Bare Essentials: The Aldi Way To Retail Success

by Dieter Brandes

A former company executive explains the guiding philosophies of the global retail giant ALDI, whose 50-year history and successful spinoff Trader Joe's has made it a corporate leader on the scale of Wal-Mart and General Electric. Simplicity, not discount, is discussed as the answer to the company's driving question Why should customers visit your store? The corporate culture, philosophy, working principles, and organizational methods of ALDI are explained as the major factors for the company's extraordinary growth and success. This insider's perspective on the company offers lessons on consumer retailing and management that will be useful to aspiring business professionals.

Genres: Business, Management

207 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Visalakshi Kannan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a company is on an exponential growth trajectory it's easy to get unfocussed and try and do a lot of different things assuming the "Midas Touch" applies. That rarely happens and companies lose track of what their mission is. Aldi didn't at any point in time and that's pretty remarkable.

My takeaways - have clear, well-defined, easy to understand goals, drive decentralization and keep the customer at the center of every decision - not the vendor, the brand or the employees.

[Jonathan Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book on Aldi. Very informative if you are interested in Hard Discounters or work in retail.