Consumer Perception of ALDI: A Marketing Research and Analysis

This report outlines a marketing research plan for ALDI Australia, aiming to understand consumer satisfaction and loyalty in comparison to competitors like Woolworths and Coles. The research objectives include measuring service quality, service speed, product quality, and repurchase intention. The plan involves collecting both quantitative data through surveys and qualitative data through interviews from ALDI store visitors across Australia. Data processing will involve statistical analysis using SPSS for quantitative data and coding techniques for qualitative data, ensuring a mixed-method approach to overcome the limitations of a single research design. The ultimate goal is to develop strategies for sustainable competitive advantage in the Australian market, addressing the slow growth rate expected from consumer segments prioritizing quality.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Executive summary....................................................................................................................2
Objective of the research............................................................................................................2
Research Process........................................................................................................................3
Data collection Approach.......................................................................................................3
Contact strategy and response rates.......................................................................................4
Data processing......................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6
Appendix....................................................................................................................................7
Gap Analysis..........................................................................................................................7

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Executive summary
This report has developed a marketing research plan for ALDI, which is one of the
retail grocery organizations in Australia. ALDI has emerged as one of the competitors in the
Australian market and has presented string competition to the market leaders such as
Woolworths and Coles. ALDI has entered the market as heavy discounters and have used
their aggressive marketing strategies to expand their business rapidly with more than 500
stores in the country. ALDI has increased their market share and have acquired 13% share
due to their backward integration. Backward integration facilities in offering wide variety of
private label products that are of good quality. However, the company has been expecting
slow growth rate in the near future especially from the consumer segments that value quality
of the product more than anything. Therefore, the study has planned to collect data based on
the marketing objective where both qualitative and quantitative will be collected and analysed
separately. However, the research would implement effective contact strategies to forecast
response rates and conduct market analysis.
Objective of the research
The gap analysis of Aldi has developed the objective of the research based on the
competitor analysis and SWOT analysis. The marketing and research objectives have been
based on the analysis conducted in the Appendix section. The marketing objectives of the
research has been developed to enhance the satisfaction of the consumers in the market. The
objective of the research are as follows:
 To measure the service quality of ALDI in comparison to the other competitors in the
market
 To measure the service speed of ALDI in comparison to the other competitors in the
market

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 To measure the loyalty of the existing consumers in the market
 To examine the product quality offered by ALDI in comparison to the other
competitors in the market
 To critically evaluate the repurchase intention of the consumers in the market
 To take feedback from the consumers and gain insights on consumer issues
 To measure the overall journey map of a consumers to examine their satisfaction level
Research objectives
The objective of the research survey has been developed based on the marketing objective of
the research and they are as follows:
 To conduct market survey to collect consumer data
 To conduct personal interview to collect interview data
 To analyse the collected data to gather valuable insights on the market
 To develop suitable strategies for developing sustainable competitive advantage in
Australian market
Research Process
Data collection Approach
The research will collect primary data from the market and use mixed method to
collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data will be collected through
closed ended survey questionnaires that will be asked to the consumers during their exit from
the store. The qualitative data will be collected from interviews where the consumers visiting
the store would be asked some open ended questions (Wedel & Kannan 2016). The target
respondents for the different type of data collection will remain the same. This will consist of
consumers visiting stores of ALDI across all states in Australia. However, initially pilot

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testing would be conducted to check if all the questions are relevant or not, whether any of
the questions are leading the consumers and have offensive content.
Contact strategy and response rates
It is essential to develop an effective contact strategy to gather relevant data that
would provide significant results. The consumer segments need to be clearly defined to
choose the most appropriate respondents for the research. However, it is difficult to choose
the best possible respondents so the survey chosen those consumers that visit stores. This will
enable to collect relevant data and the response rate obtained will facilitate will be used to
develop financial projection for the company (Pedersen & Nielsen 2016). Therefore, the
manager would make the questions are being asked to the intended consumers and the
response of the consumers to the different offers, promotions and discounts. The responses
from the surveys and cost incurred while conducting the survey and other external factors
have to be taken into account to make effective projections.
Data processing
The data collected will be analysed in two parts where the quantitative and qualitative
data will be analysed separately. The quantitative data will be analysed using statistical tools
and inferential statistics will be used where business analytics would be used to understand
the current trends in the market. Statistical package for social sciences is the statistical tool to
be used in analysing the quantitative data. The study will initially conduct cross tabulation
and chi square testing to understand the degree of association between the different variables
and responses of a participant in respect to their other questions (Andaleeb & Hasan 2016).
This will facilitate in understanding the relationship between multiple variables. The study
will also conduct Pearson’s correlation to check the direction and nature of relationship
among the variables. A regression model will be developed to project the average order

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value. The reliability and internal consistency of the internal data will be analysed using
Cronbach’s alpha where the alpha value has to be greater than 0.7 for the data to be reliable.
The qualitative data collecting will be analysed using coding where both axial coding
and open coding will be used. Open coding will be used to identify key words and phrases
that relate to the variables and coded will be developed for all the questions. Axial coding
will be used to examine the pattern in coded data to explain the findings of the quantitative
analysis (Chintagunta, Hanssens & Hauser 2016). The mixed method design will facilitate in
overcoming the drawbacks of using a single research design.

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References
Andaleeb, S.S. & Hasan, K., 2016. Marketing Research. In Strategic Marketing Management
in Asia: Case Studies and Lessons across Industries (pp. 111-160). Emerald Group
Publishing Limited.
Chintagunta, P., Hanssens, D.M. & Hauser, J.R., 2016. Marketing science and big data.
Morgan, R 2018, Foodland edges out Aldi for customer satisfaction, viewed 23 January,
2019, <http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7824-supermarket-customer-satisfaction-
october-2018-201812070558>.
Morgan, R 2018, Woolworths increases lead in $100b+ grocery war, viewed 23 January,
2019, <http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/7537-woolworths-increases-lead-in-$100b-plus-
grocery-war-201803230113>.
Osegowitsch, T & McCabe, A 2018, Aldi’s Australian growth will soon reach its limits -
SmartCompany, viewed 23 January, 2019,
<https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/retail/aldis-australian-growth-soon-reach-
limits/>.
Pedersen, M.J. & Nielsen, C.V., 2016. Improving survey response rates in online panels:
Effects of low-cost incentives and cost-free text appeal interventions. Social Science
Computer Review, 34(2), pp.229-243.
Wedel, M. & Kannan, P.K., 2016. Marketing analytics for data-rich environments. Journal of
Marketing, 80(6), pp.97-121.

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Appendix
Gap Analysis
SWOT
Strength Weaknesses
 Pricing of the company is low when
compared to the market competitors
 Excellent product mix
 Strong ecosystem
 Poor employee satisfaction
 Poor penetration in premium target
segment
 Low margins
Opportunities Threat
 Catering to different consumer
segment
 High competition in the market from
Woolworths and Coles
Table 1
(Source: Osegowitsch & McCabe 2018)
Competitor Analysis
Category ALDI Woolworths Coles
Gorcery Market
share
13% 32.2% 28.8%
Fresh food market
share
9% 26.7% 24.5%
Customer
Satisfaction
89% 84% 85%
Table 2
(Source: Morgan 2018)

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