Aldi is one of the premium retailer in the world. Probably not the sexiest, as it is a hardcore hard discounter, not the hypest, as it barely use RP and do not advertize, but one of the best performing ones, with a unique concept. Former CEO of Tesco Terry Leahy explained its fiercest competition came from the arrival in the UK market of Aldi. I have recently published a post about its international strategy.
Aldi has recently created a social media campaign with comedian Ben Bailey to promote its US store. The purpose, to show that Aldi has remarkable quality product, and have great prices.
Some thoughts come to my mind while watching those videos:
- Aldi's store have nothing in comon with what I know of Aldi in Europe: Larger stores, more choice, better presentation
- Aldi is advertizing! This is for sure unique. But Aldi has been in the US (with the Aldi Label, not the Trader Joe's one) for a long time and struggling. This could be the reason why they are using advertizing.
- They use social media, which is probably cheaper than national advertizing, and better accepted than standard media which Aldi don't use in the other countries.
Now if you look at the number of subscription and the number of views, for such a large market, you can clearly see that the success is non really relevant. But Aldi is planning to open 45 new stores, and I believe that the US will become one of the strategic country for the company.
Also, a very important news in the article: Lidl is opening in the US! The potential growth of hard discount retailer in the US will for sure be a great story to follow. Especially because the US market is really difficult, and a lot of foreign retailers such as Auchan or Casino failed to enter.
