In 2023, the general increase in prices pushed the nominal sales of Italian large-scale retail trade (+8.3% compared to 2022), however with a negative impact on volumes, which fell by 1.7%. This is stated by the new edition of the Observatory on Italian and international large-scale retail trade with a prevalence of food from the Mediobanca Research Area which aggregates the economic-financial data of 129 national companies and 32 major international players.
While in 2022 distributors absorbed part of the inflation of suppliers (+11% annual increase in producer prices in the food and beverage industry on the domestic market), transferring an average inflation level of 6.3% to retail prices % (average annual change in consumer prices of food products, non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks), in 2023 the gap was reduced and the average annual change in consumer prices exceeded that of producer prices, with an increase of 8, 2% versus 6.3%.
Among the various groups, Eurospin claims to be the queen of cumulative profits between 2019 and 2022 (1,160 million, surpassing VéGé at 940 million and Selex at 890). According to research, Esselunga is better than all the main international operators in terms of sales per square meter.
The attention to the growing savings of Italians has rewarded private label products (MDD) in which consumers recognize convenience but also quality and reliability. In 2023, private label sales, including the discount channel, reached 25.4 billion (+7.2% annual average from 2019), equal to almost a third of the entire market, getting ever closer to the European average (38% of market share), adds the report from the Mediobanca Research Area.
Again due to the search for savings, the discount market share went from 18.9% in 2019 to 23% in 2023. In Italy there are 94 discount stores per million inhabitants, fewer than in Poland (128), Germany (115 ) and Spain (101), but more than in France (49) and the United Kingdom (27). In terms of revenue growth, discounters double the traditional large-scale retail trade: in 2022, turnover grew by an average of 9.9% per year compared to 2019 (+5.5% for other operators) and by 13.4% compared to 2021 (+7.9% traditional large-scale retail trade).
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA