Discounter Aldi is to spend £1.3 billion over the next two years upgrading and expanding its store footprint, rolling out its click and collect service, and expanding and adding to distribution centre network.
Under the investment plan, Aldi expects to open approximately 100 new stores across the UK over 2020 and 2021 in line with its long-term target of 1,200 stores by 2025 and alongside 100 store upgrades.
It also promised, but gave no further details on, investments including “new and expanded distribution centres”.
Aldi said that as a result, it would create 4,000 new jobs in 2021, adding to the 3,000 permanent roles it created in 2020.
In an annual trading update, Aldi said that sales in the UK and Ireland had risen 8.3% to £12.3 billion in the year to 31st December 2019 (2018: £11.3 billion), citing data from Kantar that the UK grocery market had grown just 1% in the same period.
During the year Aldi said it had sourced £8 billion of goods from UK suppliers, up £1 billion year-on-year. This included sourcing its entire core range of meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cream from British suppliers.
It also said it would halve the volume of plastic packaging it uses by 2025 by removing over 2 billion pieces of plastic from circulation.
