Aldi’s growing brick-and-mortar footprint reflected in foot traffic data

It might come as no surprise that German discount grocer Aldi has experienced substantial year-over-year foot traffic growth above its competitors.

As one of the fastest-growing grocery chains in the country, Aldi enjoyed double-digit foot traffic growth in the first five months of 2024, according to Placer.ai data shared exclusively with Supermarket News.

Aldi was the only major supermarket chain that eclipsed 20% year-over-year growth in shoppers, and in February the grocer hit 30% growth over the same period the previous year.

That’s nearly double the 15.2% growth reported by Dollar General. Meanwhile, Costco was the only other chain to hit double-digit foot traffic growth in February.

When looking at the data by store type, foot traffic unsurprisingly spiked for dollar stores in the first three months of the year when shoppers are typically tightening their belts after the holidays.

Mass merchandise stores were the only category for the first five months to experience a net loss in foot traffic, reporting declines of 0.06% in January and 1.3% in April.

The data, which is provided through a partnership between Placer.ai and Supermarket News, shows that visit duration remained steady at stores for the first five months of the year by store type.