Erdi introduces membership card for organics

“Actually, it was a test run,” is how Karl Häßner, the owner of six Erdi organic supermarkets in the Stuttgart conurbation, explains the differentiated price system. The first 600 members have signed up, and it means they can save 15-25% when they do their shopping. So far, the two-price system has been introduced in a couple of stores only, where about half of the regular customers now use a customer card. A similar scheme has been run for years by LPG in Berlin. (Picture: Erdi in Ostfildern)
The new membership scheme was introduced in April 2008. “Our main motive was customer retention, and of course in the longer term higher turnover too,” says Mr Häßner. The 58-year-old is now pondering how to make the scheme even more socially progressive so that he can get people on benefits to do their main shopping at Erdi, and thus win over new customers. “Our aim is to get 80 % of our regular customers to sign up as members.” The new system has already led to an increase in the turnover of goods. However, the discounting has meant that financial turnover has not risen.

Being a member of Erdi’s scheme means that a customer pay €19.50 per month; families and couples pay €23 and groups in shared accommodation pay €12 per person. Kindergartens, schools and companies also pay €19.50. You only pay the monthly charge when you are at home and doing the shopping. If you are away on holiday, the Erdi leaflet explaining how the card works states: “We’ll give you 12 eggs free of charge...for each week...or something of the same value. That’s how generous we are. Just tell our staff. You don’t have to produce a hotel bill.”

“So far, we’ve had hardly anybody leaving the scheme, but dealing with people joining does take up time,” says Mr Häßner. To apply for membership, you have to fill in a form and hand it in with a photograph. The administrative staff put the data into a computer to produce the customer card. Families (picture) receive two cards. Every time you buy something, you hand over the Erdi card to be scanned at the checkout, and the result is that you are billed for the member price instead of the normal price. From 2009, Mr Häßner wants to make his membership scheme known to the general public to attract far more customers.

“I’ve had it all checked out by lawyers,” he explains, convinced of the future viability of the scheme. He says that now the discount law has been abolished, there are no problems. He is delighted he can offer organics to everyone, and he hopes a wider section of the public will take advantage of his initiative. Karl Häßner (picture) has been involved in the organic business for a long time. He used to be a teacher at a vocational school, but in 1977 he started work at the Demeter market garden Willmann in Stuttgart, where he was employed in growing crops. In 1980 he opened his first shop (25 m²) in Filderstadt-Bonlanden to the south east of Stuttgart. “In 1986 we moved to what at the time was a fabulously spacious 110 m² shop,” he reminisces. “Apart from in Tübingen, that was in those days the only organic shop between Stuttgart and Lake Constance, and one of the biggest in the whole country.” Since he couldn’t get anough organic supplies, he used some of the space as a store room instead of as a shop.

The interior of his shops varies in appearance. When creating his new stores, he works mainly with second hand shop fittings. The one that is most uniformly fitted out is the organic supermarket (430 m²) which opened in 2005 in Stuttgart-Bernshausen. It started life as Denn’s Biomarkt. “We want to keep the fitting out costs as low as possible,” he explains. However, after two years he decided to operate this store independently and not as a franchise business, to give himself more freedom of action.

The project he is currrently pursuing is extending the benefits that derive from the Erdi-Card. “After just two weeks we had ten partners,” he is happy to report. These partners offer their services at preferential rates. So, for example, complementary medical practitioners and Yoga teachers have joined the scheme so that their businesses too can reap a benefit.

Erdi currently employs about 50 people in its six stores. The little office is located at the back of the premises in Bernshausen. Here you’ll find Mr Häßner’s 24 year old son Jan. His wife Vera (48) has worked in the business from the outset, and she manages the first store in Filderstadt-Bonladen. His daughter Anna is studying business practice at a vocational college, and it is possible she will join the firm later. “An organic supermarket is most profitable when the owner runs it himself,” is Mr Häßner’s credo. For 2009 he is anticipating a growth rate of 3-5 %.

75 % of Erdi’s stock is supplied by Dennree, but it is significant that the rest comes from regional production – from the firm Willmann, where Mr Häßner started his career in organics in 1977, and direct from three organic bakers and four organic companies that supply fruit, vegetables, eggs, sausage and meat. Another important supplier is Rapunzel.


Erdi: 2000 m² total retail space

1980	first store in Filderstadt	25 m² later 110 m²
1995	second store in Leinf.-Echterd.	100 m² later 400 m²
1999	third store in Stuttgart am Stöckach	200 m²
2005	fourth store in Filderstadt-Bernhausen	430 m²
2006	fifth store in Stuttgart-Möhringen	430 m²
2008	sixth store in Ostfildern	430 m²

Tip: www.erdi.de