BILLIONAIRE SUCCESS STORY: Karl and Theo Albrecht - ALDI

Billionaires Blog: By Pycoon

Karl Albrecht

Born: 1920 - Essen, Germany
Age: 88
Country Of Citizenship: Germany
Residence: Mülheim an der Ruhr , Germany, Europe & Russia
Net worth: US$20 billion
Fortune: Self made
Source: ALDI
Industry: Retailing
Marital Status: Married, 2 children


Theo Albrecht

Born: March 28, 1922
Age: 86
Country Of Citizenship: Germany
Residence: Foehr , Germany, Europe & Russia
Net worth: $17.5 billion
Fortune: Self made
Source: ALDI, Trader Joe's
Industry: Retailing
Marital Status: Married, 2 children

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These days selling a product successfully to a customer involves a lot of gimmick in the appearance of product promotions. Advertisements of various hues are the order of the day. And one comes across the ever-present ‘buy one, free one” lures at every area and corner of the city. But there is a chain of supermarkets in Germany, the rest of Europe and the United States that does not follow any of these attention-grabbing publicity styles, and solely relies on quality products at reasonable prices. The name of the chain is ALDI (Albrecht Discount) and the owners of this chain Karl (net worth $20 billion) and Theo (net worth $17.5 billion) Albrecht brothers rank 15th and 20th in the list of world’s richest billionaires.

Their success is mainly due to their total dedication to their work and they are not involving in any outside events. So much so, the snapshots of these brothers are not seen in newspapers of any kind in years. When there is a pressing need, the newspapers publish the pictures of them taken in their twenties!

There is another reason for the brothers’ scheduled lifestyle. The younger brother Theo was kidnapped in 1971 by unknown elements and later released after 17 days. A $3 million dollar ransom was paid for his release. Since then, the brothers had no relationship with outside world, but their supermarkets did on a daily basis.

It is incredible to run more than 7000 super markets around the world with $49 billion in sales without a word of publicity and the owner brothers operating from behind the scenes. Maybe, therein lays their secret of success. But the known reason is that they sell their products at competitively cheaper rates. They seldom sell branded items and all their items are meant for the middle and working class. Other big name supermarkets find it difficult to sell the products as cheap as it is sold in ALDI which is known as the acknowledged king of supermarket discounting.

It is reported that ALDI is able to sell their items at incredibly cheap rates because they save a lot of money as they do not advertise. Investigative reporters raise questions as to how they sell their products at cheaper rates, but the “mom” is the word from ALDI.

Some say the secret of their success lay in the pep talk their mother gave them from early in their life. Their mother said, “We should not suffer like others. When the rest of the society takes to an easy of life merry-making whiling away their time, you two must work harder to come up in life.” Even today, the mother’s words are gospel truth to them. They run their supermarkets so carefully that the occasional economic slowdowns in any part of the world do not make a knock in their steady progress.

Their success story leaves us with wonder and inspiration when we know they had small, humble beginnings and did not have anything to inherit from their parents. Their father was a low paid miner and later he worked in a bread factory. In 1948, their mother maintained a small grocery shop in Ruhr Valley and the brother managed the shop after school. This small food shop was later developed into an internationally renowned chain of ALDI supermarkets.
In Germany alone, the brothers have more than 4000 ALDI supermarkets, and other 3000 operates in the rest of Europe and United States. According to recent survey, it was found out that a new ALDI supermarket is opened every week around the world.

Since the ALDI products were sold at cheaper rates, people initially thought they might be of substandard quality. But the misunderstanding was cleared from the minds of the customers with the passage of time. Today, the customers make a beeline to ALDI supermarkets, no matter what others say. Those who visit Germany can witness this phenomenon even today. It is indeed a matter of surprise how the two brothers get along well with each other. They both know their strengths and weaknesses and one does not poke his nose unnecessarily at the others life. Their strength lies in understanding each other’s mind well. For instance, the younger brother Theo is a quieter type who drafts all the business strategies, while the older Karl, a practical person, puts them into practice. The only difference between them is their age; Karl is two years older than Theo.

When it comes to business, there are different styles of approach between them though. For instance, Karl does not favor the idea of selling cigarettes in his supermarkets, but the younger one is fully for it. And they have learnt to respect each other’s personal ideas. It is easy to find out which supermarket is run by which of the two brothers depending upon the availability of cigarettes. Likewise, Karl likes to play golf, while Theo has a hobby of collecting vintage typewriters. Though there are minor likes and dislikes between them, they never let these block with the successful running of their ALDI supermarkets. As such, today ALDI supermarkets are equivalent to America’s famous Wal-Mart in every aspect. If a small time grocery shop is turned into an international chain within a period of 50 years, it is thanks to the brothers’ good value of concurrence and a sense of belonging. In times of sibling rivalry becoming perennial in the contemporary world, these brothers’ lives are sterling examples to follow.

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