Coop remains the market leader in Italy with a 14.2% market share as of the end of 2017, a stable performance compared to the previous year.
The retailer achieved a turnover of €13.4 billion (+2.6% on the previous), rising to €14.8 billion (+2.5%) when other non-grocery activities (travel agency, gas, telecom and bookstores) are included.
First Half Performance
Data released by Coop for the first half of 2018 reveal that sales dropped by 1.8% (compared to a decline of between 1.5% and 2% across the entire market) mainly due to challenges in the southern regions and the hypermarket segment.
Coop president Marco Pedroni expects a recovery in the second half, which would see full-year turnover in line with that of 2017.
He pointed out that Coop is concentrating its efforts in the South, implementing a number of rationalisation measures, as well as extending its cooperative formula in Sicily and commencing franchise partnerships in a number of regions.
Turnover from private label products reached €2.7 billion, with the group's private label range encompassing 4,500 SKUs.
Pedroni announced that the retailer plans to extend this, with the arrival of 200 new private label SKUs on store shelves over the course of the year.
Digital Lockers
Elsewhere, Coop Lombardia has teamed up with Vodafone Italia to equip selected stores with digital lockers for the collection of online shopping.
The refrigerated locker, which ensures the preservation of fresh and frozen food, is connected through Vodafone’s 4G network and IoT telemetry.
Vodafone Italia technicians are able to remotely monitor the status of the individual lockers, in terms of temperature and delivery status.
© 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
