Retail sales in Portugal grew by 3.9% in 2018, compared to the previous year, which saw a growth rate of 4.1%.
According to the National Statistical Institute (INE), this performance was influenced by a 3.1% growth in the sales of food products, offsetting a 2% drop in non-food products.
In Q4 2018, retail sales increased by 4.6% year on year, with food products growing by 4.8% and non-food products growing by 4.5%. In the month of December, retail sales went up by 4.2% year on year.
FMCG Performance
Elsewhere, data provided by Nielsen indicates that FMCG sales in Portugal surpassed €9 billion (+2.8%) last year, with a strong performance recorded across various categories, including food (+3.1%), home care (+2.9%), beverages (+2.8%) and personal care (+1.3%).
In terms of store formats, the large-supermarket channel posted growth of 6.7%, while in the traditional channel, sales went up by 3.9%.
Manufacturer brands (+3.3%) also posted higher growth than private label (+1.9%), the findings indicate.
Looking at the individual categories, private label saw 1.6% growth in food, 4.3% in beverages, and 4.2% in personal care, but private-label sales dropped by 0.4% for home care products.
Christmas is still the most buoyant period for the FMCG segment, accounting for nearly 10% of total sales across both supermarkets and hypermarkets.
The promotional weight in this period remained above average, with more than 50% of purchases sold under promotion – an average of 51% at Christmas, compared to an average of 47% in 2018.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
