Customers
“We promise our customers quality products at the best prices. […] It is our responsibility to design our select product range in a way that meets our customers’ everyday needs. For us, quality includes consumer safety, health and well-being, and the sustainability of our products and their production. The safety of our products is one of our core commitments to our customers.”
Content
Every day, millions of customers visit one of over 5,900 ALDI SOUTH stores worldwide and rely on our value proposition of quality at the best price. Our customers have come to rely on safe and high-quality products, and they also value products which promote a healthy lifestyle, cater to special dietary needs, and are manufactured in a more sustainable manner.
We constantly develop our product range and business processes, as we always want to meet our customers’ expectations. Product quality and safety are our first priority. The establishment of comprehensive quality assurance controls at all stages of the supply chain – from manufacture to sale – is a crucial factor of this approach. In this respect, we benefit from the fact that about 90% of the products we sell are offered under our own private labels. This enables us to work closely together with our suppliers to ensure our products meet quality, composition, and sustainability criteria. We are continually adding new products, and we regularly find improved alternatives to existing products within our range. This includes, for example, vegetarian, vegan, lactose and gluten-free products, as well as organic products and products certified according to sustainability standards. As a result, our customers can rely on us to provide the highest quality at the best possible price.
More than 96% of the production facilities used to manufacture the private label food products offered by ALDI SOUTH are certified according to strict food safety standards, which are recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). For the rest of the production facilities, such a certification cannot be obtained for reasons such as small company size. Both food and non-food products are required to undergo comprehensive quality testing and evaluation, both internally and through our third-party service providers, before being introduced to our product range or sold as special buy. In the rare instance that a product must be removed from sale as a matter of precaution, we ensure that we react quickly and thoroughly.
In the future, we will continue to offer products and services which meet the desires and expectations of customers in each of our national markets. In doing so, we have recognised the growing importance of maintaining dialogue with our customers – not least via social media platforms. Through all national markets, ALDI SOUTH is becoming increasingly present on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Furthermore, we have established internal corporate policies concerning responsible marketing practices in each of the countries where we operate.
Focus: health and well-being
A balanced diet and routine physical activity are the foundation for a healthy and happy life. We want to make it as simple as possible for our customers to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. For this reason, we have an international strategy for health and well-being in place, which was subsequently adapted to national market requirements and is being implemented worldwide.
Within each of our national organisations, we continuously analyse and improve the composition and nutritional profile of our various food products. According to national priorities, we focus on reducing salt, sugar, fats, trans fats, additives, and the overall calorie content in our products. In 2017, we reformulated more than 400 processed product variants in collaboration with our suppliers, optimising the sugar, salt, and/or fat content of these products without compromising on quality.
The desires, expectations, and needs of our customers are just as diverse as the customers themselves. For this reason, over the past few years, we have introduced more vegan, vegetarian, lactose and gluten-free products to our range. In 2017, we listed various product options labelled as suitable for vegetarians or vegans. For example, in Austria, a total of 416 product variants (275 vegan and 141 vegetarian product variants) carried the ‘V label’, an internationally protected quality seal issued by ‘Vegane Gesellschaft Österreich’. Increasingly, our customers are interested in supporting local producers and sustainable development. By offering certified organic and local products, as well as products certified by organisations such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance, we enable our customers to purchase these at a discount price. For example, organic products accounted for a sales share of 4.5% in the whole group in 2017.
We support our customers in making healthy lifestyle choices, for example by offering products, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, at affordable prices all year round. In addition, we provide our customers with recipes for simple, healthy meals and with information and short videos on leading a healthy lifestyle. One example is our German online portal 'www.aldi-inspiriert.de' (‘ALDI inspires’), which offers our customers access to a range of free and personal advice on sport, fitness, nutrition, and overall health. In several of the countries we operate in, ALDI SOUTH also supports charities in order to motivate children and young people to lead healthy and active lifestyles and impart important information on healthy nutrition.
We always want to offer the right selection of products at the best price. Therefore, we constantly develop our product range in coordination with our customers, suppliers, and experts, and we will continue to improve our range without compromising on taste and quality in future.
Areas for improving health and well-being for customers: offering product options for specific dietary needs, improving ingredients and nutritional profile of our food products, and promoting a healthy lifestyle
Key figures
product variants which have undergone optimisation in terms of their salt, sugar, or fat content.
Product safety
The indicator is based on the last production facility in the supply chain which adds value to the product.
GFSI: Global Food Safety Initiative
| Percentage of food production facilities for the manufacture of food items which are certified in accordance with a GFSI-recognised standard | 96.25 ✔ |
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The indicator is based on all publicly recalled food and non-food products.
| Number of public product recalls | 47 ✔ |
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Health and well-being
| Percentage of sales of organic food products (labelled EU organic, Bio Suisse, Australian certified organic, USDA organic) | 4.5 ✔ |
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Sustainable Development Goals
