Italian retail consortium Supermercati Uniti Nazionali (SUN) is planning to open new sales points and increase turnover in 2017.
Overall turnover of the SUN consortium went up from €1.09 billion in 2011 to €2.66 billion in 2016 and should reach €2.79 billion in 2017. During the same period, the number of stores increased from 296 to 595, with a goal of reaching 626 this year.
In terms of store formats, two new small hypermarkets or superstores will open, as well as 13 large supermarkets, 10 supermarkets, five convenience stores and one store of smaller size. The expansion plan also includes 18 renovations of existing stores.
According to the latest data, the SUN consortium has a market share of 3.3% nationally, and the target for 2017 is to reach 3.5%.
However, in some areas of Italy, the market share of individual SUN members reaches double-digit figures (17.3% for Cedigros and 13.3% each for Gabrielli and Italbrix).
Contributing to the positive performance is private label brand Consilia, whose share of sales among SUN members amounts to 15.2%, representing a 8.5% increase over the previous year. Significantly, from the first quarter of 2017, all Consilia products were made without palm oil.
SUN has five members, all retailers with a strong local presence: Italmark from Brescia, Alfi (Gulliver) from Alessandria, Cadoro from Venice, Gabrielli Group from Ascoli Piceno and Gros Gruppo Romano Supermercati from Rome.
© 2017 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
