Mercadona store

Spanish supermarket Mercadona and Germany’s Lidl were the best performers in Spain’s grocery retail market during the first quarter of 2016.

Research from Kantar Worldpanel shows that in spite of a contraction in Spain’s grocery sector (sales fell by 0.8 per cent in the three months from December to February) Lidl and Mercadona saw their market share increase by 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively.

The German discounter now holds 3.8 per cent of the market, while Mercadona increased its dominance to 22.3 per cent of the market.

“The beginning of this year confirms for us the general trends from 2015: consumers are reducing expenditure in specialist retailers and looking for better perceived value at the larger distributors,” Kantar’s retail and petrol sector director Florencio García said.

The research analyst said other discounters including Aldi and Bon Preu were also benefiting from this trend.

Mercadona’s turnover rose by 3.3 per cent in 2015 to 20.83bn, fuelled by new store openings and volume growth. Turnover from its online store increased by 8 per cent to €169m.