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Aldi continues to eat into grocery market share

Opening day for Aldi in Ellon
Opening day for Aldi in Ellon

Aldi aims to open up to 65 new stores in the UK next year as it steps up the pressure on its bigger supermarket rivals.

The target was revealed as the German firm announced UK sales of £5.3billion for 2013, a rise of 36% on a year earlier.

Pre-tax profits for the business were 65% higher at a record £260.9million.

Aldi opened 42 stores around the UK last year and is on course for 54 more new sites this year.

It now has more than 530 outlets around Britain, including 53 in Scotland, and its steady expansion north of the border saw a store open in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, just last week.

Other new additions to the chain this year include sites in Airdrie, Inverurie, Inverness and Greenock, with shops due to open in Perth, Glasgow and Ayr before the end of 2014.

Aldi’s latest trading figures are in stark contrast to the fortunes of rivals such as Tesco and Morrisons, both of which have reported falling profits and are struggling to retain market share as shoppers flock to the discount chains.

According to market researcher Kantar Worldpanel, Aldi has increased its UK market share to 4.8% in recent weeks despite aggressive price-cutting among its bigger rivals.

Aldi said the pace of growth quickened in the first half of 2014, at the same time as bigger supermarkets were slashing prices.

Its current UK expansion plan will take total store numbers to more than 600, keeping it on course for 1,000 by 2022.

The firm recruited 9,000 new staff in the UK in 2013, including more than 291 apprentices and 165 graduates.

It expects to have more than 7,000 new workers this year, including 500 in apprenticeships and 160 in graduate positions.

Group managing director Matthew Barnes said: “In addition to new store openings, we’ll be upgrading existing stores to meet customer demand.

“We’re investing over £600million in our operations over the next two years to support this growth.

The Aldi group now has more than 7,000 stores across three continents.

Its new store in Ellon opened with more than 110 people queuing up in the hope of getting their hands on a prize-winning “golden ticket”.

Aldi has already recruited 15 staff for the Ellon shop and is looking to fill another 20 positions.

Store manager Steven Scott said: “There was a great turnout on opening day.

“My team and I were very pleased to introduce shoppers to our new store and range of locally-sourced products.”