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ALDI
German-founded global discount grocery retailer
ALDI shows how clearly designed customer participation can create speed, simplicity and value.
How ALDI Keeps Checkout Moving
01
Return the cart
Customers insert a quarter to unlock a cart and receive it back when they return the cart, reducing the need for staff to collect carts.
02
Keep checkout moving
Cashiers place scanned purchases directly into the cart rather than bagging them at the register.
03
Complete the process
Customers move to a designated counter to bag their own groceries before departing.
What it means for customers
ALDI’s checkout works because customers know what happens next. Cashiers scan purchases directly into the cart, customers bag their groceries at a separate counter, and returning the cart releases their quarter. Dividing these responsibilities keeps the process moving and supports ALDI’s low-price approach. Customers do more than they might at another grocery store, but the exchange is clear: their participation helps create a faster, simpler and lower-cost shopping experience.
Moving through the ALDI checkout process
Where it affects the customer journey
Checkout, bagging and departure at an ALDI U.S. store.
During the experience
Flow
Flow looks at how easily customers move through the experience and complete what they came to do.
What this tells us
Asking customers to complete part of the process can improve the experience when their role is clear and the benefit is easy to recognize.
How your business can use this
Many businesses ask customers to complete part of a process, such as filling out a form, booking online or collecting an order. ALDI shows that customer participation can improve the experience when the customer’s role is clear, the task is manageable and the benefit is easy to recognize.
01
Clarify the customer’s role
Make it clear what customers need to do, when they need to do it and what the business will handle. Customers should know where their responsibility begins and ends.
02
Make participation manageable
Try the task from the customer’s point of view. Provide the information, tools and time they need, remove unnecessary steps and make help available when needed.
03
Make the benefit clear
Customer participation should improve the experience, not simply move work from the business to the customer. Make the benefit—such as faster service, greater control, convenience or lower cost—easy to recognize.
For Example
A Neighborhood Café: Make Self-Service Clear
A café may ask customers to order at the counter, collect their drinks and clear their tables. Signs, an easy-to-follow layout and well-marked collection points clarify what customers should do. Their participation helps keep service moving and can shorten the wait, making the benefit easy to recognize.
A Hair Salon: Make Online Booking Simple
A salon may ask customers to choose a service, stylist and appointment time through its website. Clear steps, visible prices and an immediate confirmation make the customer’s role easy to complete. Customers handle a task that might otherwise require a phone call, but they gain the convenience of booking whenever they choose.
SOURCES
Supports the quarter deposit and its return when customers return their carts.
Supports cashiers placing purchases directly into carts rather than bagging them at checkout.
Supports customers bagging their groceries at designated counters and ALDI’s explanation of checkout efficiency.
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