Aldi now has more than 12,000 stores globally
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Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd operate as separate legal entities.
“The groups have family links and exploit synergies in areas like buying, own-brand design, quality assurance and marketing,” Aldi Nord says.
Between them, the companies now have more than 12,000 stores globally, with their biggest footprints in the US and Germany. Real-estate company JLL listed Aldi as the fastest-growing grocer in the US in 2022 for the fourth year running and reported that it’s “aggressive expansion” meant it was also the country’s third-largest grocery retailer by store count after Kroger and Walmart, with more than 2,200 stores.
JLL reported that this was despite Aldi’s failure to meet its lofty expansion goals. The company had announced plans to open 150 new stores in 2022, but only opened 87, with a focus on the Southeast and Gulf Coast, per JLL.
It’s also experimenting with new store formats. In 2022, Aldi unveiled its first autonomous store in London, which allows shoppers to pick items up from the shelves and place them directly in their bags without needing to scan them or be served by a cashier. It also debuted an eco concept store in England which has a zero-waste station, letting customers refill jars of coffee beans and tubs of nuts.
Aldi Süd, which is the bigger of the two companies with more than 7,000 stores, says its 2022 net sales hit 76 billion euros ($81.5 billion). Aldi Nord says its net sales in 2021 – the last year for which information is currently available – were 24.7 billion euros ($26.5 billion).
Discount rival Lidl, meanwhile, reported 114.8 billion euros ($123.1 billion) in sales in 2022, a 13.8% increase year-over-year. It has more than 12,000 stores worldwide.
The sales for both Aldi and Lidl pale in comparison to the $611.3 billion Walmart reported in revenues in 2021, but as customers continue to penny pinch, more shoppers could flock to discount chains. Aldi’s US arm said in summer 2022 that soaring inflation was pushing more customers to its stores.