Lidl Was a Copy of Aldi. Then the Copy Won

Two brothers in post-war Germany invented the modern discount supermarket, then split it in two in 1960, reportedly over cigarettes. In 1973 a businessman from Heilbronn copied their shops and bought a name for 1,000 marks: Lidl. Today Lidl sells more than both halves of Aldi combined. The Aldi formula, the kidnapping, the race across Europe, the battle for Britain and Trader Joe's. Chapters: 0:00 The copy that beat the original 0:39 A corner shop in Essen 1:12 The cigarette argument 1:53 The Aldi formula 3:07 Seventeen days 3:47 The copycat 4:50 The race across Europe 5:25 The battle for Britain 6:16 America 6:48 Two empires today 7:40 The lesson Sources: Wikipedia, "Aldi" (history, the 1960 split, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd, stores and revenue): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi Wikipedia, "Theo Albrecht" (1971 kidnapping): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Al... Wikipedia, "Lidl" (origins, the name, first store, expansion, US): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidl Schwarz Group, fiscal year 2025 (Lidl €140.2bn, group €185.6bn): https://gruppe.schwarz/en/who-we-are/... ESM Magazine, "Aldi, Lidl continue to outperform rest of UK grocery market: Kantar": https://www.esmmagazine.com/retail/al... Stirling Retail, "Grocery market shares in Great Britain, 1997 to 2026": https://stirlingretail.com/2026/08/17... The Grocer, Tesco and Sainsbury's Aldi Price Match: https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/tesc... The Local, "Lidl apologizes for spying on workers" (2008): https://www.thelocal.de/20080331/10995/ Mental Floss, "Why Aldi covers its packaging in giant barcodes": https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/ald... The cigarette dispute is the commonly told reason for the 1960 split; some journalists have questioned it. Narration: AI voice (Chatterbox). Illustrations: AI-generated in a hand-drawn style. Research, script and editing by the channel. Store counts and revenues are rounded; the two Aldis report in different years. Music: "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Floating Cities" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Thinking Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Dreamer" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...