Italian retailer Crai outperformed its competitors in terms of growth last year, seeing sales rise 14.2% year-on-year, according to a Mediobanca report on the Italian grocery retail sector.
Discounter chain Eurospin posted growth of 11.1%, followed by Gruppo VéGé (+9.8%), discounter Lillo-MD (+8.8%), Lidl (+8.5%), Agorà (+7.5%), Despar (+6.9%) and Conad (+5.3%).
The aggregate turnover of the 20 largest food retailers in Italy, accounting for 97% of the market, reached €83 billion (+4.4%), the best performance since 2014.
Overall, Coop confirmed its position as the market leader with a turnover of €14.8 billion (+3.4%), although second-placed Conad achieved a higher growth rate (+5.3%), reaching €13 billion in sales.
Share Of Sales
Combined, Coop and Conad accounted for a turnover of €20.1 billion (+4.2% on 2017), or 24.5% of the total sales of the entire market.
The discount channel achieved revenues of €11.9 billion (+9.7%), while net profit in this segment increased 19.9%. Companies in this segment accounted for 15.6% of total sales and 34.2% of profits.
The most profitable retailer in terms of ROI was Eurospin (23%), ahead of MD (18.6%), Lidl (16.9%), Agorà (12.5%), Gruppo VeGé and Crai (both 11.7%) and C3 (11%).
Online Sales
Online food sales in supermarkets exceeded €200 million in 2017 (+50%), with Italians spending on average €500 per year in this channel.
In its report, Mediobanca highlights that the growth of sales does not match that of profit margins, a sign of an increasingly consolidated market and saturation, which could lead to further M&A operations.
© 2019 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
