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Discounters Lead Growth In Italian Grocery Retail Market

By Branislav Pekic
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Discounters Lead Growth In Italian Grocery Retail Market

The total turnover of Italy’s leading grocery retailers has increased from €60.35 billion in 2012 to €65.12 billion in 2016, representing growth of 7.9% during the period, according to a study by Mediobanca.

The highest growth was recorded by discount retailers Lidl Italia (which grew 46.2% to €3.9 billion) and Eurospin Italia (+34.1% to €4.69 billion), which performed ahead of Selex (+18.7% to €10.35 billion), Conad (+13.6% to €12.38 billion), Esselunga (+11.4% to €7.51 billion) and Iper-Unes (+5.9% to €2.59 billion).

Meanwhile, turnover was down at Coop (down 2% to €12.37 billion), Gruppo Pam (-6.1% to €2.35 billion), Carrefour (-4.6 to €4.85 billion), and Auchan (-21.2% to €4.01 billion).

The study also showed that retail turnover grew by 2.2% compared to the previous year.

Retail Network

The total retail sales area in 2016 was practically unchanged compared to 2012, but the number of stores dropped by 1.2%.

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The reduction was mainly seen in hypermarkets (-7.7%) and independent retailers (-2.9%), but was compensated by an increase in the number of superstores (+7%) and discount stores (+1.5%). Supermarkets were practically stable (-0.4%).

Since 2012, Carrefour has reduced its sales network by 12.4% to 1,067 stores, while Auchan Italia increased its number of stores from 1,840 to 2,080.

The highest growth in terms of store count was recorded by Eurospin (+16.4%) and Gruppo Pam (+15.9%), followed by Auchan (+13%).

At the end of 2016, the biggest network (including franchised and affiliate stores) was that of Conad with 3,169 outlets, followed by Selex (2,542) and Auchan (2,080).

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Market Share

In terms of market share, Coop led the way as of the end of 2016, with 14.2% share, ahead of Conad (12%), Selex (9.9%), Esselunga (9%), Auchan (6.3%), Carrefour (6.1%), Eurospin Italia (6.1%), VeGe (4%), Lidl Italia (3.1%), Gruppo Pam (2.9%) and Iper-Unes (2.8%).

The discount segment accounted for 17% of the market, with the three main players being Eurospin, Lidl Italia and MD Discount.

According to the report, Italy remains a contradictory market. It features a low presence of large format stores (1.4% of the total), while independent retailers account for nearly 50% of the total.

Also, there is a low level of concentration, with the top five players accounting for slightly over 50% of the market, compared to 60-80% in Spain, Germany, France and the UK.

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The e-commerce food channel in Italy grew by 35% year-on-year in 2016, reaching €593 million, and should surpass €800 million in 2017 (+37%).

However, e-commerce still has a limited presence in the country, accounting for 2.1% of total turnover at Esselunga, compared to between 4% and 5% at major international players.

© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine

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