Many stores have fans. Look around online, and you’ll see devoted followers of Walmart, of Target, of Costco, of Publix.
Aldi is no different.
It’s no secret that Aldi has become a pretty big deal in recent years. Once the little stock-up store with odd off-brand items, Aldi has evolved into a heavyweight in the grocery sector. In the United States, the company is in the midst of an aggressive multi-billion dollar remodeling and expansion effort, with the aim of becoming the third-largest grocery store chain in the country by 2022.
Part of Aldi’s allure is in its low prices and its efficient way of doing things. But a huge part of the appeal is in the store’s ever-changing ALDI Finds section. This mysterious aisle, which goes by a number of names, is home to everything from toilet bowl lights to chainsaws, and many Aldi shoppers can’t get enough of it.
When we first started writing about Aldi in 2016, there wasn’t a whole lot going on in the realm of any visible online Aldi shopper base. There were a few small Facebook groups, a decent-sized Reddit community, and not a lot else.
Since then, a lot has changed. Aldi-centric Facebook groups have exploded, and some of them are now the size of cities. Instagram is home to a large subculture of Aldi product photographers. Reddit’s community has grown, too, and while it doesn’t boast the lofty numbers we see on Facebook or Instagram, it’s a smart, active group in its own right.
Aldi, for its part, encourages this kind of fandom. Unlike its distant cousin, Trader Joe’s, Aldi maintains a robust social media presence: at the time of this post, it has some 2.5 million followers on Facebook and another five hundred thousand or so on Instagram. Aldi encourages people to hashtag its products, and has even been known to run giveaways for the best Aldi hauls. During a recent promotion, Aldi sent out large boxes of “fan favorites” to “superfans” who had shown their Aldi hauls on social media. Those superfans, in turn, have become a veritable army of influencers, spreading the good news of great Aldi products at low Aldi prices.
The cult of Aldi is big, and that means nothing but good things for Aldi.
Well, almost nothing.
How Aldi Works
The recent surge of Aldi fandom has created some headaches for the company. To understand why, I want to first step back and talk a little bit about how the company operates.
Aldi is an efficient company. Everything you see in the store, from the quarter slots in the carts, to the fact that customers bag their own groceries, is about promoting a lean, fast operation. That’s why, for example, you can’t call an Aldi store: managing phone calls would slow down a store’s speed and efficiency.
Because Aldi loves efficiency, it also loves predictability. After all, if Aldi knows what to expect, it can do things faster and better. Aldi likes knowing exactly how many people to expect in its stores, how much it needs to stock, and what it needs to do to operate at peak efficiency. Every store loves predictability, but for Aldi it’s especially important because Aldi is a low-inventory grocery store and doesn’t have the shelf space to spare for big miscalculations.
Aldi has some things in place to deal with unpredictable situations — the way workers can surge to the registers during peak times, for example — but some things aren’t as easy to account for.
The Problem of Product Popularity
Product rushes are a particular headache. By product rushes, I’m talking about spikes in the number of customers swooping in and scooping up most or all of a product.
Historically, Aldi likes to avoid these kinds of situations. For example, last year Aldi Australia decided not to sell collectibles even though they were all the rage Down Under. It was a case study in how Aldi operates: the collectibles would have been a major disruption for the store, and that’s not the kind of thing Aldi likes when it can help it.
There are, of course, some exceptions.
In 2017, Aldi brought a wine Advent calendar to the United Kingdom. It was enough of a success that, in 2018, the wine calendar came to America. Unfortunately, for people hoping to score one, the U.S. wine calendars sold out in minutes. Aldi, to its credit, learned from the experience, and in 2019 increased its inventory and implemented a ticket system for its alcohol calendars, creating a much smoother process.
In the fall of 2019, Aldi brought L’Oven Fresh Keto Friendly Zero Net Carbs Bread into stores as an ALDI Find (Special Buy). It sold out almost immediately, with some people proudly declaring that they bought several loaves at a time. Sensing a potential high-selling product, Aldi brought the bread back as a Regular Buy, and it vanished off shelves just as fast as before. It became clear that Aldi’s supplier could not keep up with demand, and the company looks to be retooling in 2020 to try to solve that. If the emails and comments we’ve been getting are any indication, Aldi has probably been flooded with phone calls and emails about this bread.
Where the Superfans Fit In
I don’t blame Aldi fans for wanting to buy Aldi products, especially given how hard Aldi itself has cultivated those fans. Even if Aldi didn’t cultivate fans, though, fandom comes with a successful business, and as a company you have to figure out how to meet the demands that come with fandom.
Aldi fan communities have done a lot to promote standout Aldi products. Because of that, I’ve seen a spike in demand for some of those products. I’ve seen this happen with limited-run ALDI Finds, where fan communities start talking about specific products and it raises the hype level for that product. A good example is the SOHL Furniture teal cabinet, which flew off of shelves as fans started talking more about it.
I’ve also seen it with everyday Regular Buys, and not just keto bread. Last fall, a number of fans started talking about the Choceur Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. We talked about them, too, giving them one of our 2019 product awards. Since then, we haven’t been able to find them. We see product stickers advertising that they exist, but we haven’t seen any of the bags on shelves.
Same thing with Kirkwood Breaded Chicken Breast Fillets and Specially Selected Brioche Buns, which together make for a mean Chik-fil-A copycat sandwich. Ever since we’ve seen this combo tracking with Aldi fan communities online, we’ve had a harder time getting our hands on one or both of them.
How Will Aldi Respond?
As best as I can tell, Aldi seems to react differently to different product rushes.
I mentioned earlier how, sometimes, Aldi decides the product popularity isn’t worth it. I know that sounds crazy, but Aldi is a very profitable company that is always thinking long-term, and there are times the company will decide to let a craze go rather than deal with the headaches. We saw this with Aldi Australia and collectables. We may be seeing this with the Choceur peanut butter cups and Aldi’s Thin Mint copycats, as both we and others online have reported their stores discontinuing them as Regular Buys.
In other cases, Aldi finds a way to meet the demand. We saw it with the retooling of Aldi’s rollout of wine Advent calendars. We’ve also seen it with the reintroduction of the Aldi keto bread, something I didn’t expect to see as a Regular Buy.
Regardless of the response, though, one thing is certain: the Aldi fanbase is bigger than it has ever been. Aldi knows this, and as it grows to be a more popular company, it’s going to have to figure out how it will deliver to the fans, especially those who can’t wait to see what comes out next.
I know exactly what you’re talking about. Their specially selected cilantro salsa has disappeared from our stores. People went crazy about it here in Florida. It makes me sad though because people come in and buy them all out and regular shoppers can’t get them. Now they no longer carry it. My store is always out of stock on a lot of things. I love Aldi but im starting to have to go to other places to get things because they are always out of stock. They even had to put a limit on some of the things people buy. A lot of small restaurants and food trucks are coming in and buying out inventory in one sweep. I see them with carts full of milk, or cheese or just eggs. I think Aldi either needs to open more stores or expand their stores to hold more products. They are going to have to change to meet demand in the US. There is just to much demand now. Hopefully they’ll expand stores but not to big because that one of the things I love about them. I would like to see more stock in stores though.
I don’t blame you for thinking “The heck with this”. My sister is an Aldi shopper, I was Walmart. Then my Walmart took out 3 asiles for beer and wine.
One thing that disappeared was rice cakes. I like rice cakes. Sis, said Aldi has their own brand. So, if I have to make a special trip for a couple of items, I’ll make my trip for all or most of the items. I don’t grocery shop at Walmart very much anymore.
In the NorthEast, there’s a load-end chain called Price-Rite. Owned by Shop-Rite. Used to shop there all the time. That place was like Soviet Russia. If they had something, you bought it, because they might not have it again. When it started to get to be regular items not always there and I’d have to hit another store (Walmart) I just bought everything at Walmart. Funny thing, Price-Rite last week sent a mailer out about they were “Revamped”.
If there’s a land rush on certain items where someone comes in a cleans the shelves of it, ALDI and anyone else that allows it is hurting themselves. The people buying out that item, are still only going to buy everything else in quantities like everyone else does or just that item. If everyone else moves on because of that, ALDI hasn’t made a dime. Sure, you sold 50 loaves of bread to that guy. But because of that, 50 customers didn’t buy chicken, potatoes, crackers, meat, etc…
Joshua, do you think they might expand stores? You mentioned something about it in your article.
Aldi has committed several billion dollars to adding new stores and remodeling the ones they have. In some cases, those remodelings do involve making the store bigger — in our area one store remodeled and expanded its size, so we’ve seen it.
I love the Keto bread and I managed to get one package of walnut hers but when I went back the next day they were gone. I hooe they make it a regular buy. Could you please tell me of some more Aldi blogs thank you.
As an ‘older’ 2 people family, I absolutely luv Aldi’s small store concept. I do not like all of the ‘new’ organics taking up shelf space. I think that they should open a ‘wholer foods’ 🙂 store
We’re an ‘older’ two person family, too, and I’m happy to see so many organic products available. It’s one reason I’ve been shopping at Aldi so frequently lately (I don’t shop much in the middle of the store and hardly ever down the “Finds” aisle). Organic food is a growth area for every supermarket; I’m not surprised to see Aldi ramp up their selection. They’re smart people.
I have been an Aldi shopper for 30 years – long before it’s popularity boom. Sometimes the crowds annoy me, but mostly not.
We are also now a 2-person family and the pre-packaged large bags of produce are starting to annoy me. I have started to go elsewhere for my onions, potatoes, etc. and even cilantro because I can buy it elsewhere without the plastic and in the quantities I need.
Aldi has huge competition in my small community of 5 Cities in CA. We also have Grocery Outlet , Smart and Final and Costco. There are so many things I can buy at those stores that are cheaper than Aldi. Sure, I like this store because it has foreign foods and they simply taste better because they have less ingredients. While their prices are good they sure aren’t THAT good?!
Alice, we have Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Costco here. I don’t shop in any of those stores so it’s not like I have a price book or anything. But none of the regional chains around here can touch Aldi’s pricing most of the time.
I do see on some items (particularly seafood) that Aldi’s prices are not a lot better than other low-priced chains. But up north here, 1500 miles from California, the food business is very different and Aldi takes the low-price crown.
I love Aldi!! Best grocery store ever!! Best service..!!