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German-owned Aldi, the world's No. 5 retailer, operates a
small-store model that keeps prices down and has upended
Britain's grocery market.
The company has been growing aggressively in the United States
even as rivals are struggling in a drawn-out price war with
Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>.
Seeking to drive online sales, Aldi began working with Instacart
Inc last year to deliver groceries in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas
and Los Angeles.
The same-day delivery program is being rolled out by the U.S.
holiday of Thanksgiving in late November to 75 major U.S.
markets, including San Diego, New York City and Miami, the
company said.
About a fifth of Aldi purchases on Instacart are made by people
who had not previously shopped at the store, Aldi U.S. Chief
Executive Jason Hart said in an interview with Reuters.
"That proves that we're reaching new customers with Instacart,
customers that find it inconvenient to get to local stores or
maybe exclusively shop groceries online," he said. "It means
more growth."
In August, the company said it was rolling out scores of new
products by early 2019. Last year, Aldi began a more than $5
billion plan to remodel and expand its U.S. chain to 2,500
stores by the end of 2022 from 1,600 in June 2017.
Walmart Inc <WMT.N>, Target Corp <TGT.N> and other traditional
grocers have been slashing prices to win back market share from
e-retailers, at odds with packaged goods companies that are
struggling to keep prices low. Aldi, whose products are 90
percent private-label, is far less exposed to these tensions or
price volatility.
Rival German discount grocery chain Lidl, which opened its first
U.S. stores last year, has also been trying to make its mark,
pricing products at up to 50 percent cheaper than competitors.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
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