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Aldi UK says e-commerce "not an immediate focus"

* Trade journal reported Aldi to test ecommerce in UK, other markets

* Online grocery sales growing fast in Europe

* Hard to make profit in grocery delivery

LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - German discounter Aldi played down on Friday a media report that it is planning to try out online grocery sales in Britain, saying e-commerce "is not an immediate focus".

German trade journal Lebensmittel Zeitung cited unnamed sources on Thursday as saying Aldi was preparing to launch an online store in Britain and possibly in other countries, including its home market.

But a spokeswoman for Aldi's British unit said: "E-commerce is not an immediate focus for Aldi as we currently have the best performing business model in the grocery sector. However, it is an area we monitor as part of our customer-focused approach."

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Grocery e-commerce in Britain is more advanced than elsewhere in Europe, accounting for about 5 percent of sales.

But Aldi has long avoided online grocery sales as not profitable enough. The world's biggest discount chain has offered online delivery of alcoholic drinks in Australia since 2013 but has made no foray into ecommerce in Europe.

Aldi and fellow German discounter Lidl have been expanding rapidly in Britain, stealing market share from Tesco , Wal-Mart's Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

All four are competing fiercely for a share of the rapidly growing grocery ecommerce market, with Morrisons the last to go online when it struck a deal with online grocery specialist Ocado in 2013.

Online grocery sales will roughly double from 2012 to 2016 in five major northern European markets - Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands - the food and consumer goods research group IGD forecasts.

Germany's second-biggest supermarket group REWE said earlier this month it was investing heavily in grocery ecommerce even though it does not expect to turn a profit soon, as it prepares for Amazon to expand its food delivery service.

Complex logistics for fresh and frozen produce mean it is hard to make online grocery profitable, particularly for retailers selling cut-price goods like those on offer at Aldi. (Reporting by James Davey and Emma Thomasson; Editing by David Stamp)