Discount supermarket chain Aldi announced in December that it would be expanding its click and collect grocery service to more than 200 stores across the UK in the run-up to Christmas.
The service was already in high demand across the country after beginning the first trial in the Midlands in September, and was brought in to provide more customers with greater flexibility and the option of contactless shopping.
Shoppers can choose from Aldi’s full grocery range online and then drive to their local store where their shopping is brought to their car by Aldi staff, contact-free and in line with social distancing.
Aldi has since reported record sales in the four weeks up to Christmas Eve, up 10.6% from the same period in 2019. Every supermarket saw record sales this year, as consumers were unable to shop elsewhere and spent record amounts on food and drink. However, Aldi has credited a proportion of its boosted sales with the timely expansion of its delivery and click and collect services.
New YouGov data shows that Purchase Intent (whether a brand is someone’s first choice to purchase from) among Aldi customers experienced a second peak in December this year, following the roll out of Aldi’s click and collect service on the 15th providing a second boost of sales in the lead up to Christmas.
Scores increased by 20.7 points between the start of December (38.2) and the 8th December (58.9), before dipping to 47.3 on the 11th and increasing a second time by 11 points to 58.3 on the 18th. By comparison, in 2019 scores increased from 43.9 to 50.8 (+6.9) then decreased to 36.7 in the lead up to Christmas Day.
While traditionally Aldi offers an offline supermarket experience, adding the ability to click and collect groceries or have smaller deliveries through Deliveroo is something Aldi customers are open to. YouGov Profiles data shows that over two thirds of Britons who say that Aldi is their main supermarket agree than online shopping makes their life easier (68%). They’re also more likely to consider it cheaper (33%) than the average Brit (28%).
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