Mercadona, Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi and two regional retail distributors, Semark and Consum, have led the opening of new supermarkets in 2022, the year of the unprecedented rise in food prices. They are the water in a semi-desert store opening in the consumer goods sector. The six companies have concentrated 70% of the total openings, as stated in the recent CNMC report that analyzes the transfer of the VAT reduction from basic foods to the end customer.
Distribution has put the brakes on the rate of commercial growth coinciding with the inflationary spiral of the shopping basket. The number of new supermarkets, counting all formats, increased less in 2022 compared to the two previous years, with an increase in openings of 0.7% year-on-year. In 2021, when the page on the pandemic had not yet been turned, inaugurations advanced 2.2%, while in 2020, in full confinement, they did so by 1.4%.
The tendency to slow down the pace of openings has also been identified by Asedas, the employers’ association that brings together Mercadona, Dia, Lidl or Condis, in its latest report on local food distribution. According to their data, the openings of a new plant totaled 878 units in 2022, 18% less than a year earlier, but somewhat above 2020 (854 stores). This 2023 points in the same direction. Until May, 251 openings have been recorded, which, if there are no major changes, would project around 780 at the end of the year, below the last three years.
In this context, it is the distribution giants -Mercadona as the leader in Spain and Carrefour-, the regional ones and the German hard discount of Aldi and Lidl that maintain the expansive muscle.
Industry sources point out, however, that the data shows a “slight decline” attributable to “cyclical reasons” and not to market difficulties or a certain saturation. During 2021 and 2022, the delays in openings caused by the covid still dragged on, they add.
The leadership in growth of the commercial network of some distributors has not substantially modified the distribution of market share, they point out in the CNMC. Mercadona remains on the podium with a 17.3% share in 2022, far behind its immediate competitor, Carrefour, with 9.1%, followed by Dia (8.5%), the Eroski Group (6, 4%) and Lidl with 5.3%. Notable, however, is the continuous reduction in Dia’s market share, which has fallen by 1.7% from 2019 to 2022 and it is still possible that it will reduce it further this year after the transfer of 224 stores to Alcampo.
In total, Spain has some 25,200 consumer goods stores, with a predominance of medium-large format supermarkets.
