Discount grocery giant Aldi has inked a deal with a leading analytics provider.

U.K.-based Nielsen Holdings PLC, whose U.S. headquarters are in New York, will provide consumer-sourced panel data, custom retail and advertising effectiveness analytics and other analytics to German-based Aldi, which has its U.S. base in Batavia, Illinois.

The multi-year deal comes on the heels of Aldi’s June announcement that it plans to build 900 new stores in the U.S. in the next five years. Aldi currently has almost 1,700 stores in 35 states.

Coinciding with Aldi’s expansion news this summer was the entrance of the chain’s discount rival, German-based Lidl, into the U.S. market. Lidl, which began opening stores on the East Coast in June, plans to open 100 stores in the U.S. by mid-2018.

Aldi chose Nielsen for its analytics services because of its differentiation of consumer and retail data, Scott Patton, Aldi’s vice president of corporate buying, said in a news release.

Because Aldi is one of the fastest-growing retailers in the U.S., it needs access to greater amounts of effective shopper and advertising data, Rob Hill, Nielsen’s executive vice president for U.S. Retail Services, said in the release.

"We are humbled and proud that Aldi selected Nielsen as its strategic partner and look forward to supporting Aldi's growth and expansion initiatives within the U.S. market."