The decisions that made it
The Price Doctrine · Business Model
Aldi Doesn't Have Low Prices. It Has a Machine That Can't Charge High Ones.
Aldi stocks about 1,350 items where a supermarket stocks 30,000, and roughly 90% of them carry its own label. That isn't thrift — it's arithmetic. Every structural choice is engineered to force the price down, which is why full-assortment rivals can't copy it without breaking themselves.
7 min
Vertical Integration · Boundaries of the Firm
Aldi Doesn't Make Anything. That's the Whole Trick.
The myth is that Aldi makes its own groceries in its own factories. It doesn't — Shearer's, Schreiber, and Storck do. Aldi owns the spec, the brand, and the demand signal, and lets others own the plants. On €112 billion in sales, that's integration without the capital.
7 min
The Market-Entry Gambit · Decision Forks
Two German Discounters Entered America. Only One Cracked It.
The story is that Aldi and Lidl cracked US grocery together. They didn't. Aldi's first US store closed in 18 months in 1976; it took nearly 35 years to reach 1,000 stores. Lidl arrived 41 years later and, after eight years, holds about 1% share in its own trade areas.
8 min