Aldi is planning to cut up to 150 jobs from its UK head office as part of the discount grocer’s ongoing shake-up of its tech and admin operations.

The supermarket chain is consulting on the loss of up to 150 roles in its technology team, after cutting 103 jobs from its finance and administration department earlier this year. It has also made nearly 20 buying directors redundant.

The job cuts come as Aldi seeks to reach 1,500 stores in the UK, as the grocer and rival Lidl put pressure on competitors Asda and Morrisons, who have each been battling with significant debt piles since being taken over by private equity.

Aldi’s German-based owners are cutting back on the number of head office roles in each of its country operations, which include the US, Australia and China, as it centralises more admin and tech functions.

The group is outsourcing its finance, procurement and administration jobs to India, the Guardian has reported, through its partnership with Genpact, a New York-headquartered firm which uses AI to streamline business functions. 

Aldi’s consultation on its redundancies is set to begin in the coming months, it is understood. The company has cut the number of hours worked by the agency staff who clean its Warwickshire headquarters, the Guardian reported. 

Aldi loses ground to rivals

The German discounter has grown rapidly in recent years, putting pressure on even the biggest UK supermarket chains, like Tesco and Sainsbury’s, which have responded with Aldi price-match ranges.

But Aldi’s growth has slowed in recent months, with the company growing its takings by just 0.4 per cent in the 12 weeks to November, according to the latest figures from Worldpanel by Numerator.

This is lower than the 6.6 per cent sales growth achieved by its rival Lidl, and the 1.2 and 0.8 per cent notched by Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Aldi’s market share was 10.4 per cent in the lead-up to November, lower than 10.5 per cent at the same time last year.

In September, Aldi set out plans to invest £900m in opening 40 new stores in the coming year. It currently operates 1,092 shops in the UK but wants to reach 1,500.

A spokesperson for the supermarket chain said: “At Aldi, our promise to customers is that we will always offer great quality products at unbeatable prices. Across our international business, we continuously review all aspects of our operations to ensure we operate simply, efficiently and use our global scale to deliver on that promise.

“We are therefore making some adjustments to the way parts of our UK business are structured. Any changes are being introduced gradually and following a consultation period. We recognise that this is difficult for those involved, so we are giving colleagues as much notice as possible, with full support available to everyone affected.”