Trends In The Australian Food Industry

The reputation and recognition make Aldi attractive in the marketing activities and this aspect needs to be improved in the future to compete with both existing and forthcoming rivals. Meanwhile, the high buying power and costs control would help Aldi to diversify its products and increase market penetration to serve diverse Australian population. This leads to the reconsideration of Aldi’s current strategy of limiting product range to adopt other strategies as a number of differentiation strategies has been used by other

Established in 1913 in Germany, ALDI operates what are known in the grocery business as "limited-assortment" stores or "hard discounters." ALDI has taken this retail concept, which features low overhead and scanty selection, to its leanest, meanest extreme.

As Aldi has already established itself as a large discount supermarket chain with over 10,000 stores in 18 different countries including Australia (2001), and holds a large market share in the grocery world due to its business culture and market leading initiatives. This report aims to provide the ALDI board of directors with:

1.3 Physical Resources & Capabilities The ALDI brothers took over the family business of their parents in 1946. World wide expansion led to enormous growth. This comprises around 9800 stores (1000 to 1500 SQM each). The layout is simple with wide ails designed to refill shelves in the fastest, most convenient way {Brands, D. 2003}. They offer a small assortment of mainly fast-moving items (approximately 700 food – including a slim and organic line- and non food products). Small warehouses are located at the back of each store. Affiliates are equipped with limited technology such as intelligent cash systems high-end product concerning quality and price and bottle deposit machines. ALDI won the 2008 energy management award for great results in terms of cooling systems, illumination etc. Most stores have about 100 parking space and a shopping cart area near the entrance. ALDI has a long history which implies that they have gained great experience over the years. The location and layout of stores are designed to support fast and efficient supply and not especially aimed at customer needs. This is a weakness. Stores advantageously located as there are in convenient reach for consumers. Their product range is adapted to various consumer needs (organic, healthy living). The technological equipments are of high quality enabling fast operations at the checkout (ALDI’s staff are two times faster compared with other similar operations). This is

(Please note: Task 1, 3 & 4 have been combined together into one report. Task 2 is separate and can be found on page 9)

In this report, Woolworths, one of our major competitors has been analyzed in order to understand how they have evolved the concept of

1. The grocery industry is a commoditized industry, which makes it difficult for grocers to sustain through differentiation. Buyer power is high and thus, cost leadership and operational efficiencies are critical. There is fierce competition amongst various grocery stores, with the main players such as Loblaw and A&P holding multi-banner stores in various market segments. Traditional grocery stores also lose some of their market share to drug stores, convenience stores and other retailers who have entered the industry. Threat of substitutes from fast-food and take- away outlets is not as prevalent, since many grocery stores have started stocking ready-to-eat meals and have deli services available for consumers. Competitive

Trader Joe's faces several threats to its business, as competitors try to invade the company’s niche and attempt to imitate the company’s core strategies. The supermarket industry itself faces a major threat, as larger chains such as grocery retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco have begun to open small-format stores that mimic the Trader Joe's approach. This invasion results in additional cost pressure for incumbents like Trader Joe’s, which had to let go employees in order to become more cost competitive.

In this article Michael Baker discusses the livelihood of small retailers in a market subjugated by the financially dominant oligopolies, Woolworths and Coles. While the small independent retailers in direct competition with Woolworths and Coles provide some competitive respite for consumers, as they encourage competitive pricing, albeit predatory pricing, it is clear that Woolworths and Coles control the supermarket industry in Australia, in the formation of a duopoly. It is evident that Woolworths and Coles engage in predatory pricing in an attempt to eliminate independent retailers from the market. This article discusses recent efforts made by the Australian government and the Australian Competition

This report is going to present the current culture of Aldi, critically examining its current culture and possible proposal for a change in culture. It identifies the current organisational culture, its strengths and weaknesses and make recommendations necessary for an organisational culture change.

New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are the regions contributing over 75% of the 18.9 billion industry revenue. Westfarmers (Target and Kmart) and Woolworths (BigW) are the two largest companies competing on low-cost strategies (Porter, 1980). Myers and David Jones, holding 15.3% and 10.5% market shares respectively (Figure 1), compete on differentiated strategies targeting the upper consumer market (Porter, 1980). Over 10% of the total working population are employed in this industry (Productivity Commission, 2011).

The main focus of Aldi is to offer the lowest possible price to the customer while operating their stores at the lowest cost as well. I have already stated how Aldi does not invest in advertising or any research of any kind and the main investment is in building new stores or logistics to supply those stores. But Aldi’s also uses the strategy of tricking its customers to do all the

4. Product Variety: It’s not a ‘Super’ market with a suitable range of products to choose from, Coles & Woolworths prove they’re super indeed with 5 stars each for product variety. IGA with 4 stars while Aldi received 3.

within the industry. The trends relate to what products are available, who and how they are

After researching news releases about the company, it has been determined that the company uses a backward vertical integration system. The company has close relations with their suppliers. Consequently, partaking in a close relationship with the buyers permits the company to create a store brand product that is close to or beats the name brand product. However, the company only offers one name brand product. Moreover, most of the store consists of the Aldi name brand products which conversely, follows the steps of many grocery chain retailers who also carry their