Aldi to open 70 more UK stores after £8.7bn record sales
One million Brits have switched to the German discount giant from other stores in the past year
GERMAN discount supermarket chain ALDI is backing Britain with plans to open 70 stores next year.
The company, to which one million Brits are said to have switched from other stores last year, said the expansion would create 4,000 new jobs.
It follows a near £1billion investment in Britain by the discounter over the last two years — and record UK and Irish sales last year of £8.7billion.
Aldi’s UK and Ireland chief executive Matthew Barnes said: “Our owners see huge potential for future growth in the UK market.
“Our appetite is stronger than it has ever been.”
He also pledged to keep prices low at the tills despite the drop on the value of the Pound and rising prices.
Mr Barnes added: “We are doing a great job in shielding our customers from the effects of all that.”
The promise of more investment in the UK comes despite a 17 per cent fall in profits.
Aldi blamed the drop on the long-running supermarket price war and the cost of its growth plans.
Price-cutting by Aldi and its German rival LIDL has transformed the UK supermarket landscape.
The big four market leaders — TESCO, SAINSBURY’S, ASDA and MORRISONS — have been forced to fight back by slashing prices.
Aldi now employs 29,000 people in the UK and was voted Employer of the Year in The Grocer Gold Awards earlier this year.
It was also rated the best performing supermarket for customer satisfaction in a poll of more than 10,000 shoppers, overtaking MARKS & SPENCER and WAITROSE.
In February, it overtook the CO-OP to become Britain’s fifth biggest supermarket with a 6.9 per cent share of the UK grocery market.
It currently has 726 UK stores and plans to have 1,000 stores by 2022.
The company also boasts that almost £8 in every £10 handed over at the checkout is spent on goods sourced from British-based suppliers. It only sells British meat in its UK supermarkets.