Aldi & Monopolistic Competition
Probably one of the most noticeable businesses in my area that survived and thrived during good and bad economic times that I have observed is Aldi. Aldi used to be known for its cheap and low-quality food, in addition to low customer service level. This differentiation helped Aldi thrive during the economic decline (recessions) since people were looking for ways to save money and not focusing too much on service and/or quality products.
However, Aldi has evolved, still offering lower priced products, but now you can find all-natural products, a gluten free section, organic items, and fresher produce. So, Aldi evolved to meet the growing needs for healthier and diverse commodities while appealing to the newer generation that emphasizes "less waste", meaning they prefer smaller, friendly, and more efficient stores over huge but expensive ones.
One way Aldi minimized costs, was to not provide any free bagging articles--at Aldi, one needs to bring their own bags or pay a small fee for Aldi bags. I believe Aldi has a great business model that is adaptable, flexible, diverse, and appealing. Share your thoughts, story, and observation with us :-)
Provide your example of a firm or a small business from the real world that is surviving the dynamic nature of monopolistic competition and discuss some approaches they have used (or are currently using) to compete and survive in the market. Please recall the reading, a monopolistic competition market structure is not a monopoly market structure. These are two different markets
Post a quality response and post additional thoughts and/or questions