ALDI is a leading global discount supermarket chain with over 9,000 stores in over 18 countries, and an estimated turnover of more than €50bn.

ALDI offers deeply discounted prices on some 2,000 popular food items (a typical grocery store has 45,000). ALDI buys inexpensive land mostly on city outskirts, builds simple warehouses, employs a modest staff, and carries mostly (95%) private-label items, displaying them on pallets rather than shelves.

In the United States, ALDI operates nearly 1,300 stores in over 30 states, but Germany, where ALDI has about 4,300 stores, accounts for about two-thirds of sales.