Aldi to create 4,000 jobs as it pushes online
Aldi has pledged to create thousands of jobs in the UK and to sell more groceries online after a hike in profits.
The German discounter, which now holds 14pc of the market together with peer Lidl, will inject a further £800m in its UK business throughout 2020 and 2021 to support more store openings.
The supermarket chain is opening its 900th branch next week, and plans to have 1,200 sites by 2025. The new investment is expected to create 4,000 new jobs.
UK boss Giles Hurley said that the company would also expand click and collect in the coming weeks to 15 stores after a successful trial this month.
It has had to embrace it after a boom in online grocery shopping during the pandemic. Currently Aldi holds an 8.1pc share in the supermarket industry according to data from Kantar.
Click and collect is less expensive to run because it does not involve home delivery and the added costs associated with it. It also fits better with Aldi's lean and simple business model.
Mr Hurley stressed, however, that the chain's bread and butter was bricks and mortar and its foray into online "doesn't come at the expense of our physical stores".
"Our business performance over the past six months has been solid, we're growing according to data by about 10pc," he added.
"What we also recognise is that consumer habits are changing and we need to evolve our business to meet those new demands and we're actively doing that."
Aldi has previously announced partnerships with Deliveroo in 20 stores.
Sales rose 8pc in the year to December 2019, to £12.3bn. Pre-tax profit jumped 49pc to £271.5m.
Mr Hurley said that recent cases of customers stocking up on supplies was "nothing" compared to the rush on retailers in March, as the UK headed into lockdown.
Tesco and Morrisons have both imposed limits on key items such as toilet roll and pasta again after the Government introduced stricter measures following a rise in Covid cases.
"We have seen an uptick in certain areas and that did continue over the weekend... in areas like toilet paper, pasta, rice and tinned food,” Mr Hurley said.
"At the moment there’s no need to introduce those [new] restrictions, our availability is good. As long as customers continue to shop as they normally do, which is buy what they need when they need it, then availability will continue to be excellent," he said.
