Spar Austria has recorded domestic sales growth of 4%, to €6.88 billion, in its 2018 financial year.
This marks the ninth consecutive year that Spar has emerged as the leading retailer in the country.
Record High
The gross sales turnover of the Spar Austria Group, comprising Spar's domestic and foreign operations, Hervis and SES, grew by 4.7% in full-year 2018, amounting to €15 billion – a new record high for the group.
Spar Austria Group operates from a total of 3,174 locations, of which 2,920 are in the food trade and 225 in sports retail.
It also operates 29 Spar European Shopping Centres (SES).
The group employs more than 82,700 people in eight countries, of which 3,200 are apprentices.
A Strong Brand
The group's chief executive, Dr Gerhard Drexel, said, "The fact that we were able to achieve such great sales growth with slightly fewer locations shows the strength of the Spar brand and the great trust that our customers place in us."
Spar Austria is growing more than twice as fast as the entire food-retailing industry in the country, the company reported.
Market Share
As a result of its performance, Spar Austria's market share has also risen significantly, it added.
"According to Nielsen, we gained 0.7 percentage points of market share in 2018, bringing our market share to 31.9%. That is very pleasing," said Drexel.
"Although the exact data from Nielsen will not be known until mid-2019, it is already certain that Spar, as the only grocery trading group, has gained market share in 2018," he added.
Renovation And Store Launch
In 2018, the Spar Austria Group invested around €660 million in store openings and renovation in Germany and elsewhere.
In Austria, the main focus was on converting existing stores to a new, fresh-oriented supermarket concept.
As of now, more than 100 stores have adopted the new store concept.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
