Fresh produce will be key to Aldi’s growth in Australia where the discounter is on track to top A$7bn in sales in 2016, up 11 per cent on the year prior.
Aldi Australia’s announced A$1bn investment over three years to revamp its east coast stores and increase it fresh food range as well as expand its space for fresh by 25 per cent, according the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
Tom Daunt, CEO Aldi Australia, said the company’s focus is on convincing consumers to shop at Aldi more frequently while committing to offering the lowest prices compared to Coles and Woolworths.
'Where the market goes I can't control, what I can control is the relativity,' Daunt told the AFR. 'We will not be beaten on price, no matter what.'
Daunt said Aldi wasn’t looking to become another major supermarket but was focused on keeping things simple and efficient in order to provide good quality product at the lowest prices.
'That said, with the consumer increasingly shopping more frequently, buying a little less and becoming more interested in fresh categories, the biggest opportunity for Aldi in Australia is to improve our performance in fresh,” Daunt said.
By the end of 2016 Aldi will secure around 10 per cent of Australia’s retail share, with 25 additional stores to open on the East Coast and 32 stores to be operating in South Australia and Western Australia.
Aldi has also begun rolling out its ‘Project Fresh’ and has set a goal of having all of its stores in Australia to be upgraded to the new-look model by 2020, including more shelving, more refrigeration capacity and putting fresh produce at the front of the store.
Aldi announced plans to centralise its procurement for fresh produce earlier this year and look to establish longer-term contracts with suppliers, replacing eight offices with one based in Sydney.
'This does not mean all carrots will come from western Sydney and we ship them around the country – it means the buying process, the negotiations, the dealings with suppliers, the determination of the range and the setting of retail (prices) will take place in one office rather than eight,' he said.
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