Aldi to hire 5,000 staff for 80 store roll-out

Ramping up the pressure in the cut-throat grocery sector, Aldi said it would hire 5,000 staff as it opens over 80 stores this year, amid analyst allegations that the discounter has been "rattled" by competitors.

Following the retaliatory price cuts launched last week to fight back against Morrison's latest price offer, German-owned Aldi said it was offering more attractive pay rates as the new wave of store openings would take it past 700 UK outlets.

Offering a starting salary of £43,000 rising to £56,000 for store managers, Aldi said it was aiming to attract "ambitious applicants with a background in management".

The discounter, which said it had around 100 store manager and 450 assistant store manager vacancies currently available, claimed to be "the best supermarket employer in Britain", due to its hourly-rate employees receiving at least £8.40 or £9.45 per hour for those in Greater London.

This compares, for example, with the “national living wage” of £7.20 that will be introduced in April.

"Crude mimicry and unfair comparisons"

In a note to clients on Monday morning, retail analyst Clive Black at Shore Capital said "Aldi appears to be rattled" by pricing activities of its competitors, noting "venom" in Aldi's recent price messaging in reference to Morrisons' recent 'Price Crunch' initiative.

Acknowledging that Aldi has been "a force for consumer good" for many households in recent years, Black said it would find making further inroads in the UK increasingly hard.

"Aldi is now starting, in our opinion, to face greater competition, most notably within its channel from Lidl UK, which we believe to have opened clear blue water with Aldi through its fresh bread, premium wine and De Luxe higher category range, and the value based superstores, particularly Tesco and Morrison Supermarkets."

"The superstores have identified more clearly where Aldi and Lidl have been most effective with British shoppers, that is fresh and chilled food, and they are starting to necessarily address price differentials."

Though the limited assortment discounters (LADs) of Aldi and Lidl have already transformed the British grocery trade, Black feels the price retaliations themselves are "not a major reason for investors in UK grocers to be overly concerned" and highlighted "crude" product mimicry on its shelves and unfair price comparisons in its adverts.

"Indeed, what we believe is Aldi's skulduggery will not go down well with many British shoppers where being the shoppers' champion is one thing; being somewhat cute and misleading is quite another in our opinion. Indeed, Aldi's pronouncements may be a sign of stress that the superstores are indeed starting to slowly 'get their act together'."