Aldi to open 100 stores by end of next year with £1.3bn investment

Aldi has said it plans to open 100 new stores with £1.3 billion of investment by the end of next year, as it revealed sales continued to jump higher.

The discount supermarket said it plans to create 4,000 jobs next year as part of the expansion plan, which is part of long-term plans to grow to a portfolio of 1,200 stores by 2025.

Aldi will drive investment into creating and upgrading stores, distribution centres and innovation across its operations, it said.

The update came as Aldi reported that sales increased by 8% to £12.28 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, it saw pre-tax profits jump by 49% to £271.5 million for the year.

The retailer, which has seen sales continue to grow through the pandemic amid strong demand for groceries, committed to keeping its prices “the lowest in the market” amid pressure on household budgets.

Giles Hurley, chief executive for Aldi UK and Ireland, claimed its prices remain “20% lower” than the UK grocery market and pledged to keep them down.

“If our competitors drop their prices then we will simply drop them lower,” he told reporters.

“We see it as a compliment that our competitors are treating our pricing as a benchmark but we will continue to be the cheapest grocer in the UK, whatever they do.

“We can’t speculate on what the inflationary impact of Brexit will be, but we will continue our commitment to have the lowest prices.”

Major grocery rivals, including Tesco and Morrisons, have pushed their prices lower in recent months in a bid to stem strong growth by Aldi and fellow German discounter Lidl.

However, both Aldi and Lidl have failed to benefit substantially from the surge in demand for online orders and home deliveries since the pandemic fully impacted the UK.

Earlier this month, Aldi expanded into click and collect orders for the first time, with a store in the Midlands.

In May, Aldi revealed plans to deliver groceries to homes in the UK for the first time through a partnership with Deliveroo.

Mr Hurley said: “The response to the challenge presented by the Covid-19 pandemic was both heroic and historic.

“If there is a positive to take from the situation, it’s that supermarkets, suppliers and shoppers can overcome the greatest of challenges when we work together.

“With the UK’s economic outlook increasingly uncertain, families are more concerned about their grocery bills than ever.

“We’ve seen before that our customers need us most in times of financial hardship, which is why our commitment to remain Britain’s lowest-priced supermarket is more important than ever.”