China: Shanghai, DRC Team visits Aldi stores to prepare for expansion success

Updated: 5 days ago

Discount Retail Consulting Management naturally needed to visit during its business development trip (see also our reports on small commodity production city Yiwu and food production city Luohe) some Aldi China store locations in Shanghai.

The discount retail trend has also gained traction in China. Recently, various discount concepts have been launched and implemented by local Chinese retailers and e-commerce companies.

Meanwhile, Aldi, the pioneer of global discount retail, has been active in China since 2019, operating around 80 stores in the greater Shanghai area and expanding rapidly with great success.

Upon entering the bustling Aldi store (600 m2) in the Hongqiao area, we were impressed by the fresh selection, including a wide variety of vegetables, meat, fish, fresh cuisine products, baked goods, and ready-to-eat items like grilled chicken, as well as the well-developed Chinese Aldi branded private label products.

With over 1,700 SKUs, a broad range of categories was covered, including a diverse selection of wines and private label cosmetics. Furthermore, Aldi also featured some categories of well-known German direct import products, highlighting their exceptional European quality standards. As expected, the familiar weekly in-out non-food range was absent. Additionally, Aldi offered intriguing in-out food-themed promotions such as Halloween. The pricing is highly competitive, matching and even surpassing serious local Chinese grocery discounters.

In addition to mostly self-checkout stations, contactless payments via phone are standard in China and at Aldi, making shopping seamless in a crowded store. Online delivery also constitutes a significant portion of the revenue. As always, the staff was well-trained in the Aldi way.

This Aldi concept adapted to the Chinese market is a well-thought-out grocery discount retail format. With local adaptations to make it feel Chinese youngsters and middle-class customers at home with an international touch, showcasing high quality for a low price.