Retailer to open 40 new stores and upgrade its network of distribution centres
Aldi has unveiled a package of new measures to help tackle food affordability in Britain amid concerns about rising inflation, including a record £900mn investment in new stores and distribution centres, continued price cuts across its range and more long-term agreements with its British suppliers.
The announcement coincides with the supermarket’s latest annual results, which saw turnover increase 5 per cent to a record £19bn in the 12 months to 31 December 2025. Latest industry figures estimate its share of the UK grocery market at 10.6 per cent.
Aldi – ranked the UK’s cheapest supermarket for the past five years – said sales were being driven by more customers buying more products in more stores, thanks to its “relentless focus on simple, everyday low prices”.
The supermarket, which currently has 1,092 stores, said its £900mn investment in 2027 will include 40 new stores, plus continued works on its distribution network. The supermarket is set to open 30 stores over the next 10 weeks, including Dumbarton, Newport and Willesden, London.
Aldi has previously said it plans to scale to 1,500 stores across the UK, with a focus on communities cut off from affordable groceries due to lack of local choice or competition.
Other measures include a commitment to continue cutting prices across its range in the build-up to Christmas. So far this year, Aldi has invested £340mn in reducing prices on over 1,000 products, including orange juice, butter, fresh meat and frozen fish.
The supermarket, one of the biggest retailers of home-grown food, has also committed to sourcing at least 50 per cent of products through long-term agreements with its suppliers by 2027. Multi-year contracts give producers and manufacturers greater confidence to invest in boosting production capacity, making Britain’s food system less reliant on overseas imports.
Aldi said it spent £14bn with British suppliers in 2025 as it continues to champion home-grown food.
Alongside record sales, the company said operating profit for the same 12-month period was flat on the previous year at £432.9mn (£435.5mn in 2024), representing an operating margin of 2.3 per cent (vs 2.4 per cent in 2024)*, as it continued to invest in prices, infrastructure and colleague pay.
Giles Hurley, CEO for Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “The cost of food remains one of the biggest pressures on households across the country. Recent droughts at home and events overseas have highlighted just how fragile our food system is and why food security must be a long-term national priority.
“We’re working hard to make good food more affordable for every family – cutting prices on everyday essentials, signing long-term supplier agreements to help increase home-grown production, and continuing to bring affordable groceries to even more communities through our store opening programme.
“This is why more customers are buying more products at Aldi – our relentless focus on simple, everyday low prices and award-winning quality.”
The supermarket has upped Store Assistant pay twice this year, with colleagues taking home a market-leading minimum of £13.50 an hour nationally, and £14.88 within the M25.
