Italian large-scale food retail distributors reported 5.7% sales growth in 2021, compared to the previous year, and 10.9% growth compared to 2016 (a 2.6% annual growth average).
Despite a negative 2021 (-0.1% in sales), the sector is poised to recover in 2022, with growth of 1.3%.
The data is from a Mediobanca report on the large-scale food retail trade, based on the economic and financial data of 116 Italian retailers and 30 major international players, covering the 2016 to 2020 period.
The market share of the top five retailers in Italy is 57.6%, below that of France (78.6%), the UK (75%) and Germany (73.4%).
Leading Retailers
Conad confirmed its leadership position with a 15% market share in 2021, followed by Selex (14.5%), Coop (12.3%), Esselunga (8.3%), Gruppo VéGé (7.5%) and Eurospin (6.9%).
The highest growth rate was achieved by discounter MD, which posted an average annual growth rate of 10.7% between 2016 and 2020, followed by Crai (9.2%) and Lidl Italia (8.4%).
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Store Formats
While hypermarkets continue to lose market share, from 32.6% in 2007 to 26.5% in 2021, discounters increased their share from 9.5% in 2007 to 21.7% in 2021, and are set to reach 24.6% in 2023.
Supermarkets remain the dominant players in the Italian retail marketplace, accounting for 43.1% of the market in 2021.
Promotional pressure increased due to inflation last year, the study found, while the market share of private-label brands is expected to rise from the current 20% to 24.2% in 2030.
Despite recording 50% growth in 2020, e-commerce still has a limited reach in Italy, and its share in total turnover did not surpass 3%, compared to 8% worldwide.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
