German grocery chain Aldi who have been stripping consumer electronics and appliance sales from mass retailers is looking at how well a new US delivery services goes before they consider a similar service in Australia.
The Company who at this stage does not have a direct sell web site in Australia said that in the USA they have partnered with Instacart to deliver groceries in three U.S. cities, a move that comes amid intense competition from traditional retailers and Amazon.
Aldi will launch a pilot starting the end of this month in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas with the potential of expanding to more cities in the future including a similar service in Australia.
The German retailer does not offer customers an option to shop on its own website now and the partnership is a way to test online grocery demand, Aldi’s Vice President of Corporate Buying Scott Patton told Reuters.
“Grocery shopping online is a relatively small part of the business but it is continuing to grow,” Patton said.
Aldi’s move also comes at a time when grocery chains in the country are caught in a price war. German rival Lidl has started opening stores in the country and online retailer Amazon.com said in June it will acquire grocery chain Whole Foods Market.
To better position itself, Aldi said in June it would invest $3.4 billion to expand its U.S. store base from more than 1,600 currently to 2,500 by 2022.
In May, Aldi Chief Executive Jason Hart told Reuters the chain intended to have the lowest prices and would focus on adding in-house brands to win over price-sensitive customers.
The partnership with Instacart will allow shoppers to order goods from Aldi stores using Instacart’s website and app. Instacart, which charges a delivery fee, does not hold inventory but picks up orders from the store and brings them to a customer’s home in as little as one hour.
Other U.S. retailers who have tied up with Instacart include Target, Whole Foods Market and Costco Wholesale.
