I love ALDI. They cut costs by compromising on everything but quality, which is an approach i'm totally OK with. If you look at it from the perspective of building the most efficient grocery store possible, suddenly everything they do makes sense:
- most products are private-label
- ALDI is a private label powerhouse. They have >40 Million monthly customers in the US which means they are a big fish for suppliers who they have a direct relationship with. This gives several advantages:
- They pay a lower price because they buy direct from suppliers rather than from distributors
- They buy in BULK. i.e. instead of buying 10 units of 10 different brands, they can buy 100 units of private-label.
- They have more control over supply chain which lets them keep less inventory. when inventory runs low of a staple product runs low, the suppliers will make more for them. This means smaller stores.
- Control over supply chain lets them dictate quality/taste/packaging.
- Customers don't pay the premium that comes along with buying a heavily marketed name brand.
- packaging
- products are placed on the shelves without being removed from their cardboard boxes.
- this means they pay fewer employees to stock shelves. other grocery stores in my town have 1-2 people stocking good in each aisle pretty much every time I go in. ALDI usually has 3-4 employees working in the entire store.
- they also get to put bar codes on every side of every product which means that cashiers can scan more quickly.
- limited selection
- having 3 kinds of jam instead of 20 means you can have a smaller store which means you can charge less for the goods you sell. ALDI stores are tiny compared to regular US supermarket. There are 4 short aisles rather than ~20 aisles that go on forever.
- rotating selection
- they have some 'limited time' buys. when they're able to get an especially good deal on a product, it shows up on the shelves. when it's gone it's gone. Sure, it's annoying that something you liked last time you were in the store might not be there next time but not carrying every product 100% of the time means that they're able to have a smaller store.
- No frills shopping experiences
- Customers don't get pampered, which means ALDI hires fewer people which means the products are cheaper:
- customers bag their own groceries
- customers bring their own bags
- customers transport their own groceries to their cars.
- customers deposit a quarter to check out a shopping cart. They don't get their $.25 back until they return their cart. This works well, as pretty much all customers return their carts and ALDI doesn't have to hire parking lot attendants.
If you must have 20 kinds of jam available or if there's something you're just really picky about, go somewhere else for those items. For me, that's beer. The beer selection at ALDI is not good so I go to a local liquor store that has good relationships with local distributors/breweries since they're able to get all kinds of hard to find goodies for me. For many people here, i suspect the thing they're picky about will probably be meat. You'll for sure have a better meat selection at your local butcher or upscale super market.
I used to go to a premium grocery store in town for all my groceries, but have shopped at ALDI pretty much exclusively the last several years. I eat just as well but pay 50-60% of what I used to