1. Home
  2. Key topics
  3. Customer contact & service quality

Customer contact & service quality

[GRI 417/103-1] The trust of our customers is our most valuable asset. That is why we listen carefully to what they want. For more than 100 years, we have consistently and systematically tailored our products and services towards the demands of our customers. If these demands change, we evolve – by expanding our product range, modernising our stores and even taking a new approach to how we communicate with customers. But one thing remains the same: we offer high quality at the low ALDI prices people have come to expect.

Our approach

[GRI 417/103-2] Our measures are aimed at offering our customers an appealing shopping experience. Shopping at ALDI North should always be something special – “Every day a special one” – and communication plays a key role in making it just that. To achieve this goal, we are giving our stores and our approach to how we communicate with customers a complete makeover. For example, we invite our customers in many countries to celebrate new store openings with product tastings or cooking events. In our redesigned stores, we provide orientation, create inspiration and communicate directly and humorously with our customers.

Our range of sustainably certified products plays an important role in all communication measures – in stores, in the customer magazine ALDI aktuell, online or in TV and radio advertising. As part of the extensive modernisation of our stores, we continue to expand our sustainability-related communication. In our advertising campaigns, we draw attention to our expanded organic product range and our growing selection of fresh fruit and vegetables. Since 2016, we have significantly expanded our advertising activities in cooperation with the ALDI SOUTH Group. We make use of TV and radio campaigns as well as print advertising. Increasingly, social media communication plays a major role.

Our customers’ needs are also at the centre of our services. We are always available for them, and we have set ourselves the goal of answering every enquiry within a very short period of time. For a number of years now, our ALDI app has provided a convenient shopping helper for mobile phones in all countries in which the ALDI North Group operates. Traditionally, our customers have been able to rely on the ALDI Guarantee, our fair and tolerant returns and exchange policy.

Organisation & guidelines

[GRI 417/103-2] Our customer communication efforts are coordinated by various departments depending on the topic and reason. Along with Marketing and Corporate Communication, Sales and in-store employees are involved in our efforts. Within ALDI Buying, the Marketing department, Sales and Corporate Communication are each led by a dedicated managing director. Separate departments or managers are also responsible for these activities in the ALDI North Group countries.

We always act in compliance with our values when communicating with our customers and use simple, clear and understandable language and imagery.

Progress and measures in 2017

[GRI 417/103-2]

Customer communication as part of store openings

The ALDI North Group’s stores are currently undergoing renovation and modernisation as part of our efforts to implement the new ALDI Nord Instore Konzept design programme. We take the opportunity provided by post-renovation store openings to foster direct contact with our customers. In Germany, we reward our customers’ patience during the remodelling phase with special offers such as fresh waffles, gift cards or fruit and vegetable baskets. Other countries also make use of a wide range of campaigns. In Poland, for example, new store openings feature a children’s entertainer and music for adult guests. In the Netherlands, food trucks visit stores to provide food and drink for customers.

Communication expanded across all channels

We expanded our advertising activities significantly in many countries in which the ALDI North Group operates in the period under review. In Germany, for example, the new freshness campaign, which highlights the wide range of fresh products, debuted in September 2017. In the Netherlands, the six-week Verantwoord en voordelig (“Responsible and beneficial” or “Responsible and affordable”) focused on sustainable products.

Our weekly customer magazine ALDI aktuell remains our key customer communication channel. In 2017, the magazine was given a fresh new look. Prior to the facelift, we entered into a multistage research process to identify our customers’ needs and expectations in relation to our magazine, which we took into account while making the changes. 

The German website also received a comprehensive overhaul in 2017. The updated, innovative structure of the website now makes it even easier for visitors to find detailed descriptions of items, the latest special offers or information about our products’ sustainability. In early 2018, ALDI Netherlands started using the new format for its website. The ALDI Denmark, ALDI Poland and ALDI Portugal websites are scheduled to be relaunched soon, with further countries to follow. The ALDI Spain website was overhauled in 2015. In Spain, we started using Instagram to communicate and intensified our use of Facebook and Twitter in the period under review.

Customer dialogue: knowing about customers’ needs

The only way for us to tailor our products and services to our customers’ needs and expectations is to know them. That is why we actively seek our customers’ opinions on certain topics on an ad hoc basis through customer surveys. In 2017, for example, we held a customer panel to support our materiality analysis. The key finding was that sustainability is personally important or very important to more than 80 per cent of the customers we surveyed. As part of the modernisation of our stores, we also asked customers on location for their thoughts on the visual facelift. These findings were continuously worked into the further development of the ANIKo store concept. In Spain, we regularly use studies to gauge how people perceive our brand. Since late 2016, Contigo ALDI has been offering customers in Spain an additional online service that has been very well received. Stores in France have been subject to visits and assessments since 2017 as part of a project in cooperation with the market research institute TNS. This measure will be intensified in 2018.

Targets and status

[GRI 417/103-2/3] In the German retail sector, we have the highest customer reach in the ALDI North sales region. In 2017, 82 out of 100 households shopped at our stores at least once. According to the market research company GfK, we increased our reach by roughly 200,000 households among younger customers under 29 years of age in Germany in 2017 – a rise of around 15 per cent compared to the previous year. In Belgium, 80 per cent of consumers also shop at our stores at least once a year (as of late 2016). According to Kantar Worldpanel, an international market research company, ALDI France came in first among retailers with regard to the number of items purchased per trip in 2017 (bricks-and-mortar retail).

Together with the introduction of new customer services, ALDI Spain has defined key performance indicators for customer satisfaction, which it monitors on an ongoing basis. The latest findings reveal that 95 per cent of those making enquiries have a positive opinion of the customer service.

Various awards show us that we are on the right track when it comes to our development. In the period under review, for example, Kundenmonitor Deutschland found that we offered the best value for money. Customers in Germany also found us to be the most family-friendly company. In Spain, our customer communication came in second in the category “Building a Brand” at the Commercial Effectiveness Awards 2017. In 2017, the industry publication “Rayon Boisson” awarded ALDI France the Liège d’Or (“Golden cork”) for the evolution of the range of wines, which now more than ever meet customer expectations in terms of selection, price and transparency, thanks to “Simplement bon et bio” organic wines or wines with a controlled designation of origin, for example.

Performance indicators

Customer magazine circulation

Customer magazine circulation (annual average) by magazine

Total

ALDI aktuell

ALDI Reisen

Other1

Total

ALDI aktuell

ALDI Reisen

Other1

Total

ALDI aktuell

ALDI Reisen

Other1

Belgium/Luxembourg2

4,654,528

4,654,528



4,677,350

4,677,350



4,650,273

4,650,273



Denmark

1,625,739

1,525,639


100,100

1,424,122

1,324,122


100,000

1,320,458

1,320,458



Germany

43,869,605

22,525,573

1,378,658

19,965,374

44,990,008

22,357,251

1,356,737

21,276,020

45,539,205

22,210,748

1,335,392

21,993,065

France

9,067,031

9,067,031



8,983,799

8,983,799



9,034,767

9,034,767



Netherlands

7,346,736

5,400,000


1,946,736

8,568,511

5,028,372


3,540,139

15,330,870

4,998,835


10,332,035

Poland

2,266,180

1,794,060


472,120

1,945,500

1,945,500



2,216,535

2,216,535



Portugal

441,760

441,760



454,428

454,428



530,807

530,807



Spain

2,789,251

1,081,901


1,707,350

3,045,274

987,274


2,058,000

2,281,478

511,853


1,769,625

ALDI Nord Group

72,060,830

46,490,492

1,378,658

24,191,680

74,088,992

45,758,096

1,356,737

26,974,159

80,904,393

45,474,276

1,335,392

34,094,725

1 This category includes themed publications, such as gourmet, wine and Christmas magazines, as well as special publications such as store opening magazines.
2
 The information regarding the legally independent companies of the ALDI Nord Group in Belgium and Luxembourg has been combined for the purposes of a simplified presentation (refer to "Subject of the report").

Customer magazine tonnage

Weight of the paper used for the customer magazine on an annual basis (in metric tons)

Total

ALDI aktuell

ALDI Reisen

Other1

Total

ALDI aktuell

ALDI Reisen

Other1

Total

ALDI aktuell

ALDI Reisen

Other1

Belgium/Luxembourg2

10,299

10,299



10,811

10,811



10,823

10,823



Denmark

2,537

2,535


2

2,474

2,469


5

3,419

3,419



Germany

65,560

63,299

880

1,381

72,757

70,442

907

1,408

81,314

78,485

874

1,955

France

16,253

16,253



18,461

18,461



21,516

21,516



Netherlands

8,635

8,397


238

8,587

8,116


471

11,032

10,550


482

Poland

2,521

2,512


9

3,372

3,372



5,279

5,279



Portugal

810

810



1,030

1,030



1,543

1,543



Spain

3,113

2,954


179

2,912

2,696


216

1,674

1,448


226

ALDI Nord Group

109,748

107,059

880

1,809

120,404

117,397

907

2,100

136,600

133,063

874

2,663

1 This category includes themed publications, such as gourmet, wine and Christmas magazines, as well as special publications such as store opening magazines.
2
 The information regarding the legally independent companies of the ALDI Nord Group in Belgium and Luxembourg has been combined for the purposes of a simplified presentation (refer to "Subject of the report").

SDG

GRI

More content

Key topics

Diversity and work-life balance

People from 117 nations work in the nine European countries in which we are represented. This diversity is a part of the ALDI North Group. It enriches our working relationships and reflects the diversity of our customers.

MORE
Management

Compliance

We align our actions with our core values: simplicity, responsibility and reliability. These values also express the way the ALDI North Group sees and approaches compliance.

MORE
Key topics

Sustainable standards in the non-food supply chain

We take responsibility for safe and fair working conditions and compliance with environmental standards wherever we can make a difference

MORE
Highlights

What it means to be an ALDI employee

Being an ALDI employee above all means embracing our shared values: simplicity, responsibility and reliability. That is what we stand for in all we do, wherever we are located.

MORE
Key topics

Customer contact & service quality

The trust of our customers is our most valuable asset. That is why we listen carefully to what they want. For more than 100 years, we have consistently and systematically tailored our products and services towards the demands of our customers.

MORE
Key topics

Occupational health & safety

Taking responsibility for the health and safety of employees in the workplace is part of the ethos of the ALDI North Group companies

MORE
Highlights

Commitment to animal welfare: good ranking in an industry comparison

We know that there is still a lot to do when it comes to animal welfare, but we are on the right track, as confirmed by two recent publications on commitment to animal welfare in the food industry

MORE
Key topics

Attractive employer

The roughly 69,000 ALDI employees make a decisive contribution to the sustained success of the ALDI North Group. All of them can be proud to work for the ALDI North Group. In exchange, they receive secure working conditions, attractive framework conditions and long-term career development prospects

MORE
Key topics

Food losses & other waste

We take responsibility for the protection of our environment and its natural resources. As a retailer, reducing waste and dedicating ourselves to fighting food losses play a central role.

MORE

00:00
01:00
02:00
03:00
04:00
05:00
06:00
07:00
08:00
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:00
15:00
16:00
17:00
18:00
19:00
20:00
21:00
22:00
23:00

 

    

 

 

 

 

regions.regionSwitchHeadline

regions.regionSwitchText
regions.regionSwitchTextExplicitSwitch