Retail Insights #1

Welcome to our first edition of Retail Insights; a platform highlighting the latest retail trends, strategies and expert advice to help businesses and individuals stay informed, inspired and ahead of the competition.

Spar continues to grow in Austria. With a gross retail turnover just shy of €10bn, the retailer has further grown its market share, bringing it to over 36%.  In terms of sales, growth was above the regional average and reached 9.2% (Nielsen), with network expansion and inflation as the key drivers of the increase. 

Ocado first quarter sales have surged 10.6%. Revenue jumped to £645.3m in the 13 weeks to 3 March, up from £583.7m, as active shopper numbers rose 6.4% to over 1 million at the end of the period. The driving forces behind this upsurge have been a sustained voucher campaign, expansion of its private label range, lowering the price of 1,700 more products, and increasing its general product and delivery slot availability.  

Mercadona continues to grow its market share. The Spanish market leader continues to strengthen its position, achieving €35.5 bn in sales across Spain and Portugal in 2023. The success is driven by its continued long-term investment in customers, workers, suppliers, society and capital. Mercadona has invested €10bn over the last seven years, split between new stores, renovations, but largely its ‘hives’ (online logistics centres) that fulfil online orders. 

The discount channel will be the fastest-growing physical channel globally, with a CAGR of 5.1% to 2028. Discounters in Europe and North America will be the key drivers of this growth, with Aldi and Lidl adding 36% of the overall channel’s growth in the next five years. Our latest report presents our data to highlight opportunities in the channel over the next five years and how to prepare for the trends that will shape the discount channel in the next year and beyond.  

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