In the 2000s the German discount chain Aldi began an expansion on the east coast of Australia. One strategy of Aldi is to encourage small retailers such as butchers, bakers, delicatessens, chemist shops, newsagencies, dry cleaning and petrol retailers to locate close to Aldi stores. This is because Aldi has a narrow product range with only about 600 product lines compared to Coles’ average of 30,000 lines. Most of Aldi’s lines are private label produced only for Aldi, which is one of the key reasons why Aldi can compete with the huge buying power of Coles and Woolworths. Aldi encourages the small retailers to set up close to its stores to help offset the disadvantages arising from its narrow range of lines.
Questions
Using the concept of external economies of scale, summarize Aldi’s objective in encouraging small retailers to set up close to Aldi stores.
Describe the external economies of scale for Aldi and the small retailers that can arise from an increase in customer traffic and sales.
Describe the internal economies of scale for Aldi if the availability of a wide range of small retailers adds to the customer traffic for its stores.