Aldi bosses are promising to prioritise low prices over short term profits as the supermarket posts slumped profits amid rising costs.
The discounter's UK supermarkets' pre-tax profits dropped by 86.5% from 2020 to 2021, to £35.7million. But chief executive Giles Hurley pledged to keep prices low during the cost of living crisis, even if it means Aldi misses out on higher short term profits.
Mr Hurley said: “Preserving our price discount and rewarding our people will always be more important to us than short-term profit. Being privately owned means we can keep our promises even when times are tough.”
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Aldi - which has seen a growth in customers numbers and recently over took Morrisons to become the fourth biggest supermarket based on market share - promises it will have the "lowest grocery prices in the UK”.
Sales at Aldi increased by 18.7% over the 12 weeks to September 4, compared with the same period last year. Aldi's calculations say it has added an extra 1.5 million customers this year as rising costs hit shoppers' wallets.
Mr Hurley said: “The cost-of-living crisis is worsening and it’s being felt by millions of households across the UK.
“It’s in times like these when our customers rely on us the most, which is why we’re focusing on continuing to deliver our longstanding price promise by offering the lowest possible prices in Britain, every single day.”
Aldi also confirmed that it will open 16 new stores over the next 12 weeks as part of its ongoing £1.3 billion expansion plan.
Elsewhere, Iceland's boss has spoken about the cost of living crisis hitting customers. Richard Walker, Iceland's managing director, said shoppers being forced to abandon items at the till because they found they couldn’t afford them.
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