Aldi has axed click & collect from 23 stores, marking a bigger scaling down of the project than it has previously disclosed.
Aldi launched click & collect during the pandemic in 2020 and was offering the service from “more than 200 stores” at the end of 2021.
In July 2023, Aldi said it was still available from about 200 stores after confirming it had been axed from 12. The supermarket cited weak demand as the reason for the withdrawal of click & collect from some locations and provided a list of the 12 affected branches, after customers were notified in marketing emails.
However, the number of stores offering click & collect now stands at 177, meaning more than 23 stores have been removed from the project. Aldi has not provided further details, though it said the trial had not been paused at any stores since its last update last July.
Aldi’s launch of click & collect required the delivery of a new website and operation in a matter of weeks at the height of the pandemic, a time when the online services of rival supermarkets were inundated by unprecedented demand.
A clear indication the discounter had cooled on the project came in April last year, when Aldi UK & Ireland CEO Giles Hurley told The Grocer it had been a “great learning” but there was “no plan to expand it” beyond the 200 stores offering it at the time.
The axing of more than 23 stores from the project is just one of the ways Aldi has retreated from online post-pandemic. In January last year it began winding down home delivery of general merchandise ‘Specialbuys’ and wines & spirits, a service it launched in 2015. Explaining the move, Aldi said it wanted to focus on keeping prices low “by being the most efficient retailer in Britain”.
The pandemic also saw Aldi offering grocery delivery with Deliveroo from more than 100 stores, but The Grocer revealed early in 2022 that the partnership had been axed following the return of more normal shopping patterns.
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