Is Aldi moving into the online space?

Multinational discount supermarket chain Aldi has acknowledged a need to offer online shopping and delivery services in order to stay competitive against rivals Coles and Woolworths.

Up until this point, the supermarket chain has resisted investing in an ecommerce arm in order to keep costs down for consumers. 

In a parliamentary inquiry on Monday, Aldi corporate affairs representative Adrian Christie spoke on promoting economic dynamism, competition and business formation. He revealed that the company will enter the ecommerce space in the future stating, “I think there is significant share moving into the online space.”

In 2021, Aldi ran a year long ecommerce trial in which customers could purchase items from a ‘Special Buys’ catalogue that included non grocery products like mattresses, electronics, and clothing. The trial wrapped up in August last year with the company claiming it “wasn’t the right time to expand”.

Don’t throw out your Everyday Rewards card just yet, since reports have come out on the topic, the chain has confirmed this ecommerce expansion won’t be happening any time soon as it continues to focus on keeping grocery prices down for the consumer. Aldi is, “keeping a close eye on the ecommerce opportunity as we look to maximise customer convenience; however, we believe our fundamental responsibility, particularly now, is keeping the price of customers’ weekly shop as low as possible”, Christie told news.com.au. 

“One of the major ways we are able to offer the highest quality groceries at the lowest prices is our streamlined business model that is focused on simplicity. While we are always looking at the environment and considering an online experience, we won’t bring this forward until we have a model where associated overheads of ecommerce in no way compromises our ability to deliver low priced groceries to Australians.”