Aldi's UK business is cutting hundreds of head office roles as part of a global effort to trim costs at the budget grocer.
The retailer is consulting its technology team on the loss of up to 150 roles. That follows 103 redundancies in its finance and administration team earlier this year and almost 20 more among buying directors. Jobs in stores are not affected, although Aldi said it had slightly reduced the number of regional managers, affecting a handful of high-paying roles.
The German-owned group is reducing the number of people in its local country operations as it centralizes more work. Aldi is outsourcing finance, procurement and administration roles to India and other countries as part of a deal with Genpact, a company that helps businesses use AI technology. Aldi said consultation on payroll redundancies is expected to begin in the coming months, according to people familiar with the matter.
An Aldi spokesperson said the company's promise to customers is to always offer great quality products at unbeatable prices. The spokesperson said that across its international business Aldi continuously reviews all aspects of its operations to operate simply and efficiently and to use its global scale. The company is making some adjustments to how parts of its UK business are structured, the spokesperson said, with changes introduced gradually after a consultation period and with full support for those affected. Aldi said it has invested £300 million in lowering prices on 900 products in the UK this year.
The cuts come as Aldi struggles to keep up its pace of growth. UK sales at the chain rose only 0.4 percent in the 12 weeks to November 1, according to industry data from Worldpanel by Numerator, and Aldi's market share fell by 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. The average unit price at Aldi fell 0.1 percent, making it the only retailer to reduce overall prices in the period. The retailer faces tougher competition from traditional supermarkets, several of which now match its prices on key items while offering a much wider range of products.
Other grocers have also cut jobs. Morrisons cut hundreds of head office roles this spring, shortly after Sainsbury's eliminated 300 head office jobs as it restructured its technology team and Argos delivery network. Tesco laid off a similar number of people as it changed how its bakeries operate.
