Portugal’s FMCG market grew by 4.2% in 2017, with similar increases seen in sales of manufacturer brands (+4.3%) and private-label goods (+4.2%).
According to Nielsen data, the highest growth was recorded in the beverages category (8.4%), followed by household hygiene (3.8%), food (3.4%), and personal hygiene (3.1%).
In the food category, grocery and frozen products grew by 4%, with higher demand for premium, healthy and convenience products, while dairy goods were up by 2%.
Over the Christmas trading period, the FMCG market grew by 9.1% compared to December 2016, with manufacturer brands (+10.1%) registering higher sales growth than private label (+6.8%).
Retail Trends
Elsewhere, a study by marketing company Levelsource showed that Portuguese consumers also increased their buying frequency compared to 2016.
When asked for their main purchasing criteria, 93% of respondents said they were focused on price, 89% on brand, and 88% on quality. Additionally, 92% of consumers said they prefer instant discount deals to quantity-driven deals.
In an interview with national radio station Antena 1, the director general of the Associação Portuguesa de Empresas de Distribuição, Ana Trigo Morais, said that Portuguese retail sales volumes grew by 3.4% in 2017, and by 4.5% in the Christmas quarter.
However, she warned that the country's food security tax “has excessively penalised the distribution sector," adding that the measure is "unfair" because it is not paid by all.
Looking at online retail, although only 7% of Portuguese households do their shopping over the internet, an ever-increasing number of consumers are using digital services to search or compare prices, even if they ending up going to the physical stores to make the purchase.
Speaking to Dinheiro Digital, Sonae’s chief corporate centre officer Luís Reis highlighted the growing importance of omni-channel sales, pointing out that consumers do not mind buying online, but also like to have a physical location if they need to exchange goods or deal with an issue.
He noted that online sales at Sonae's hypermarket chain Continente still account for only 2% of its total turnover, but these figures have doubled in the past year.
© 2018 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.
