Aldi has announced it will open 23 new stores across the UK this year as part of an £800 million pound expansion plan.
The supermarket giant overtook Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth most popular supermarket in 2022, and looks set to close the gap with third-place Asda after last year saw sales surge by 15 per cent to a record high £19.9billion.
Aldi UK chief executive, Giles Hurley said: ‘British shoppers are voting with their feet and choosing Aldi as their first-choice supermarket. We’re responding with our biggest ever annual investment in Britain.
‘For every £1 of profit generated last year, we’re investing £2 this year – opening more stores and building the supply infrastructure to bring high-quality, affordable groceries to millions more families the length and breadth of Britain.’
The exact location of all 23 new locations has not been revealed yet but nine have been announced so far which span the breadth of the country, from Plymouth to Northumberland.
Aldi will also refurbish 100 of its existing stores, expand their distribution centres and update its technology infrastructure to support further growth as part of a two-year £1.4billion investment plan.
But whilst Aldi’s rise has shaken up the competition among the UK’s big four supermarkets, it still faces challenges from fellow budget supermarket Lidl, which was revealed to be the fastest growing supermarket for 12 months in a row.
Mr Hurley claims numbers don’t tell the full story though, and said: ‘Market share is interesting, and of course, we look at it as a business, and there are various milestones in our journey of growth, but it’s not a target. It’s not an aim. Our focus is on growing our business, and the outputs will be what they will be.’
Other supermarkets have attempted to compete with Aldi’s discounts with price-matching campaigns, but Mr Hurley has dismissed them as ‘a game of chance for customers’.
He said that whilst he is ‘delighted’ that more expensive supermarkets have recognised Aldi as the ‘benchmark’, their price-matching schemes ‘aren’t consistent’ and he recognised that Aldi’s customers ‘want certainty’.
The supermarket has previously warned that bureaucracy and planning objections from rivals were slowing down the speed at which it could expand across the country.
Mr Hurley said: ‘The competitor’s objections do slow the planning process down.
‘What’s important to stress, though, is that it doesn’t in any way change our appetite or will to grow the business.
‘From our side, if planning is dragged out over a long period, there’s an expense to that and also a lost opportunity.
‘So of course, we would welcome investments which can drive decisions more quickly.’
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