Raising consumer awareness

[GRI 417/103-1] How can we create effective incentives for more sustainable consumption? Governments and organisations worldwide are trying to find answers to this question. In its 2030 Agenda, the United Nations have dedicated a Sustainable Development Goal to promoting responsible patterns of consumption (SDG 12). As a leading discounter, we provide our customers with products that meet their daily needs. That is why this responsibility affects us deeply. Every year, consumers make 1.2 billion purchases at our stores. Our goal is to promote a healthy, sustainable lifestyle – and make it possible for a broad section of society to engage in affordable, responsible consumption.

[GRI 417/103-2] We use various tools to inform our customers about social and environmental aspects of our products. Our customer magazine ALDI aktuell and our advertising campaigns often focus on our sustainably certified products. In our stores, we attract our customers’ attention to such products through appropriate labelling on shelves and through posters. Moreover, we create transparency through clear product labelling by using recognised sustainability seals and own brands. We raise awareness of special sustainability requirements through special campaigns and projects. In the Netherlands, for example, we are committed to raising awareness of the issue of plastic waste among schoolchildren. The employees of the ALDI North Group also receive comprehensive information about the sustainability aspects of our products, initiatives and projects.

As a second cornerstone, we offer our customers an appropriate range of products for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, such as a wide selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, healthier product alternatives with less sugar and products for special nutritional requirements, as well as products containing certified resources and from controlled production.

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As part of a variety of campaigns and partnerships, we informed our customers about certified sustainable products in our range in our customer magazine ALDI aktuell in 2017. In many countries, the focus in 2017 was primarily on sustainable fish products. Poland took part in the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) 2017 anniversary campaign, while Belgium, France and the Netherlands participated in Think Fish Week 2017.

Over a period of six weeks, ALDI Netherlands ran a sustainability awareness campaign focusing on shopping responsibly (“Verantwoord boodschappen doen”) that advertised sustainable products in the customer magazine and on posters and shelves, outside stores and on the radio. Since 2017, ALDI Portugal has been working to educate employees and customers about sustainability-related topics in the Portuguese customer magazine, in flyers, in internal newsletters and on a training poster for employees in stores as part of a CR communication concept. ALDI France is focusing its efforts on its customer magazine and is informing employees and customers through the “ALDI s’engage pour vous” (ALDI is dedicated to you) information box.

Furthermore, we provide information about our environmental management activities in our redesigned stores through display panels that draw attention to our rooftop photovoltaic systems and posters that explain how we dispose of our packaging while showcasing our new reusable shopping bags In some countries, we show customers where sustainability plays a role at the store on our shopping trolleys, freezers and checkout dividers. Spanish customers can also turn to our customer magazine and the Internet to learn about innovative do-it-yourself ideas designed to encourage recycling.

As part of our social commitment, we spearhead projects that promote a healthy lifestyle. In the Netherlands, we work with the Jongeren Op Gezond Gewicht (JOGG) foundation to raise awareness of healthy nutrition among children and young people. The Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk project Mobile Aktion Ernährung und Bewegung, which is sponsored by ALDI Nord Stiftungs GmbH, also focuses on getting children physically active and encouraging them to choose a healthy diet.

We are expanding our selection of fresh products at our stores. Our fresh products include our range of fruit and vegetables , a product group that consists of over 100 different items and is of tremendous significance throughout the ALDI North Group. In 2017, we launched an additional fresh weekly special in Germany and the Netherlands. In Spain, the specially designed Sí nos importan (“Yes, they are important”) creative communication campaign on all channels encouraged consumers to appreciate fruit and vegetables in October and November 2017.

As part of our new ALDI Nord Instore Konzept (ANIKo) design programme, we are giving recipes using fresh ingredients more space at our stores. In Spain, for example, customers can enjoy live cooking demonstrations with professional chefs at new store openings that focus on aspects such as balanced nutrition, health and sustainability. In Portugal, the Group has been working with a nutritional consultant to develop the recipes for the customer magazine ALDI aktuell since 2013.

The German CR target on sustainable consumption was supplemented through an additional country-specific target in the period under review.

Please see the performance indicators under "Product range"