The British arm of Aldi has said that it will invest £300m in its stores after posting a 12% increase in sales to a record £7.7bn in 2015.
The supermarket, named 2016 Grocer of the Year has announced record results for its last financial year alongside a major investment in its UK stores.
The grocer, which currently operates 785 stores in the UK and Ireland, plans to open 70 new stores during 2017 as part of its plan to reach 1,000 by 2022.
Matthew Barnes, CEO of Aldi UK and Ireland said that the investment will also include the refurbishment of over 100 existing stores over the next year.
“We’ve completed our largest-ever listening exercise, involving over 50,000 shoppers across our stores.”
“We’ve listened and we’re evolving our new format for new and existing stores to deliver” what our customers want, he said.
The new format includes newly designed fixtures for alcohol, fresh produce and food-to-go, with each store benefiting from an increase in chill space, underlying the supermarket’s growth in fresh produce.
“Our promotion of British-sourced products and our relationships with British suppliers demonstrate our pride in Britain and our commitment to providing the very best quality British food,” Matthew Barnes added.
“At the same time, we continue to deliver on our promise that whenever you shop at Aldi, you are paying the lowest prices in grocery.”
In 2015, operating profits dropped by 1.8% to £255.6m (from £260.4m in 2014), which the grocer said reflected its continued investment in prices.
Last year, Aldi invested £536.2m of capital expenditure in opening new stores and improving its distribution network, and in turn, attracted 761,000 new customer, boosting its market share by 15.3%.
