Aldi now the second-largest fresh poultry retailer in UK

Over the past 2 years, Aldi has taken 15% of the market share, higher than Sainsbury’s (13.4%) or ASDA (12.2%), which both saw declines in their share of the market between 2022 and 2023. They are also ahead of Lidl and Morrisons, which have a 10.1% and 7.4% share, respectively, and only trail Tesco, which for the last 2 years has had 22.5% of the market.

It is a considerable achievement given that the German retailer only opened its first store in the UK in 1990. It now has 991 stores with more than 40,000 employees with 11 distribution centres in the UK, and 2 in Ireland.

Joshua Smith, Aldi poultry buying director, said the company was committed to poultry, saying its business was larger than beef, pork and lamb combined. Other key facts about its fresh poultry market are:

• It sells 2.5 million whole bone equivalent birds per week
• It retails 3.75 million packs a week
• 400 wagons distribute poultry across the UK per week
• All poultry is 100% British
• All poultry is delivered via its key supply partnership with 2 Sisters Food Group

Growth and innovation for Aldi

Innovation for consumers was very important, Smith added, with products such as Tempura Chicken Nuggets and Salt and Chilli Chicken Breast Sizzlers faring well, along with garlic and herb kebabs and chicken mince.

Speaking at the South West Chicken Association conference, Smith said the retailer had grown substantially since the 2008 recession and was now officially the fourth-largest supermarket in the UK with more than 9% of the market. He said customer switching was currently very strong, with the firm picking up 1 million new customers last year, adding that it now had 65% household penetration.

Sales growth in 2022 was 15.6%, with 37 new stores opened and 558 million customer transactions achieved.

Smith added that he was proud Aldi had been adjudged the best-performing retailer for 7 of the last 8 years by the Grocery Codes Adjudicator.

“Our central strategy is simplicity, efficiency and staying true to our roots as well as always in business putting the customer first,” he added.