Hofer KG

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Hofer KG

logo
legal form KG
founding 1968
Seat Sattledt , AustriaAustriaAustria 
management Horst Leitner
Number of employees 12,000
sales 4.2 billion euros (as of 2019)
Branch retail trade
Website www.hofer.at

Logo from Hofer until 2017

The Hofer KG is an Austrian food retail chain. It is part of the Aldi Süd group of companies , which is represented on four continents in eleven countries and has more than 6,000 branches. In addition to Hofer Austria, Hofer S / E also includes Aldi Suisse, Hofer Slovenia and Aldi Hungary as well as Aldi Italy. The company is based in Sattledt in Upper Austria. The logo is identical to the logo of the entire Aldi Süd group of companies, but bears the word “Hofer” as the company name.

history

Hofer in a new design in Herzogenburg in Lower Austria (2018)

In 1968 Hofer KG started its business activities as part of the Aldi Süd group of companies. Aldi Süd implemented the already existing discount concept from Germany for the first time abroad. For this purpose, Aldi Süd took over the grocery chain founded in 1962 by the Austrian retailer Helmut Hofer. On the one hand, its name was a household name in Austria, on the other hand, the name "Aldi" already stood for another company in Austria and could therefore not also be used for Austrian branches of Aldi Süd. Thus, Aldi Süd's Austria branch was called "Hofer". A year later a branch was founded in Hausmannstätten in Styria , two years later the main branch moved from Vienna to Sattledt in Upper Austria , and a branch was also established here (see also organization).

Over the years Hofer has steadily expanded the range. In 2002 the company actively introduced the organic brand Natur, and in 2006 the product line Back to the Origin . In 2003 Hofer was represented as a tour operator for the first time with Hofer Reisen . In 2010 the company's own capsule café system "Martello" was introduced, and in 2014 a standardized bread and baked goods system called Backbox was introduced. Since the end of 2017, branches without a backbox have been the exception. The direct delivery service HOFER Deliveries was introduced in 2017 .

In 2019 and 2020 the company employs more than 12,000 people in Austria and has more than 500 branches.

In 2005 the company expanded to Slovenia (here, too, the branches are called “Hofer”) and Switzerland, and in 2008 also to Hungary. In 2018 Hofer KG organized the market entry in northern Italy. The market presence in Italy takes place in the name of the mother Aldi , since Aldi is also a common family name in Italy. By the end of the year, 50 stores had been opened, and by mid-2020 there were 80. In addition, the innovation center "ALPHA Retail Network " was opened in 2018 and the " Back to the Origin" organic baby food was introduced.

organization

360 ° aerial panorama of the headquarters in Sattledt Show
as spherical panorama

Hofer KG consists of six independent branches in Austria, each of which is managed by a managing director. The branches are located in Sattledt , Trumau , Stockerau , Hausmannstätten , Weißenbach and Rietz . Each branch looks after a geographically clearly defined region with 80 to 90 of the more than 500 branches.

offer

Logo for organic private label

Over 90 percent of the around 1,000 products in Hofer's standard range are own brands. The remaining percentage is split between other brands. The best-known own brands include the organic products from Back to the Origin and "Natur aktiv", the chocolate from "Choceur" and the milk products from "Milfina". The technology products offered by Hofer also come from Medion , the capsule café system from Martello .

The brand Back to Origin received the Climate Protection Award in 2009 and in 2013 achieved first place among the commercial brands in the GoodBrand Trust Index . In the overall ranking, Back to the Origin was in sixth place, ahead of many well-known NGOs such as Greenpeace and WWF .

According to Hofer, the organic brand is linked with added value in terms of regional Austrian origins, traditional production and special flavors. The products are produced without preservatives , flavorings or stabilizers without genetic engineering. For this, the suppliers and farmers have to meet very strict requirements. Every year Hofer sells around 450 different products from Back to the Origin and, since October 2018, also organic baby food.

In addition to the standard range, the company offers a variety of promotional items, ranging from electrical appliances to clothing and bed linen to sporting goods, crockery and home improvement supplies. A direct delivery service was introduced in 2017 with Hofer Deliveries. Selected articles can be easily and conveniently ordered and paid for online from home. The articles are then delivered directly to your home.

With Hofer Reisen, Hofer is one of the largest travel providers in the country. Every year more than 500,000 travelers travel around the world with Hofer Reisen . Since 2003, more than 6 million travelers have traveled over 90 countries. The grocer sees the Hofer Fotos service launched in 2006 as a kind of supplement . The latest Hofer offers include Hofer life MUSIC with 50 million songs, over 20,000 audio books and radio plays and various playlists, as well as Hofer life eBOOKS with over a million books. Under Hofer Event +, Hofer sells tickets for events such as festivals or concerts and also offers combined offers.

With Mein Hofer , the grocer has also launched a customer platform. Registered members can regularly vote on products, access background information via the integrated blog and take part in product tests and competitions.

HoT Hofer Telekom

On the Austrian mobile phone market , after the sale of Yesss , which was exclusively distributed by Hofer KG until 2014, the successor HoT Hofer Telekom (also: HoT ; officially HoT Telekom und Service GmbH ) was founded as a mobile phone discounter in January 2015 . HoT is a subsidiary of Ventocom and uses the Magenta Telekom network . Hofer KG is still the sales partner. In May 2020, the brand was used by over 930,000 customers, making it the fourth largest provider in Austria.

This offer has also been available in Slovenia with the same brand identity since May 11, 2017, but the A1 Slovenija network is used here .

Hofer KG's innovation center on the subject of retail: ALPHA Retail Network

One of the largest innovation centers on the subject of trade was opened in Eberstalzell in Upper Austria. Since autumn 2018 it has united the areas of education, research and business in one location.

Project 2020

Since spring 2013, Hofer has been bundling sustainability activities within the five thematic priorities of health , climate protection , resources , trust and togetherness under Project 2020 . In this context, Hofer regularly starts lighthouse projects that each focus on a thematic focus.

Since 2013 there have been such projects on the topics of bee protection, green electricity / energy efficiency , healthy nutrition / exercise, food waste , "ecological spring cleaning ", reading promotion for children and young people, on CO 2 neutrality , regional agriculture, as well as on the topic of " Save water ”and packaging.

As part of Project 2020 , Hofer is committed to climate protection and has been the first grocer in Austria to work in a CO 2 -neutral manner since January 2016 . For this, the company was awarded 1st place with the Energy Globe World Award in the "Air" category.

In 2017, FairHOF products were introduced. Together with the meat product manufacturer Hütthaler, Hofer promises fair conditions for farmers and their fattening pigs.

The Project 2020 initiative will run until at least 2020.

Design and equipment of the branches

Hofer Austria refrains from providing customers with music.

According to the company, surveillance cameras in the customer area are used in branches with an increased risk potential from robberies and theft.

Aldi Suisse

Aldi Suisse AG (spelling: ALDI SUISSE AG ) was founded in October 2005 by the Hofer S / E group and is only present in Switzerland . In contrast to the other country-specific offshoots, Aldi Suisse relies on sales areas of 1000 m² with an assortment of approx. 1300 items. In terms of sales in 2012, the subsidiary ranks 5th in the Swiss retail market behind Migros , Coop , Denner and Manor . The turnover was rounded up to 1.65 billion Swiss francs.

Aldi Suisse was the first company in the entire group to offer cashless payments since entering the market. In addition, the branches were equipped with NFC- enabled POS terminals in 2014 . In addition, all branches were equipped with collection points for beverage cartons , plastic bottles , PET bottles , batteries , lighting , CDs , DVDs , electrical and electronic devices , which was a novelty in Switzerland at the time. In contrast, the branches and their product range in Switzerland are still traditionally advertised in daily newspapers with colored advertisements and in small advertising magazines.

In February 2020, the largest photovoltaic system to date installed on a single roof in Switzerland was put into operation on the roof of the Aldi logistics center in Perlen . The investor in the project is the holding company Aventron AG.

In autumn 2007, Salut! mobile launched a prepaid cellphone brand. The mobile phone brand was later renamed Aldi Suisse Mobile . As a service provider , the offer uses the Sunrise Communications network .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Change in the HOFER tour , accessed on November 7, 2018.
  2. HOFER KG , accessed on April 11, 2019.
  3. Hofer's sales figures , accessed on April 11, 2019.
  4. a b Sarah Adam: Did you know? That is why Aldi is not called Aldi in Austria. Retrieved December 10, 2019 .
  5. Hofer KG - who we are. In: karriere.at. April 11, 2019, accessed April 11, 2019 .
  6. All seven HOFER branches at a glance. Retrieved August 2, 2020 .
  7. Austria is also included in Aldi Italia: 100 suppliers benefit from this in the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten of July 5, 2018, accessed on July 5, 2018.
  8. HOFER International: The successful expansion of ALDI | HOFER. Retrieved August 2, 2020 .
  9. a b HOFER - ALPHA Retail Network. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  10. a b HOFER - organic baby food. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  11. HOFER - branch offices. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  12. Hofer: Hofer - high quality own brands. Retrieved November 22, 2017 .
  13. Which brands do Austrians trust? In: ots.at , April 2013, accessed on June 5, 2014.
  14. HOFER - Hofer delivers. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  15. ^ HOFER - Hofer life music by Napster. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  16. HOFER KG: #HOFEREVENTPLUS. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  17. HOFER - Tickets. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  18. MY HOFER. Retrieved April 11, 2019 .
  19. Hofer: Hofer - My Hofer. Retrieved November 22, 2017 .
  20. Hofer starts mobile operator "Hot" on January 2nd . In: derstandard.at , December 1, 2014.
  21. The standard: "Next Generation": Hot brings new LTE router , accessed on May 21, 2020.
  22. "Simply live better with Hofer". In: projekt2020.at , accessed on June 5, 2014
  23. Home | Project 2020. Accessed April 11, 2019 .
  24. Aldi is suspected of being spied - derStandard.at. Retrieved September 22, 2019 (Austrian German).
  25. Aldi-suisse.ch: What we can offer you in Switzerland ; accessed on August 11, 2019.
  26. Mike Bauert: Aldi, Volg and Landi are the winners. In: Schweizer Bauer , July 4, 2013, accessed on September 20, 2017.
  27. Moritz Kaufmann: At Aldi you have been able to pay with your cell phone for 1 year and nobody knows. In: Blick , June 10, 2015
  28. Aldi Suisse now accepts Apple Pay. ( Memento from December 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Aldi Suisse , accessed on September 20, 2017.
  29. Isabel Strassheim: Will the milk carton be returned - including the fee? In: 20 minutes , October 25, 2017.
  30. New solar system in Perlen produces electricity for over 2000 households In: baublatt.ch , February 11, 2020, accessed on February 12, 2020.
  31. comparis.ch

Web links

Commons : Hofer KG  - collection of images, videos and audio files