Strong growth anticipated for hypermarket sector in Italy - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Eurofood, March 29, 2001

Strong growth is forecast for hypermarkets and supermarkets in Italy, with an increasing amount owned by foreign chains, as smaller grocery stores decline.

A joint study by AC Nielsen, Iri-Infoscan and Istat estimates the sector's turnover in 2001 at over Lit 140 000bn (72.3bn [European Dollar]), an increase of 10% over 2000, with sales at hypermarkets growing at a pace of over 10%.

The forecast amounts to a tripling of sales within a decade. The market share of big stores has now reached close to 25% of consumer shopping, up from 13.4% in 1991.

Hypermarkets market share is expected to rise from 23.9% to 27.3% over two years, while that of supermarkets falls from 66.5% to 63.8%. Last year, 11 new hypermarkets were opened, bringing the total in Italy to 230, with the number of supermarkets going up from 6 834 to 6 906. Hard discount outlets increased from 2 106 in 1999 to 2 151 last year, with smaller grocery store numbers declining from 75 282 to 74 318.

A survey by the University of Milan reported that 37.7% of hypermarkets, 30% of supermarkets and 18.2% of cash & carry wholesale shops are now owned by foreign firms, with French firms Carrefour and Auchan dominating the supermarket sectors, and German companies active in hard-discounting.