Addressing the distribution of food products in Spain requires approaching the Valencian Community. Because this is where Mercadona, the leading company in the sector, with a market share of 27.6%, and which is owned by Juan Roig, has its headquarters. A company with 1,681 active stores, 104,000 workers and that in 2019 made the leap to Portugal, where it has begun to consolidate its expansion. Mercadona invoiced a total of 35,500 million euros in 2023, 15% more than in 2022, and achieved a net profit, after paying taxes and distributing the bonus among its employees, of 1,000 million euros, 40% more than in the previous year, according to the results released in March by Juan Roig.
But it is also in the Valencian Community where the Consum cooperative is based, with 874 stores in Spain and almost 20,000 workers, and a market share of 3.6%, according to data referring to the 2022 financial year (the results for 2023 will be released know next May). That year it had a turnover of 3,864 million euros and obtained a net profit of 57 million euros.
Let’s go back to Mercadona. His case is studied in the business economics departments at the best universities in the world. Because the Valencian company is a company that has been innovating in a very competitive sector, that works with narrow margins, with constant growth until it is present in every corner of Spain and growing in Portugal.
It was a pioneer in the generation of so-called white label products, a strategy that has subsequently been copied by other large distribution chains, also in Europe; and has successfully applied formulas such as the stabilization of protocols with its inter-suppliers, the reduction of costs by acquiring products from the geographical areas where it is present while maintaining quality with its policy of Always Low Prices, SPB or its policy of constant improvement of its supermarkets. A fact: since 2016, Mercadona has invested 10,000 million euros in the modernization of its stores, its logistics blocks and digitalization; and Juan Roig has announced the injection of another 5,000 million euros with the same objective. In that period, the company has completely renovated 80% of its stores.
The business in Portugal is another of the pillars that have boosted the accounts in 2023. Mercadona opened its first supermarket outside Spain in Porto in 2019. The market share already stands at 8% after doubling its sales, up to 1,403 million, and reach 49 stores. This year it plans to open another 11 supermarkets and bill 1.9 billion. The accumulated investment amounts to 900 million. Juan Roig acknowledged that last year was the first “without losses” in that country. Losses in online sales have also ended, although it only represents 2% of the Valencian company’s total turnover.
Mercadona is not only the main food distribution company in Spain, it is also one of the strategic companies of the Spanish economy. According to data from the prestigious Valencian Institute of Economic Research, IVIE, it generates 3.66% of total employment in the country (with its 98,700 workers plus those of supplier companies, 725,947 in total) and 2.10% of the national GDP. And 85% of its purchases are made from Spanish and Portuguese producers. Juan Roig pointed out that the future of his company was going to be “spectacular” and the growth forecasts do not rule out that at some point Mercadona will make the leap to another country. “It is not ruled out,” Roig himself acknowledged.
It would be unfair to close this report without remembering that in addition to the giant Mercadona and the Consum cooperative, there is another small Valencian distribution chain, Masymas, which also has an interesting presence in Valencia and Murcia. The Juan Fornés Fornés distributor invoiced a total of 360.6 million euros in 2022, 11.5% more than in the previous year, has 117 active supermarkets and employs 2,690 people. One more company in a sector that in Spain has a strong Valencian accent.
