Aldi will open another 100 stores in Britain over the next two years, rather than invest in its online offer.
The supermarket has announced a £1.3bn investment which will also expand the discounter’s network of distribution centres, including a new 1.3m sq ft warehouse in Leicestershire, as well as launching a trial store in Greenwich, south London, with no checkout.
The German group is the fifth biggest supermarket operator in the UK, with a market share of 8.1%. It has 920 stores nationwide, but has a target of 1,200 outlets by 2025.
The investment push was announced as it reported record UK turnover of £13.5bn, up 10.2%. However, the £600m cost of expanding its store estate and distribution infrastructure and £238m for price cuts caused profit to fall by 2.5% to £265m.
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