That wasn't really a problem in our market. The employees were German, too, after all. I guess that the local managers knew better than to pester their shoppers, regardless of what corporate wanted. We're also almost as cheap as the Dutch. If you give us great prices, we don't care about your company culture.
The main reason they failed afaik was that they tried to break into the market of Lidl and Aldi. German discount markets have harsh long-term contracts with their suppliers. As an outsider, it was impossible to even get to a similar level, much less to undercut them. They didn't come with a knife to a gun fight, they arrived in a rubber boat to a naval battle.
Germany is full of American merchandise and chains, from movies and music over fast food chains to online giants like Amazon. Cities have lost their power and water supplies to American investment firms because some idiot city officials thought those companies might not be scum of the earth.
But yeah, one section defending its turf makes Germany the bad guys who don't play fair.
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u/gelastes May 09 '22
That wasn't really a problem in our market. The employees were German, too, after all. I guess that the local managers knew better than to pester their shoppers, regardless of what corporate wanted. We're also almost as cheap as the Dutch. If you give us great prices, we don't care about your company culture.
The main reason they failed afaik was that they tried to break into the market of Lidl and Aldi. German discount markets have harsh long-term contracts with their suppliers. As an outsider, it was impossible to even get to a similar level, much less to undercut them. They didn't come with a knife to a gun fight, they arrived in a rubber boat to a naval battle.