👉 Background: Aldi was founded in Germany in 1946 by two brothers. In the 1960's, the brothers had an argument about whether to sell tobacco or not. This disagreement led to the split of the Aldi into:

• Aldi Sud, which owns Aldis in parts of Europe, Australia, the UK, and part of the US
• Aldi Nord, which owns Aldis in other parts of Europe and later Trader Joes in the US

Rifts aside, Aldi has built a reputation for offering low-cost groceries… and knock-offs of all the brands you know.

‍👉 What happened: Aldi landed in Australia in 2001 and has grown to have nearly 10% market share. But, while it has taken the challenge to Coles and Woolies in-store, they have really fallen behind online. So now, Aldi has announced a new partnership with Doordash that will allow customers to purchase Aldi products online.

‍👉 What else: While it’s not quite the same as their own online store, it does solve a major problem for them… particularly when the online grocery segment now accounts for up to 15% of the overall grocery market.

‍

‍What's the key learning?

‍

‍💡Retailers face a tough balancing act between gaining market share and maintaining profit margins. Offering delivery has been an effective way to grow market share… but it can also eat into profits because of the huge additional logistics costs.

💡Woolworths’ new distribution centre cost them more than $700 million to build. And, Aldi has been historically hesitant to offer home delivery because of the huge costs. But now, the opportunity to enter the online space is too juicy to ignore. Instead of spending big on warehouses and tech, Aldi’s found a cheat code... partner with someone who’s already built it.

💡Aldi's partnership with Doordash would keep costs low, fit their scrappy model and lets them stay competitive. In fact, Coles’ online grocery shopping has grown 25% in the past quarter alone... while Woolies’s online sales is up more than 20% in the most recent quarter.