Discounter Aldi continued to boost its presence in Italy during 2021 with the opening of 31 new stores.
The retailer's network now consists of 138 supermarkets in six regions of Northern Italy – Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige and Emilia-Romagna.
On average, the group opened 2.6 stores per month, it said in a statement.
CO2-Neutral Store
Aldi has also upped its commitment to sustainability, with last year seeing the opening of its first CO2-neutral store in Moniga del Garda, in the province of Brescia, which features a new environmental store standard.
The rollout of the new store concept, which features 15% lower energy consumption compared to existing shops, will continue in 2022.
The opening of the Moniga del Garda outlet has contributed to further limiting Aldi’s environmental impact, the retailer said.
Energy Efficiency
Compared to 2018, Aldi Italia managed to reduce energy consumption across its operations by 7%, thanks to continuous energy efficiency activities.
The company’s 80 photovoltaic plants produced over 3.5 million kWh of green energy in 2021, with a reduction in CO2 emissions of 1,887 tons.
All these activities are part of Aldi's environmental commitments to achieve carbon neutrality in 2022 also through CO2 offset projects in cooperation with ClimatePartner.
As part of its packaging optimisation project, Aldi now offers 57 SKUs with plastic-free packaging, in recycled or recyclable materials, created in partnership with Plastic Bank and developed from 100% plastic waste recovered from the oceans.
Network Expansion
According to Aldi Italia’s country manager, Michael Gscheidlinger, priorities for 2022 include the expansion of the store network and consolidation of its product offering.
"2022 will see us strongly committed to expanding our network and consolidating our quality offer, selected and with discount accessibility for all," he said.
Read More: Esselunga, Aldi Score Highly For Consumer Satisfaction In Italy
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