Tesco has hired the former boss of Aldi to lead its UK business as traditional supermarkets fight back against the rise of the discounters.

Matthew Barnes, who was Aldi’s UK chief executive between 2015 and 2018, will replace Jason Tarry, Tesco’s current UK boss who will leave in 2024 after more than three decades at the supermarket.

Mr Barnes was a pivotal figure in growing Aldi in the UK over the last decade. It grew its UK market share from 4pc to around 7pc while he was running its UK business.

Most recently he was co-head of Aldi Sud’s executive board, where he oversaw many of the German chain’s international businesses and led its global sourcing, buying and supply chain.

Tesco and the other traditional Big Four supermarkets have been locked in a battle for market share with Aldi and Lidl during the cost of living crisis.

Tesco has spent much of the year cutting the price of food and drink to stay competitive. It has slashed the cost of around 2,500 products on its shelves since January including cheese, yoghurt and milk, and has made price-matching Aldi on many products a focus of its strategy.

Aldi, which overtook Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth-biggest supermarket last year, has spent £3bn on opening 225 new sites over the past five years.

Clive Black, an analyst at Shore Capital, said: “Mr Barnes has arguably been the nemesis of the UK supermarket scene, as opposed to discount grocery, through the past decade or two and so his capture by Tesco is highly noteworthy.”

Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, added: “[Mr Barnes] has been through a period of rapid growth for discounters when he was in charge of the UK and Ireland. Arguably, he’s been at the forefront of reshaping the grocery market in the UK through that period.

“He knows the UK grocery market inside out. He knows their biggest rival inside out, absolutely.”  

Tesco’s market share has edged up over the past months as inflation has eased, rising from 26.9pc in March to 27.4pc in October, according to Kantar.

Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy said: “Jason has made an immense contribution to our business. Under his leadership, Tesco today is the most competitive we have ever been, built on exceptionally strong foundations of doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

“I believe the combination of Matthew’s extensive retail experience, competitive spirit and challenger mindset will help us continue to win in the UK market and evolve our thinking about what customers will want from Tesco in the future.”