Aldi has pledged to invest £1.3 billion over the next two years in a bid to further accelerate its share of the UK grocery market.

As part of its forward investment plans, Aldi said it would continue to grow its retail estate with 100 new stores across the UK over the next two years, as well as expanding its logistics infrastructure, including a new 1.3 million sq ft site in Leicestershire.

Further investment is being made into Aldi’s click and collect service and technology initiatives to support further growth.

This includes trialling a new Aldi checkout-free concept store in Greenwich, London, which will use a system of cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence to identify the items customers take from shelves, alleviating the need to go through a checkout.

Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer for Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “As well as delivering record sales, we continued to invest for growth, deploying over £600m in stores and distribution centres across the UK. This helped to create thousands of much-needed jobs and support for British farmers and manufacturers.

“Whilst the cost of responding to the pandemic dampened profits, our decision to return business rate relief was the right thing to do.”