Consum billed in 2022, a “complicated but full of milestones” year according to its CEO, a total of 3,864.3 million euros. The figure is 14.4% higher than in the previous year, despite having obtained lower results, 15% less. The Valencian cooperative has presented its sustainability report this morning in Valencia, where it has defended that distribution has very narrow margins in a complex context of inflation. “We have reduced the margin by 0.5 in 2022 on extremely tight margins,” explained Juan Luis Durich.
On the margins, the head of the cooperative has extended, who has argued that “in an organization that sells 3,864 million and earns 57, that means that we adjust a lot to the margins and we go to the limit, because we have to compete with the sector, where there are many competitors”, he defended.
In terms of sales, Consum has increased sales on the surface by 11.7% and by 7.3% in the online store, a record that has slowed down compared to the previous year and that accuses the company of the recovery of the face-to-face in shops after the pandemic and the distribution decision to charge for the service, which “has been a brake”, Durich commented.
Likewise, the company already has 874 points of sale, 471 supermarkets and 403 Charter, which operate with a franchise model. In this regard, the general director of Consum explained that this market is “very active” and that many opening proposals come to them, although “we are very selective”.
Of these franchises, a total of 26 points of sale are in Andalusia, a region where the company expects to grow “significantly” next year. In Andalusia they already have 595 workers, although growth continues to be consolidated in the so-called “historical areas”, such as the Valencian Community, Catalonia or Murcia. Likewise, he explained that the company is currently looking there for land on which to locate a new logistics platform.
On the other hand, Consum has created 1,125 jobs (a total of 19,337 workers) and has opened 59 new stores and has renovated 41 old stores. Its forecast for the next financial year is to open 50 new stores.
