Aldi planning a major product expansion in 2019

Earlier this month Aldi announced a major product expansion to go along with its ongoing efforts to open new stores and upgrade existing locations. With the product expansion, slated to roll out early next year, Aldi says 20% of items in every store will be new when compared to the product mix during the same time one year prior.

The effort will focus on fresh, organic and easy-to-prepare offerings, and will boost the store's selection of fresh food by 40%. For instance, Aldi says it will have more ready-to-cook and organic fresh meat, a bigger assortment of produce, such as ready-to-eat sliced fruit and organic selections, and new vegan and vegetarian options such as kale and quinoa burgers, and chickenless patties and tenders.

Aldi also plans to offer a broader array of grab-and-go items like single-serve guacamole and organic hummus, fresh fruit and vegetable packs, fresh organic salsa, antipasti salad, as well as more drinks and refrigerated beverages. The retailer also said it will have one of the nation's largest selections of private label milk alternatives.

"We're in the middle of a five-year growth program, where we're opening over 800 stores to get to just under 2,500 stores by the end of 2022," said CEO Jason Hart. "We're spending a lot of money on that: $3.4 billion invested into new unit growth and $1.9 billion into the existing network of stores to remake the shopping experience, to give it a modern market feel and a little more space. We're adding about 20% more square footage to the stores."

Aldi's fastest growing line: organic

A recent article on Bloomberg.com said that Aldi is now trying to make itself more attractive to the type of customer that shops at Trader Joe's.

According to the report, Aldi U.S. CEO Jason Hart believes that American shoppers are increasingly concerned with the content and quality of the food they eat, so the company, which has about $8 billion in sales in the U.S. and is growing at a steady rate, has added items like organic quinoa and coconut oil, chia seeds and grass-fed beef. In fact, Aldi's Simply Nature all-natural and organic line has become its fastest-growing brand.

"This isn't your grandmother's Aldi," Hart said. (That's for sure, considering that Aldi opened its first U.S. store in 1976 when my grandmother was 63, and that store was in Iowa. The chain didn't get to the east coast until many years later.)

According to the Nutrition Business Journal, Americans spent about $33 billion on organic items last year, and these days they expect to find organic selections at both traditional supermarkets and discounters. Aldi's plan is to not only offer such items, but offer them at extreme discounts.

Regarding the company's pricing, a July survey by Bloomberg Intelligence found Aldi to be cheaper than other discounters, including Walmart and Save-A-Lot.