Spanish retailer Mercadona has opened the first of the ten new supermarkets that it has planned for Portugal this year.
The store, in Guimarães, is Mercadona’s 30th in Portugal and the second in the northern city, with the Spanish retailer having opened its first store there in June 2021.
The company plans to invest €150 million in Portugal in 2022, with openings in five new districts: Viseu, Leiria, Santarém, Setúbal and Lisbon.
Lisbon Supermarket Planned
To date, Mercadona has been expanding mostly in the north of the country, but it plans to open its first supermarket in the city of Lisbon in 2023.
In parallel, the company will continue to expand its logistics network, investing an additional €24.5 million to build a new storage unit in Almeirim (Santarém), joining its recently expanded storage units in Póvoa de Varzim (Porto).
During the presentation of its 2021 financial results last month, Mercadona chief executive Juan Roig said that the retailer is “delighted with sales in Portugal” and that it purchases €500 million of products from some 900 Portuguese suppliers on an annual basis.
Investment In Portugal
The chain invested €110 million last year in Portugal, where it opened nine supermarkets.
Its Portuguese network generated sales of €415 million from 29 stores, and Mercadona has achieved a 3% market share after two years of activities.
A December 2021 study by consumer rights organisation DECO found that Mercadona was one of Portuguese consumers’ favourite retail chains, scoring 8.6 out of ten, in terms of overall experience.
© 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.
