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Aldi is finally putting its name on its products. The grocer, which runs nearly 3,200 stores in the U.S., tells Fast Company that it’s launching its first-ever namesake brand and putting its name on the front of its private-label product packaging for the first time. It’s no small task: More than 90% of Aldi’s products are private label. Generic brands have found new life as customers have traded down from national brands to cheaper private labels to beat inflation. In 2024, retailers sold a record $270 billion worth of private-label products in the U.S., according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association. For Aldi, though, private-label brands don’t just represent a growing slice of the pie, they’re the whole pie. [Image: courtesy Aldi] “Private label is the core of what we do,” says Scott Patton, Aldis chief commercial officer. “I’m not going to say we invented it; I would say we’ve perfected it.” While the grocer has seen a 7.1% year-over-year increase in store traffic this year, it also has a problem: Too many customers who bought Aldi private brands didn’t know those brands were exclusive to the chain. “The overall sentiment was, on average, customers didn’t know that was an Aldi brand,” says Kristy Reitz, the grocer’s director of brand and design. “Now if they shop us a little less frequently, they think they can find that brand elsewhere, and in fact it’s a private-label brand to Aldi.” [Image: courtesy Aldi] Aldi turned to multiple creative partners to handle the job, including Favorite Child, Pearlfisher, Contrast, Equator, and Sun Strategy. The goal was to make the packaging recognizable, but it also needed to be flexible. “If every package shows up in this very tight design system and in the exact same way, it would look kind of boring,” Reitz says. “It would be harder to shop.” [Image: courtesy Aldi] The company’s new portfolio of private-label packaging includes “an ALDI original” endorsement that will appear on the front for brands like Simply Nature and Specially Selected, while some brands will be replaced with the Aldi name, the company says. Aldi’s competitors have already responded to the rise of private labeling by upgrading their generic packaging, like Target’s Up&Up and CVS’s Well Market. Walmart launched Bettergoods, an altogether new private-label brand, to expand its retail reach. [Image: courtesy Aldi] Aldi says its packaging overhaul wasn’t done as a response to that trend, or in response to litigation, like the suit filed by Mondelez International in May, which accused the grocery chain of ripping off its packaging for legacy brands like Oreo and Chips Ahoy. “This has actually been a project we’ve been working on for a couple of years,” Reitz says. But it does represent a concerning development for the company’s competitors. By finally putting its name on its own product packaging, Aldi is making the most of its advantage as a private-label grocer at a moment when customers are more interested than ever in shopping generic.
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E-Commerce
As more candidates seek out neurodivergent employers, theyre struggling to find truly inclusive, accessible work environments. Google searches for neurodivergent jobs those that accommodate workers with conditions like ADHD, autism, dyslexia or Tourettes increased 13% in July, as those candidates often struggle with traditional hiring processes and in traditional work environments. And yet: It is estimated that one in five Americans has learning and/or attention issues; a 2023 survey found that 53%of Gen Z identified as neurodivergent. According to a survey of 900 neurodivergent American employees by career platform Zety, 93% say traditional hiring practices work against them. Plus, nearly half admit to masking their symptoms in the workplace. Fifty-one percent have been subjected to insensitive comments. With 93% experiencing burnout due to unmet needs, and 88% saying they feel they must work harder than their neurotypical peers to be seen as equally competent, the data suggests theres still work to be done, says Zety career expert Toni Frana. It demonstrates the importance of having a conversation. What else can we do? How can we take stronger steps in the direction of accommodating neurodivergent employees? For example, comfort with eye contact might be a little bit different for somebody who is neurodivergent, she says. That doesnt mean they cant complete the responsibilities and do the job really well. It just means theres a difference in how they respond to people, and its important that [hiring managers and employers] understand that. This discussion has become prevalent in the workforce in recent years, and inclusive job postings have increased as awareness has grown, but theres still a long way to go. According to a recent survey of 1,000 US-based hiring managers by resume writing and career advisor platform Resume Genius, just 39% say their company currently offers formal mental health and neurodivergent training. Mental health benefits benefit all employees, because if your team members are getting the help they need, then the machine can work more smoothly, and it creates a culture of dignity and support, says Resume Genius career expert Nathan Soto. It’s getting better, but it’s not sufficient. The disclosure conundrum According to the Zety survey, 66% of respondents disclose their neurodivergence during the hiring process, and 61% share it with their managers and coworkers once on the job. But the decision to disclose is rarely straightforward. The Resume Genius survey revealed that 86% of hiring managers self-report that such disclosures either would not affect, or would even positively affect the candidates chances. In fact, just 8% said it would raise performance concerns. However, only about 22% say its common for candidates to bring up mental health benefits in job interviews, like access to counselling, mental health days, and flexible work arrangements. Candidate comfort also seems tied to the hiring managers age. We found 37% of Gen Z hiring managers said it is common for people to ask about this, but 47% of baby boomers, and almost the same proportion of Gen X hiring managers, said that they’ve never had any candidates ask about mental health benefits in job interviews, Soto says. Its absolutely a possibility that candidates are self-censoring, based on the perceived age of the hiring manager. Soto adds that while most organizations will advertise an inclusive workplace, it can be difficult for candidates to establish which are taking the right steps, and which are just checking the box. If you ask anybody in a management position or C-suite, Do you offer mental health training or neurodivergent mental health benefits for your employees? The correct answer is obviously yes, he says. But, what that looks like in practice could vary widely, or it could just be non-existent. Creating a more welcoming workplace With few universal standards and measurements available, employers need to determine for themselves what qualifies as sufficient accommodations. And candidates are often left to evaluate employers inclusivity policies independently. That can mean scanning job listings for specific references to neurodivergence, checking LinkedIn for relevant posts by company managers and executives, and talking with existing employees about the work environment. One of the key problems is that managers will ask employees how theyre doing, and when they receive a very honest response from someone that is neurodivergent or struggling with mental health problems, they don’t know how to deal with it, says Emily Banks, the founder and CEO of neurodivergent employment resource Enna Global. So even knowing how to have that equitable, honest and inclusive conversations with employees can be a challenge. At minimum, Banks says American employers should educate managers about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which outlines their legal responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations. It also bars them from discriminating against employees diagnosed with mental disabilities. Banks adds that without special accommodations, neurodivergent candidates and employees face challenges across their professional lives: from high-pressure recruitment and interview practices to loud and distracting open office setups. Its absolutely vital for employers to measure the data at every point of the recruitment and employee life cycle, she says. You should know whether neurodivergent people are making it to interview, if they’re making it to offer, if they are leaving within six months or a year, to determine whether youve got attraction or retention issues with the neurodivergent community. Banks adds that taking the necessary steps to better accommodate neurodiverse candidates offers measurable benefits to organizations, making teams more innovative, creative, and profitable. Having a neurodiverse workforce is better for everybody, she says. Fifteen to 20% of the entire population is neurodivergent. Many are just not diagnosed yet, so you already have a lot of neurodivergent people working with you you just might not know it yet.
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E-Commerce
Some good news on the employment front: Job seekers are getting hired in a shorter period of time while sending fewer applications compared to earlier this year, according to the latest findings from ZipRecruiter, which looked at 1,500 new hires. The job search company’s latest quarterly survey of U.S. workers who started their job within the last six months suggests Americans are getting more comfortable with the uncertainty in today’s job market. Also, they are more likely to remain at their current positions (tending toward so-called job hugging), leading new employees to take a “more cautious and strategic approach to their career moves.” “Todays new hires are coming in ready to stay put,” ZipRecruiter labor economist Nicole Bachaud said. The data on new hires is especially relevant because they are often the first people in the job market to experience changes in recruiting and employment offers. As job and wage growth have slowed, new hires face more competition and fewer opportunities to transition to “bigger and better” roles than their peers did over the past few years. As a result, new hires are taking their time to find jobs that meet their long-term needsfrom flexibility to culture to better benefitsbefore hunkering down in new positions. Another interesting finding: 54.4% of new hires stopped their job search after they landed a new roleup from 48.1% last quarter. (ZipRecruiter surveys new hires during the second month of every quarter and compares results accordingly.) At the same time, new hires aren’t changing jobs as fast as they used to: 51.6% moved only once in the past two years, up from 42.7%; while 45.9% plan to remain in their current role for at least three years, up from 44.1%. Workers, especially women, are redefining career expectations “Workers are redefining their career expectations to adapt to todays economic realities,” Sam DeMase, a ZipRecruiter career expert, explained. “They are prioritizing flexibility and fit, and holding out for the right role.” For women, this can mean prioritizing culture and job security over pay. While the gender wage gap has narrowed slightly in recent years, it still remains very real. One contributing reason is that women are more willing than men to accept lower pay in a new role. The survey found nearly 30% accepted a lower salary compared with 18.6% of mena significantly wider gap than the previous quarter. A further look at the data showed that for many women who accepted lower pay, the trade-off was intentional, as their goal was a job with a healthier culture, less stress, and real flexibility. The survey found 24% of women were more likely to accept offers for better company culture (compared to 13.6% of men); 20.4% of women for reduced stress (compared to 13% of men), and 34.6% of women for a flexible schedule (compared to 27.7% of men). The conclusion: For many women, their day-to-day experience at work and the ability to control their time can matter as much as their paycheck. Not surprisingly, the data found men value compensation and opportunity more than women, with 56.2% of men citing pay (compared to 50.6% of women) as the reason for accepting a role, and 21.5% of men citing career advancement (compared to 16.5% of women). More job opportunities for healthcare workers Healthcare industry workers in personal care, nonprofits, and domestic services continue to have more options than workers in some other fields. “Healthcare jobs remain the hottest sector despite industry-wide hiring slowdowns, with public health roles leading growth as authorities navigate rapid policy changes,” Bachaud told Fast Company. Looking ahead to the busy holiday season, Bachaud forecasts accelerated hiring in the transportation sector and for retail, as businesses prepare for peak demand. “With falling interest rates to boost business activity and consumer spending, she added, all eyes are on whether tariff-driven price increases will derail the anticipated economic recovery.
Category:
E-Commerce
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