Your favorite Aldi product will soon have a new look
The redesigned products will roll out over the next few years.
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — As Aldi expands across the United States, so does its name recognition. Now, that name will be stamped on all of its own products.
Aldi announced Wednesday sweeping changes across its product portfolio, drastically reducing the number of in-house brands from about 90 to 26 and consolidating them under a unified “The Aldi Brand” label. The store’s more popular labels — like Clancy’s and Simply Nature — remain but will have “An Aldi Original” title added to their packaging.
The changes are in response to customer feedback, according to Scott Patton, Aldi’s chief commercial officer. He told CNN that customers “often refer to all of the Aldi products as the ‘Aldi brand,’ so we made it a little bit easier for customers to talk about them.”
Aldi, which started in Germany, is rapidly expanding across the US with about 2,570 locations already and plans to open an additional 200 by the end of the year. The discount grocer has found success thanks to a plethora of private labels, which account for 90% of its selection, sold at prices usually marked below name brands.
Private labels have been resonating with consumers in recent years not just because of cost, but also as they’ve improved in quality and design. Once known for dowdy packaging and perhaps questionable tastes or ingredients, the products now compete with national name brands, sparking a shakeup among major food companies.
National chains are investing heavily in their private labels as spending from consumers on store brands hit a record-breaking $271 billion in 2024, outpacing the growth of national brands.
Last year, Amazon launched Saver, a no-frills lineup of household staples mostly priced under $5. Whole Foods Market has said sales of its home-grown products has soared 50% since 2019. Kroger recently said it plans to add 900 more products to its private label lineup.
“Shoppers aren’t willing to try cheaper alternatives, they’re seeking them out,” said Greg Petro, CEO of First Insight, a retail analysis firm. “When a private label product matches the look, feel, and quality of a premium brand at a lower price, it’s seen as a smart choice rather than a compromise.”
Petro told CNN that Aldi has been a big benefactor of this trend since it’s made shopping “both affordable and surprisingly fun,” a nod to the chain’s viral totes that often sell out.
“Aldi has built a model that delivers quality goods at consistently low prices — something shoppers value more than ever amid inflation and economic uncertainty,” he said. “Its heavy investment in private label products keeps costs down while still competing directly with national brands on quality.”
Aldi is privately held and doesn’t reveal financial earnings. But cost-conscious customers appear to be attracted to the brand, with visits per location in 2025 up 1.6% year-over-year and a staggering 26.7% compared to 2022, according to Placer.ai, a firm that traffics foot traffic.
Behind the rebrand
With Aldi cultivating an almost cult-like fandom for its products, it was careful not to nix any brands that had a passionate following. Some brand names that were scrapped include its Baker’s Corner collection of flour and baking soda, as well as canned items such as Dakota’s Pride beans — both of which will be folded into “The Aldi Brand” label.
“We asked customers, ‘What are areas where brands are important?’ and ‘Where are areas where brands aren’t?’” said Kristy Reitz, Aldi’s director of brand and design.
“Brands aren’t a big driver” for sales of fresh or commodity-based items, she said.
Other products are taking on their fan-given nickname, such as Kirkwood frozen chicken items, which will be called “Red Bag Chicken,” Reitz said.
The refreshed packaging, which boosts brighter and bolder colors, has clearer product descriptions. Shoppers will begin seeing them soon, but it will take a few years to complete.
Although the packaging will change, Aldi should clarify to customers that what’s inside will stay the same, one expert said.
“Aldi has created one of the best assortments of ‘own brands’ food products. With this design change they may risk confusing shoppers who may think the recipe inside the package has changed as well,” Phil Lempert, editor of Supermarket Guru, told CNN.
He added that the chain has “done an exceptional job in marketing their brands to shoppers, I hope this change doesn’t distract their focus.”
The refresh comes as Aldi is embroiled in a lawsuit with snack giant Mondelez International, which alleges that some of the grocery chain’s snack packaging “blatantly copies” its packaging of Oreo, Chips Ahoy and other products. Aldi doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Lempert wonders if the reason behind Aldi’s portfolio change was because of “pressures from (consumer packaged goods) companies who believe the Aldi packaging and branding was too similar to their brands and confusing consumers.”
Aldi’s designs are “created to look and feel a lot like national brands,” according to First Insight’s Petro. The firm’s research found that 71% of consumers surveyed believe they could recognize a private label when shopping, but 72% failed to do so when shown side-by-side images of store and national brands.
“For Aldi, this blurring of lines works to its advantage,” he said. “By offering private label products that look and feel like national brands, but at lower prices, Aldi builds trust and reinforces its promise of delivering value to customers.”
Even with all the changes, Aldi’s Patton reiterated the food itself isn’t changing.
“It might look different on the outside, but the product on the inside is still going to be what our customers know and love,” he confirmed.
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