In the competition of which supermarket is number one in Spain, buyers have decided that the leader remains undisputed: Mercadona. This is clear from a report on mass consumption, which grew by 8.3% until August, a behavior derived from inflation and the consequent promotional strategies that have allowed the three leaders – Mercadona, Carrefour and Lidl – to continue gaining share. in an increasingly competitive environment.
This is what the consulting firm Kantar Worldpanel says, highlighting the impact that the announcement of price reductions on 500 items from the undisputed leader, Mercadona, had on consumer behavior. Juan Roig’s chain has gained a 0.3% share, which means it accounts for 26.1% of the market, a figure that reached 26.6% in the second quarter.
The consultants have explained that, however, the Valencian chain has not only regained share in those categories involved in the price drop, but has experienced a “more transversal” trend change with this behavior in six out of 10 of their categories.
It has been, according to the director of the consulting firm’s Retail area, Bernardo Rodilla, one of the chains that has benefited the most in the transfer of consumers from the retail or specialist channel that derives from the search for greater options in times of high price increases.
Carrefour, second on the list
Carrefour continues to be in second position in the market, with a slight growth of 0.2% and 9.9% in consumer spending, due according to the consultants to the recovery of the hypermarket, which after the pandemic continues to reap “attractiveness.” “.
For its part, Lidl reaches a share of 6.3% after adding 0.6%, which places it as the fastest growing supermarket chain, especially in a first quarter where it attracted business from all its competitors.
Behind this podium, which accounts for almost half of the business, is Eroski, with a 4.4% share; It is 0.1% more than a year ago and is due, according to Kantar Worldpanel, to the good performance of Velgasa in the Northwest region. It has thus overtaken DIA, which now occupies fifth position in this classification by losing 0.4 percentage points and remaining at 4.3%.
When analyzing this decrease in share, it must be taken into account that the company has divested part of its business in Spain by selling more than 200 stores to Alcampo; In fact, it manages to record better behavior on a constant surface.
Aldi manages to strengthen its growth through openings; With 400 stores, it aspires to be one of the large chains and its challenge is to be a regular reference for its buyers, something that it has so far achieved in a very specific profile, that of young people.
Aldi, with a 2.2% increase in buyers, is the second chain that gains the most customers after Alcampo, which has received 3.2% more users after the operation with DIA. Even so, Alcampo has only managed to increase its share of the mass consumption market by one tenth, to 3.1%.
