA.
Applications for spaces were completed, the employee recruitment process began and we pressed ahead with onboarding suppliers. Excitement at the promise of a new frontier for the business was palpable amongst the team, and from what we could gather there was a good groundswell of support from local shoppers when they heard we were finally on our way.
We submitted our first store development application and secured a distribution centre space in Adelaide’s inner suburbs.
The 30,000sqm facility in Regency Park was expected to be completed in 2015, spearheading a network of up to 50 stores and close to a thousand new jobs for SA.
iPads were introduced for relevant instore employees to enhance the efficiency of our teams on the ground with real-time reporting and task tools.
iPads were introduced for relevant instore employees to enhance the efficiency of our teams on the ground with real-time reporting and task tools.
Our focus shifted to recruitment in 2014 as we set about sourcing enthusiastic and motivated Area Managers for SA.
Melbourne’s Black Bag Roasters partnered with us to develop a unique range of beans and blends direct from one of the world’s coffee capitals, a relationship which endures to this day and has gone on to achieve award winning results with our Lazzio Medium Roast.
“The benefits associated with Aldi’s decision to enter South Australia will be substantial. With a series of new permanent jobs and rollout of store openings, South Australia is looking forward to having the retailer enter the market.”
By 2015 we’d noticed that our yellow tiles and interiors were getting a little worse for wear, so in an effort to maximise the appeal of our fresh produce to our loyal customers, we launched a handful of pilot stores designed to showcase selected stock in a more premium way than ever before. This became the genesis of a new store layout which has since been integrated into 90% of our supermarkets nationally.
In keeping with this broadening appeal, Special Buys went ‘full fashion’ with an exclusive kids’ clothing range designed by Collette Dinnigan, whose ethical ethos complemented some of the great work the Corporate Responsibility team was doing in this space.
We were again grateful as everyone’s efforts culminated in customers giving us another nod for a Supermarket of the Year award, and with our national market share now closing in on 9.4% the time felt almost perfect for pastures new.
With 85 stores open in QLD by the close of 2014, we opened another distribution centre and our second regional office in the state in Brendale, north of Brisbane, the former becoming our first 4-star Green Building Council certified facility.
We also took some further steps forward on the eco front in other locations, including our first rooftop solar (Tweed Heads, NSW), first full LED lighting upgrade (Highton, VIC) and first CO2 natural refrigerant (Altona North, VIC).
The third stage of our National Office expansion opened in Minchinbury and we started work on a major digital transformation program allowing us to be more efficient in our processes.
To prepare for our first set of SA stores in 2016, we established our Regency Park Distribution Centre and Regional Office.
A limited-edition, 74-piece collaboration with celebrated local designer Collette Dinnigan on a kids’ fashion line entitled Young Hearts hit the Special Buy racks in October to considerable acclaim.
In 2015, we became the first major Australian supermarket to formally sign and implement the voluntary Food and Grocery Code. This commitment was testament to the long term, transparent and fair relationships we have with our supplier partners.
The Code provides standards each signatory is expected to demonstrate when dealing with suppliers and was introduced to improve business conduct in the sector.
Our Marketing and Buying teams collaborated to launch the ALDI Testers Club, a program giving some of our valued customers an opportunity to influence what we make and stock in the future through trials and reviews – over 17,000 people applied to participate in the first couple of months.
“As German supermarket chain ALDI continues its expansion across the country, with South Australia and Western Australia set firmly in its sights (and plans), its market share continues to rise. In fact, ALDI’s market share has more than tripled from 3.1% to 11.6% over the last 10 years…the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Research Supermarket Currency Report reveal.”
“The German discount chain took five stars in four out of eight categories, including value for money, deals/specials available and private label products, and was the only supermarket to achieve top marks for overall satisfaction.”
With a series of new stores on the cards for SA and WA, news.com.au entered the weird and wonderful world of our Special Buys, highlighting some of the most memorable oddities to make the cut for a Wednesday or Saturday sale, including…
“Melbourne customer, Stuart Winstanley is a self-confessed ‘Special Buys’ junkie, and has been known to make creative use of items found in the middle aisle. A 2m tripod serves as a coat stand in the doorway of his home, while a large nautical light takes pride of place in the living room. Mr Winstanley admitted some friends questioned his taste, but he had no plans to abandon his bargain-hunting approach to interior decorating. “If there is something that I really want, I’ll get there in time for opening” Mr Winstanley said.”
The East Coast had treated us grandly for 15 years and we were happy to serve customers healthy products and healthy prices on that side of the country, but with our planning and due diligence complete we were heading south and west.
Our arrival and acceleration in our new SA and WA markets was swift as we opened just under 20 stores in each state before 2016 was done. The local teams were made up of some familiar ALDI faces keen for a fresh challenge and new recruits eager to be part of the expansion, and we also got down to doing some great business with local suppliers. From milk, potatoes and honey in SA to apples and other fresh produce in WA, supporting growers and producers was an important part of our plans as always.
Despite a bumper showing elsewhere, new stores in NSW, VIC, QLD and the ACT proved we’d far from turned our back on our longer standing states. In fact, they ended up being part of what was, and remains, our biggest single store rollout year.
65 new ALDI stores opened their doors this year across six states and territories, the highest total on record for us in Australia to date.
It was all systems go for SA as we opened our first stores in February, at Regency Park and Parafield Gardens, Seaford Heights, Hallett Cove and Woodcroft respectively – by year end we had 18 stores operational in the state.
By June, we’d also winged our way west, debuting in WA with our Mirrabooka, Kwinana, Belmont Forum and Lakeside Joondalup stores plus a Jandakot Distribution Centre and Regional Office, before cutting the ribbon on 18 other new stores inside 2016.
We were excited to announce that our Scoresby store in Melbourne had been awarded our first 6-star Green Building Council certification – the highest rating available.
2016 was also the year we started distributing electronic pay slips to employees to further reduce our paper waste.
The Australian Financial Review reported on our detailed plans to expand and refurbish our stores on the Eastern Seaboard, increasing floor space by about 25% to create more space for fresh produce and meat.
Meanwhile, our own-brand drops were still shaking up the Australian wine industry, with a Blue Gold medal in the 2016 Sydney International Wine Competition for a $4.99 bottle of Rosé just one of a number of awards from local shows.
The diversity of Special Buys across a single year reached what might have been a new high, with big-screen TVs, air con units, gaming consoles, mobile phones, metal detectors, unicycles, skeletons, jukeboxes and astro-turf all taking their place in the middle aisle at some stage.
As ALDI supporters and loyalists continued to grow, so had the contingent of people dedicating social media pages to what we were up to. One of our favourites – ALDI Mums – made it to almost 100,000 followers on Facebook in 2016 (it currently stands at 185,000), as a self-confessed ALDI obsessive made it her mission to enlighten the masses with practical tips, real reviews and a sense of humour!
The name ALDI comes from the combination of two words held very dear to the history and heritage of our brand. The first is ‘Albrecht’ (AL), the family name of our founders, and the second is ‘Diskont’ or ‘Discount’ (DI), which just goes to show that value is literally in our DNA!
As well as the opening of another 47 stores nationwide, our store refurbishment program was front-and-centre for us as we looked to improve our offering for customers seeking Australian grown, fresh produce, at great prices.
It was high times for our catalogue too, as it became the most read print publication in the country for the first time with a readership topping even The Daily Telegraph on a weekly basis.
In other news, we kicked off a major kids’ sport partnership with the ALDI Miniroos, bolstered our quality management process, had fun with coffee and were recognised as Liquor Store of the Year.
Following the lead of our new and improved logo, next up was refreshing our store format to receive some love, as we pushed ahead with a multi-million dollar store refurbishment program to revitalise an older store layout - a move which saw us say goodbye to our much loved iconic yellow tiles.
An even more comprehensive Quality Management System was introduced nationally, to ensure our suppliers had everything they needed to support our responsibilities to uphold the highest standards of safety, quality and regulatory compliance across the business.
Then there was the launch of our new brand positioning, ‘Good Different’, as we moved things on from the ‘Smarter Shopping’ which had been synonymous with ALDI for 15 years by embracing everything that makes us special to our customers.
We streamlined our systems, we stopped printing paper cheques to pay suppliers, and introduced price card printing in stores.
A supplier since 2017, QLD based Herman Brot have seen sales of their Low Carb Bakers Life bread increase by 150% in the first year of sales with ALDI, employing a dedicated team of 50 to ensure the popular product is readily available to ALDI shoppers. In May 2020, Herman Brot started supplying a new product to ALDI - the Low Carb Bakers Life buns, allowing the business to experience even more growth in partnership with ALDI.
The weekly catalogue which keeps our customers up to date with the latest and greatest in store Special Buys and product savings became the most-read printed publication in Australia, with an average of 5.1 million Australians over 14 years old checking it out according to Roy Morgan.
We partnered with Football Federation Australia to drive recruitment and participation in the ALDI MiniRoos – a national kids’ football program designed to get the next generation kicking goals towards healthy habits which last a lifetime.
With tongue firmly in cheek, the ads for our Expressi coffee brand took the recent creep of ‘aspiration’ into coffee category marketing to the next level, as we asked customers to forget about ‘the other George’.
Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Award for Liquor Store of the Year 2017.
Becoming Australia’s Most Trusted Brand according to Roy Morgan in 2018 was a worthy achievement for everyone who had worked hard to provide our customers with value and quality every day.
As pleasing as it was to have built such strong customer trust, being recognised by the Australian Retail Association as an employer dedicated to diversity and inclusion in our recruitment was just as important - a humble reminder that customer trust starts with great people who are empowered to be their best at work and beyond.
All this gave us much to be proud of, but in typical ALDI style we put our heads down and kept on, keeping on. We added new products, updated more stores with our new layout, got going with the ‘Gram and successfully opened another 24 stores in five states.
62 new products were added to our everyday range, with organics and gluten-free amongst the growth areas.
We got laser focused on end-to-end operational safety with the launch of our Safety Online system and made moves to keep employees even more connected with developments around the business with the introduction of the MyALDI app.
2018 also saw the launch of our Family and Domestic Violence policy, acknowledging that as an employer, we have a responsibility to help drive change.
Then we said goodbye to microbeads. Microbeads – small solid, manufactured plastic particles under 5mm which don’t break down – were shown the door as they were phased out of our products and processes.
ALDI gets social! Our Instagram was born, inspiring ideas were showcased and recipes aplenty were shared. Meanwhile ALDI Unpacked - an online resource - invited our audience to take a look behind-the-scenes at everything ‘Good Different’ about ALDI Australia, including our grocery range, Special Buys, supplier partners and up-to-date news and announcements. For ALDImobile plan holders, the ALDImobile app became the smarter way to manage a prepaid account with us on the go.
Our ongoing efforts to make ALDI a great place to work were recognised as we were named FCB Group Retail Employer of the Year at Australian Retail Awards and commended as an HRD Employer of Choice for commitment to quality recruitment, onboarding, diversity and inclusion.
“ALDI is an absolutely amazing company to work for. One of the big things is the approach towards hiring, promotions and lateral moves across the company. From an ALDI point of view, if you have the right person with the right core skills, then the company will teach you through extensive training the technical skills required to be really successful in that role. And that is extremely unique out there in the marketplace. For me and my career personally, that has allowed me to work in lots of different roles at ALDI. It’s allowed me to keep challenged, to keep growing and to become a better leader.”
“It’s really interesting talking about the culture at ALDI. Joining ALDI, I could tell that this was going to be something different. A culture where people were really focused on, where roles were clear and defined and where you understood what you had to do and had the autonomy to go and do it. That’s something that hasn’t changed with this business and continues to evolve into every role with everybody that works for us.”
Our customers helped crown us Australia’s most trusted brand for the 2018 Roy Morgan title.
*This segment from the Today program - Channel Nine was independent editorial and not paid for by ALDI.
We managed to walk away with 13 wins in the Product of the Year Awards, for everything from wafer bars, apple cider vinegar and bread to anti-aging face cream, lipstick and toilet paper.
The silly season saw us welcome an idea from our European counterparts and give it a whirl for Australian audiences – beer and wine advent calendars packed full of 24 days of brews or blends to keep festivities (very) merry.
After 18 years in the Australian market, we wanted to quantify the extent of our contribution to the Australian economy and how we were saving grocery shoppers money. Whilst in the background, the team’s hard work resulted in another series of store openings and upgrades throughout the year.
Reducing plastics and packaging was on the agenda as we made the commitment to reduce plastic packaging by 25% by 2025, and we also stepped up energy savings and ocean preservation with new technologies, installations and alignments.
For our customers, we did Black Friday differently, celebrated a never-ending festive ham and introduced the People’s Picks, our very own customer-voted awards program and were named a Trusted Trader by the Australian Borderforce.
Hard work and determination across our entire business saw us increase sales by 9.6%.
We opened 23 new stores nationally, including our most northerly up in Rockhampton, QLD.
Store refurbishments continued to provide our customers with a more enjoyable ALDI shopping experience, with an additional 60 updated throughout the year.
Our ALDI MiniRoos partnership welcomed Matilda’s mainstay Sam Kerr as an ambassador, helping take our healthy eating message to families around Australia.
Our first Black Friday sale hit stores two days early as part of that week’s Wednesday Special Buys, featuring discounts on kitchen appliances, cosmetics and camping gear.
Gift cards came into play at our stores for the first time, allowing customers to share ALDI value and speciality gift cards with friends and family.
For customers we launched ALIDIA, our stock checking service within Facebook Messenger, which allows customers to instantly access Special Buys availability, and for our store teams we introduced a task management system to keep everything running efficiently on the floor.
Continuing our leadership on reducing plastics and packaging, we announced nine commitments across our product range, including an overall aim to reduce our plastic packaging by 25% by 2025.
The hard work of the Logistics team to build efficiency into our processes saw the business receive a Trusted Trader tick from the Australian Border force, in recognition of our secure supply chain and compliant trade practices.
We introduced the Drive Safe Be Safe campaign with our Transport Operators as part of efforts to ensure safe, productive and compliant practices at every turn. We also launched our Diversity and Inclusion policy for all ALDI employees.
Our first Global Employee Engagement Survey gathered valuable insight and information from our team of close to 13,000, resulting in a score which ranked ALDI in the top 10% of retailers when it came to employee engagement, effort and sense of belonging.
An extensive economic impact report outlined how our goal to always put customers first saved them $2.2 billion a year in 2018 alone. The report also found that just by ALDI being present in the market, those that shopped elsewhere still saved around $450 million.
In 2018, our operations contributed $3.2 billion to Australia’s GDP – part of an estimated $23 billion since 2001 – and supported more than $1 billion of GDP through our employment of more than 12,500 people.
With Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we shifted the on-sale date of that week’s first Special Buys to Christmas Eve, a Tuesday, giving customers an opportunity to scoop some last minute deals for their table and gifts for their friends and family.
To further drive energy efficiency, new refrigeration technologies were introduced, and solar panels were installed on 86 stores and four distribution centres.
We became the first Australian retailer to participate in the transparency and responsibility efforts of the Ocean Disclosure Project, as we published details of our seafood sourcing.
This was a year many will want to forget, for good reason. For us, although it proved incredibly challenging at times – such as when 11 of our stores across NSW and VIC were affected by bushfires – it also showed us what we’re truly capable of, as a business, as a team and as people. What’s more, it reinforced our belief that ALDI customers are some of the best you’ll find anywhere.
As a provider of an essential service, our core focus for the year quickly became clear – to make sure we provided the community a safe place to shop. This meant taking care of our employees and customers even more than ever and working with Australia’s supermarkets to promote the values we all hold dear, day in, day out.
Since opening in Australia in 2001, we have contributed to the Australian Economy, practised an Australia first buying policy, become the only local supermarket to have never offered single-use plastic bags in any of the 550+ stores we now operate, and built a 1,800-strong award-winning product range. We’ve achieved all this by staying true to our core values of simplicity, consistency and responsibility, something we’ll continue to do as we look forward to a happier, healthier 2021 for all and the next 20-years of our journey.
We collaborated with the country’s other major grocery providers to support all Australians through the COVID-19 pandemic, actively promoting a message of kindness and respect during a year full of challenges.
At the same time, we made it clear that our trademark low prices weren’t going anywhere and took extra steps to be fair to our customer community with initiatives such as product restrictions.
Despite troubling times, we still did our best to keep improving our offering and operations for customers, supplier partners, employees and beyond.
We published our first Modern Slavery Statement, a document that defines our commitment to act against any adverse impact on human rights we might cause or contribute to, directly or indirectly.
The Australian Financial Review listed us in the top 25 Most Popular Graduate Employers, a ranking based on the number of Australian university students who submitted an application.
“ALDI Australia has committed to power its Australian operations using 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2021. The announcement follows a 40% reduction of overall operational emissions intensity since 2012.”
Our Most Satisfied Customers bestowed 13 Canstar Blue awards on us in 2020, for a whole host of lines including coffee pods, nappies, eggs and mouthwash.
ALDImobile, our very own suite of phone plans which we first introduced back in 2013, took out Roy Morgan’s Service Provider of the Year award.
We were proud to announce a new partnership with charity Camp Quality, committing to donations and on-going fundraising support for children aged 0-13 impacted by cancer.
We’ve sold a LOT of Special Buys in Australia since we started out, including the following since 2004…
