Aldi’s biggest overhaul in 16 years
German discount chain Aldi has spent hundreds of millions of dollars revamping its nearly 470 stores around Australia, including fixing the biggest gripe of customers – long checkout queues.
Chief executive Tom Daunt said wait times were no longer the top complaint from customers.
He also said that Aldi wouldn’t be introducing self-service check-outs any time soon.
“I know they’re becoming very popular, of course we have considered them,” Mr Daunt told news.com.au.
“We just prefer to put a human face on the register and have very efficient registers. On balance we think that’s better. Our registers are designed to be fast — it’s one of the things people comment on. Some complain, some get very competitive about it, but it’s an experience going through an Aldi register.”
Aldi has also launched its biggest advertising campaign since opening its first Australian store in 2001, in a bid to maintain pressure on Coles and Woolworths.
Dropping the “Smarter Shopping” slogan for “Good Different”, the phrase will “underpin all aspects of the Aldi business, from product sourcing, to supplier relationships and the customer experience”.
The key point of difference for Aldi is their price point, which they’ve vowed to maintain.
“On some aspects of our range the discounts are enormous,” Mr Daunt said. “Our fly spray is 60-70 per cent cheaper than Mortein. But if you assemble a basket of items, ours will always come out cheaper, typically somewhere between 25-40 per cent.”
In the past 12 months, Aldi has also introduced 100 new products and is continuing to grow its range of meat, vegetables and fruit.