Bare Essentials: The Aldi Way To Retail Success - Softcover

Brandes, Dieter

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9780954282974: Bare Essentials: The Aldi Way To Retail Success

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0954282973 ISBN 13: 9780954282974

Publisher: Cyan Communications, 2004

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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.

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From the Inside Flap

Facts about ALDI - With Wal-Mart, ALDI is the most successful retailer in the world - Its founders, Karl and Theo Albrecht, are the wealthiest men in Europe, and the third richest in the world according to Forbes - ALDI operates in 10 European countries, in the United States and in Australia - Its stores stock only the 700 key items that consumers buy to meet their everyday needs - On each item it sells, ALDI achieves revenues 20 to 100 times greater than those of Wal-Mart

Many European retailers are feeling the pinch. Constrained consumer spending and continuing controversy over the impact of the euro are damping down growth and squeezing margins in the retail sector. Yet food discounter ALDI is bucking the trend, enjoying huge increases in turnover and record profits. What are the secrets of its success?

In the first book about this little-known success story, former ALDI manager Dieter Brandes reveals the principles that underpin everything ALDI does, starting with simplicity. He shows what the company has in common with other great industry leaders such as General Electric and Wal-Mart, and explains how the ALDI brand of management works.

The ALDI system is not exclusively a retail discount system, but a management and organization system that can be applied in any business. Companies in industries as diverse as IT, banking and manufacturing, as well as entrepreneurs and start-ups, all have much to learn from the way ALDI manages its operations.

At a time when most organizations are getting more and more complex, the ALDI story illustrates the power of simplicity. By making value to its custormer its guiding principle, ALDI has established itself as one of the world's foremost retail giants. This book helps the reader understand the inner workings of an organization that has prided itself on remaining an enigma - until now.