Aldi boss says wine pulls in the punters

Aldi boss Matthew Barnes has admitted it is wine that is pulling in the punters to its stores and fuelling its increasingly middle-class appeal.

Aldi’s brand value went up by 22% last year (Photo: Wiki)

Speaking to The Telegraph this week, the retailer’s UK and Ireland chief executive said the discounter’s wine offer, which has garnered awards and headlines

“Some people shop with us first to try the wine and then come back to do a weekly shop – so its very important to us,” Barnes told the paper.

However, he also told the newspaper that the discounter had not survived the price war “unscathed”, as margins had been cut in recent years and would “continue to fall” if it had to react to competitors reducing prices. However, he said the family owned business model would allow the German discounter to “beat them”.

The retailer expects its share of the UK grocery market could reach 10%, which, if it continues on its current trajectory, could give its wine share a big boost. Kantar figures for the 52 w/e 3 January 2016 put Aldi’s grocery share at 4.7% with the wine category running at 5.3%, although the latest quarterly figures put the discounter’s wider grocery share at a record 6.2% in the 12 weeks to 17 July 2016.

In January, the retailer used the ‘halo’ BWS category to launch its foray in e-commerce, with the launch of the Aldi online Wine Shop, offering wines by the case for home delivery and a network of click-and-collect locations.

In May, the retailer took a new tack to support its online site, as a headline sponsor of London Wine Week, in which it launched a pop-up wine shop in Shoreditch Boxpark in East London. It engaged MW Sam Caporn to run masterclasses throughout the three days and staff ran through the 117-strong range.