Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona opened its first stores in Portugal at the start of July, with the retailer seeking to challenge the dominance of local retailers Sonae and Jerónimo Martins.
The two established players, present through banners such as Continente and Pingo Doce, respecitvely, together account for 54% to 58% of the market.
The first four Mercadona stores were opened in the district of Porto (Vila Nova de Gaia, Matosinhos, Maia and Gondomar) during July, with six more planned by the end of 2019 (in the districts of Porto, Braga and Aveiro).
This will be followed by ten new openings in 2020.
Rather than focus of promotions, which account for 45% of product sales in Portugal, and loyalty programmes, the Spanish retailer is betting on the 'Every Day Low Price’ policy it adopts in its home market, driven by the strength of its private label ranges, including Hacendado, Deliplus, Bosque Verde and Compy.
Spanish Rivals
The first to react to the arrival of Mercadona has been Spanish rival DIA, by launching a new ‘low price’ campaign across its Minipreço estate, with a commitment to keep prices low on more than 150 SKUs throughout the year.
Another Spanish retailer with a presence in Portugal, Coviran, has opted to continue expanding its network, by opening two more stores in July, in the districts of Leiria (Arrabal) and Porto (Penafiel).
Expansion Plans
The Portuguese unit of French group Les Mousquetaires, meanwhile, is planning to invest €60 million and open 15 new stores across various retail formats in 2019.
It is currently rolling out a new urban store concept, Intermarché Express, with which it aims to provide a convenient shopping experience for city-based consumers. The first two Intermarché Express stores have opened in in Arco do Cego (Lisbon) and Praia da Rocha.
Elsewhere, discounter Aldi Nord has started the implementation of a new store concept called Aldi Nord Instore Konzept (ANIKO) in Portugal, with a view to its entire Portuguese estate to be reformatted by the end of this year.
The reformatted stores will be more modern and comfortable, Aldi said, and will feature a simpler layout and increased focus on best-selling products. Aldi Nord recently opened its third store in Gaia, taking its store network to 68 outlets.
Also in July, Sonae opened two new supermarkets; a Continente Modelo in Mirandela, and a Continente Bom Dia in Villa Real.
© 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
