Aldi has launched its first click & collect service, in a trial for staff that is set to be extended to customers.
Staff at a Midlands store can choose from the full grocery range online, then drive to the store and have it brought to their cars, contact-free.
Aldi said it planned to extend the service to customers via a new dedicated part of the website “in the coming weeks”, as well as rolling it out to more stores.
Orders will be picked and packed by staff and customers will be offered time slots to arrive at dedicated click & collect points in car parks.
Discounters have seen their market share growth stall during the pandemic as other supermarkets benefit from massive growth online, a market in which the discounters are largely absent.
The click & collect trial is the third new online grocery service Aldi has launched since the start of lockdown, before which its e-commerce offer was limited to general merchandise, alcohol and small number of ambient products.
In May Aldi launched an on-demand trial with Deliveroo, which is now available from stores in the East Midlands, London, Cambridge and Greater Manchester. Customers can select from 300 products and have them delivered in as little as 30 minutes. The service comes with a £4.99 delivery charge and a mark-up on shelf prices.
That followed the launch in April of delivered food parcels, containing essentials such as tinned soup, rice and pasta, to help vulnerable or self-isolating customers. That service has since ended.
Aldi, which is due to announce its annual results later this month, said the click & collect service would give customers greater flexibility and more access to “unbeatable value”.
“We know that more and more people want to access the high-quality, affordable food they know they can get at Aldi,” said Aldi UK and Ireland CEO Giles Hurley.
“This is yet another way we are innovating to make sure we best serve our existing customers and make Aldi’s great products and unbeatable prices available to even more people.”
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