Despar Italia has reported a 8.4% increase in turnover in full-year 2020, to €3.9 billion, boosted by the opening of 60 stores during the period.
Of the group's total revenue, more than two thirds (68%) was generated by directly-owned shops and the remaining 32% by affiliated stores.
In terms of store banners, Despar accounted for 37% of overall revenue, Eurospar for 36% and Interspar for the remaining 27%.
The new store openings came following a total investment of €90 million, which also included a number of store refurbishments. This took the group's store total to 1,399, incorporating more than 811,000 square metres of floor space.
Contributing to the network expansion were the arrival of local retailer Gruppo 3A (previously part of Sma-Auchan) into Despar Italia in January 2020, which encompasses more than 140 stores in Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta and Liguria, as well as a number of growth initiatives implemented by the seven consortium members.
Private-Label Sales
Sales of private label products reached €387 million, up 9.4% year-on-year, accounting for 20.3% of the grocery total. Driving growth were the Veggie (+18.2%), Despar Premium (+18%), Free From (+17.2%) and Scelta Verde BioLogico (+12%) product lines.
In 2020, Despar expanded its private label offering, introducing more than 200 SKUs and restyling more than 270 products. The group now offers 3,300 private-label SKUs across 16 different product lines.
For 2021, Despar Italia is planning both new store openings and the renovation of more than 40 of its outlets.
The group also plans to launch around 220 new products, and make changes to the packaging of 190 references, with the retailer expecting private label sales to grow by around 3% this year.
© 2021 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
