Aldi has had an online presence in China for a year now, but the German discounter is now planning to open a physical store network there as well. Within a few years’ time, it should have fifty different stores.
Three years
The stores will be in the Shanghai region, where it will build a new distribution center to supply those local stores, according to German Lebensmittel Zeitung. In order to prepare for its Chinese expansion, Aldi has been looking for Chinese managers who have worked for other European retailers. According to experts, Aldi will need no more than three years to build fifty stores in China.
Aldi launched a web shop on Tmall last year, where it sold a limited number of private label products on the Chinese market. The new stores should also sell local brands, according to Lebensmittel Zeitung. The Chinese web shop currently gets its supplies from Australia, where Aldi has several hundred stores.
