Aldi entry 'great news for suppliers'

Phil Lembert. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A supermarket expert says the long-touted entry of discounter Aldi into New Zealand would be great news for suppliers.

The international German chain is expanding rapidly throughout Australia's eastern states and its arrival here is seen by some in the industry as a matter of when, not if.

Visiting United States "supermarket guru" Phil Lempert said Aldi had a reputation for building strong relationships with suppliers.

"Aldi is a smart company, they're operationally near perfection. They've formed terrific relationships with manufacturers who enjoy working with them."

In the United States the typical relationship between retailer and brands was adversarial.

"You have super retailers like Walmart who dictate certain things to manufacturers - how they're going to pay their bills, what kind of sustainability [programmes] they have and what kind of labelling," Lembert said.

"Everything I've heard from people who work closely with Aldi is that they love the experience because it's much more of a partnership.

"Aldi is a very tough business partner, they negotiate strongly but they're upfront and say what they want to do and they deliver on it."

The possibility of Aldi coming to New Zealand - with its smaller stores, limited range but low prices - has again been raised with industry talk the company had employed staff here.

One industry source said tracking Aldi was like the search for the Abominable Snowman, plenty of rumour but no confirmed sightings.

A spokeswoman for Aldi said the company was busy with its Australian east coast expansion and it had "no plans at this stage" to enter the New Zealand market.

Lempert said Aldi-owned, US-based Trader Joe's, with a reputation for being similarly cheap but more cheerful, would be a good proposition for New Zealand.

He said that if he were running Aldi he would "come [into New Zealand] with both batters".

Lempert, who has been brought to New Zealand by the Food & Grocery Council and industry training organisation Competenz, said New Zealand food was highly regarded in the United States and there were opportunities for producers besides the wine, lamb and dairy industry to capitalise on.