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Aldi breaks through £10bn annual sales mark in UK and Ireland for first time ever | Aldi breaks through £10bn annual sales mark in UK and Ireland for first time ever |
(about 4 hours later) | |
For the first time ever, German discount retailer Aldi raked in sales of more than £10bn in the UK and Ireland last year – a worrying sign for established grocers who are battling to retain precious market share in a highly competitive environment. | |
The group said that record sales of both high-end products and cut-price vegetables over the Christmas period had buoyed numbers. UK sales were more than 15 per cent higher last month than during December 2016. | |
The top-selling products included Aldi’s mince pies, Aberdeen Angus beef roasting joints and Irish cream liqueur. Its “specially selected” premium range enjoyed a sales surge of 30 per cent. | |
“This was our busiest-ever Christmas, as millions of festive shoppers switched to Aldi from more expensive food retailers,” said the supermarket’s boss for the UK and Ireland, Matthew Barnes. | |
“Although we saw strong growth across all categories, the performance of our premium ‘specially selected’ range in particular surpassed all expectations,” he added. | |
“This is a clear sign that shoppers knew they could indulge in Christmas treats and festive essentials at Aldi for a fraction of the price they would pay elsewhere.” | |
The retailer sold more than 6.8 million bottles of wine, champagne and prosecco during December – which is equivalent to more than 200,000 bottles per day. Aldi also sold more than four million mince pies and over 100 million packs of vegetables. | |
Aldi currently has a 6.9 per cent share of the UK grocery market, according to analytics company Kantar Worldpanel, which lags behind Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – but is comfortably ahead of Co-op, Waitrose and its German compatriot Lidl. | |
Separately, on Thursday, Aldi said that it would start paying all store assistants a minimum hourly rate of £8.85 nationally and £10.20 in London from 1 February. The current government-set national minimum wage for anyone over the age of 25 is £7.50. | |
And Mr Barnes also struck an upbeat outlook for the year to come, especially in terms of expansion. | And Mr Barnes also struck an upbeat outlook for the year to come, especially in terms of expansion. |
“We see significant capacity for further growth as there are still more than 400 towns and cities across the UK without an Aldi store,” he said. | “We see significant capacity for further growth as there are still more than 400 towns and cities across the UK without an Aldi store,” he said. |
“Shoppers in these areas consistently tell us they would shop at Aldi if they could, and we are committed to meeting this demand for new Aldi stores.” | “Shoppers in these areas consistently tell us they would shop at Aldi if they could, and we are committed to meeting this demand for new Aldi stores.” |
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