The Italian supermarket sector is extremely fragmented, with the top three retailers holding around 40% of the market, compared to over 50% in Germany and France.
In an interview for local daily Il Sole 24 Ore, the Director of the Research Office for Coop, Albino Russo, said that Coop has improved its ahre slightly over the past decade, Conad has significantly boosted its share (especially in the North), good results have been achieved by Selex, while, in the discount segment, Eurospin has doubled its market share since 2007.
Iri consultant Gianpaolo Costantino points out that often the regional leader is a local chain behind which there is a national brand. However, due to the specificity of the Italian market, the standard strategies of multinationals have in many cases failed, citing the example of Germany’s Billa, which left the market but is still present with discount chain Penny Market.
At the end of June, the Iri ranking of the Italian retail chains had Coop leading with 17% of sales, followed by Conad (14.4%), Esselunga (12.8%), Selex (slightly below 12%), Auchan (8.1%), Carrefour (6.3%), Finiper (3.3% with the brands Iper, Unes and U2) and VéGé (3.2%).
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
