By Carrie LaFrenz and Campbell Kwan
Aldi is escalating its fight against Woolworths and Coles by joining the supermarket delivery price war, launching home delivery for the first time in Australia through a partnership with DoorDash.
The German discount retailer will offer the service in Canberra from Tuesday and plans to roll it out nationally in the coming months. More than 1800 products, including fresh produce, meat, seafood, dairy, bread and household staples, will be available for delivery via the platform.
The move allows Aldi to compete with its larger rivals in the online grocery segment, where it hopes for a piece of the fast-growing area that now accounts for almost 11 per cent of the overall grocery market and holds the lion’s share of growth in the sector, according to E&P analyst Phillip Kimber.
Aldi’s main competitors, Coles and Woolworths, have already achieved strong growth by investing heavily in online delivery and click-and-collect networks. Online sales for Woolworths and Coles rose 20 per cent and 22.6 per cent year-on-year, respectively, significantly outpacing in-store growth, Kimber said.
The partnership with DoorDash will allow Aldi to maintain its low-cost operating model by outsourcing delivery infrastructure.
“It’s in line with Aldi’s existing strategy. Aldi is very good at what they do – which is providing a streamlined service that keeps costs lower,” said Wilson Asset Management analyst Hailey Kim.
“Obviously, the fact that they’re not actually building their own capabilities reinforces that they are focused on still keeping costs low.”
Aldi’s decision to outsource delivery services overseas has achieved mixed results. In the US, its partnership with DoorDash, which started as a trial in 2023, has experienced strong demand and grown into a near-national service. But a Deliveroo trial partnership in Britain was scrapped in 2022.
Aldi’s approach reflects a growing trend of supermarkets leveraging third-party platforms to tap into consumer demand for convenience.
“Aldi in the United States launched a home delivery service with DoorDash back in 2023 so they’ve been in operation for two years. We’ve been monitoring that success. It’s been doing exceptionally well,” said Aldi Australia buying director Simon Padovani-Ginies.
“What we found from the US … is that our existing customers who sometimes need to shop online really valued having the service.”
Aldi previously said building its own fulfilment network was incompatible with its low-price promise. In November, Aldi Australia managing director of buying Jordan Lack told an ACCC inquiry that the cost of home delivery would ultimately fall on customers.
“We determined that that would have to be paid for by the consumer, and consequently, that was not something that we thought was reasonable for us to explore … in order to preserve our low-cost position in the market,” Lack said.
Aldi products on DoorDash will cost more and be subject to service and delivery fees, but the supermarket says its base pricing advantage still makes it the most affordable option for online grocery shoppers.
DoorDash expects the new service to generate between 20 and 50 additional daily orders per store, and Aldi is targeting a national rollout within months, depending on customer uptake.
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