Aldi launches £550million expansion with 1,500 new jobs and plans for 500 stores in bid to lure back shoppers as discount retailer loses out to rivals

Aldi has embarked on a £550m expansion campaign in a bid to win back shoppers after losing out to rivals in January this year.

The discount retailer aims to open 500 new stores and create more than 1,500 new jobs across the country, as well as upgrading its existing stores.

It comes after Aldi suffered a drop in UK grocery sales from a peak of 10.2% in September 2023 to 9.3% in January, according to Kantar, despite recording record sales due to the cost of living crisis.

Despite this, Aldi recorded its biggest Christmas sales on record in 2023, with sales rising 8% to more than £1.5 billion.

It “capped a remarkable year” for Aldi, which now has a 9.6% share of the British supermarket sector according to recent data from Kantar.

Rival Lidl welcomed around 4.5 million more shoppers through its doors last Christmas, with its busiest day being Friday 22 December.

Giles Hurley, chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “We continue to welcome more and more new customers through our doors, with people coming for our low prices but staying for our award-winning quality and British sourcing. “.

Hurley said: “We continue to welcome more and more new customers through our doors – people come for our low prices but stay for our award-winning quality and British sourcing.”

‘However, there are still areas of the country that do not have Aldi, or that need more or larger stores to meet demand.

‘That’s what our 2024 expansion plans aim to address. We now have over 1,000 stores across the UK, but there are still many more Aldi stores to come, in 2024 and beyond.’

Aldi is looking for freehold sites in the center or on the outskirts of the city that measure around 1.5 acres and can accommodate a 20,000 sq ft store with around 100 parking spaces.

Ideally, each location should be near a main road with good visibility and access.