Germany's Aldi Eyes Chinese Retail Entry

German supermarket chain Aldi plans to enter China and other Asian markets with Australia as its springboard in the hemisphere.

The company will launch online supermarket and alcohol supermarkets in China in the first half of 2017 and its physical stores will be opened later in 2017. Aldi's spokesperson told local Chinese media that its Chinese physical stores will sell supermarket goods and wine and most of those products will be purchased from Aldi's suppliers in Australia.

Aldi is one of the largest supermarket chains in Germany. Founded in 1913, it started as a small food store. In 1962, the company began restructuring and opened the first Aldi-named food supermarket in Dortmund. Aldi mainly serves the working-class people with low incomes, people without fixed incomes, and retired people. To meet the demands of those consumers, most of Aldi's chain stores are opened in residential areas in the center of the cities and small towns.

The operating area of Aldi stores is usually between 500 square meters and 800 square meters. Its sales principles are high quality and low price and all products are offered to the market at the lowest prices.

At present, Aldi has over 3,600 chain stores across Germany and it has expanded into countries like Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.