One more way Aldi maintains its low-price reputation: Specially Selected products

Aldi maintains its low-price reputation in many ways, but one that isn’t called out very often is their line of Specially Selected products, and we thought it would be good to offer a deeper look.

Aldi’s Specially Selected line contains a wide variety of premium products offered at everyday low prices. This approach differs from other retailers’ premium private label strategy of marking up these products.

The net result is that Aldi customers get “exceptional value for money” on these high-quality products while Aldi continues to deliver on its low-price promise.

What’s in the Specially Selected product line?

The Specially Selected brand was introduced in 2013 in the US and offers Aldi customers “Gourmet foods at everyday low prices,” including eye-catching black packaging that gives it an upscale feel that pops off the shelf.

The brand has evolved into an important way that Aldi surprises customers with unique products, like macaroon cookies, which they can buy as a treat without paying an exceptional premium.

Here's a partial list of Specially Selected products where there’s no similar, lower priced Aldi private label item available.

• Ahi Tuna
• Baked Lobster Macaroni and Cheese
• Belgian Cocoa
• Black tiger shrimp
• Blackberry Fruit Spread (75% Fruit)
• Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Glazed Bacon
• Deluxe Cheesy Potatoes with Applewood Smoked Cheddar and Bacon
• Dusted Truffles
• Jasmine Rice
• Mini Cream Puffs
• Mocha Mascarpone Cheesecake
• Mussels in Natural Juices
• Pitted Sour Cherries
• Raw Honey

Our visits to a cross-section of northern Illinois Aldi stores found that each location typically carries about 75 to 80 different Specially Selected products. Aldi maintains this high number of products without carrying a lot of slow-moving inventory by including 2 and sometimes 3 flavors of a product in the same shipping case.

We also observed that while some of the Specially Selected items are always on the shelf, others are seasonal or only available as Aldi Finds with limited supply on the shelf.

Pricing Practices

Many grocers, like Jewel Food Stores, price their premium, private label products significantly higher than their comparable regular private label, but below the branded specialty products.

Here’s a sample of the pricing for similar premium and regular private label products from Jewel Food Stores and Aldi.

Jewel Food Stores Private Label Price Comparison

The retail prices for Jewel’s Signature Select/Reserve were on average38% higher than the price of similar regular price private items.

On a price per ounce basis, the premium private label product was 64% higher.

Aldi Private Label Price Comparison

The retail prices of Aldi’s Specially Selected were on average about 10% higher than similar, regular private label items.

On the price per ounce basis, the premium private label product was only a little above 9% higher.

BMC POV

At both Aldi and Jewel, many of their premium private label products had no similar, popularly priced private label product.

Looking at categories where there were similar private label products are offered showed that

• At Aldi, they reflected small price differences.
• At Jewel, they reflected larger price differences.

This illustrates how Aldi is successfully projecting a low-price image, even while offering their customer premium private label option.