This has changed the purchase of the Spanish in a decade. Spaniards visit stores less and reduce their spending on consumer products due to the rise of the Mercadona or Lidl format.

Not so long ago, only 10 years ago, four out of every 10 euros that the Spaniards spent in the shopping cart went
to the butcher shop, fruit shop, fish shop in the neighborhood, or to the market, or to the food gallery. In addition,
we went out to buy a lot, both to these positions and to the super or hyper, and spent a large part of the budget on
known consumer brands. In the last decade some trends have been imposed that have turned around how we fill
the pantry. Despite what inflation has risen, we spend less on the shopping cart, due to the increase in white label
products, and we no longer go to the shopkeeper in the neighborhood, or to the hypermarket, but to the supermarket
— especially Mercadona— , where we buy less fresh and more packed. And lately, much ready to eat.

These are some of the conclusions drawn by the consulting firm Kantar in a study on the evolution of large consumption
(food, drugstore, baby products and pets) in Spain in the last 10 years, presented this Tuesday. A sector that faces,
in the opinion of Florencio García, retail director of the consultancy, a major main challenge: the demographic. “In
10 years, the population has barely grown in Spain by 600,000 people; without more mouths, sales will not grow in
volume. Meanwhile, the population over 65 has grown by 1.3 million, with the changes that entails : less young families,
smaller homes … “, he explained. “These trends have marked distribution, which has had to adapt,” he said.
his demographic trend, as well as some more related to the evolution of distribution, draw the current Spanish
consumer, significantly different from that of a decade ago. One of the things that attract the most attention is that
in 2019 they made an average of 246 visits to the store (acts of purchase) to fill the pantry. They are 35 less than in
2010, despite the proximity boom. According to García, the explanation is in fresh products: 10 years ago, we went
more to the butcher, fruit bowl, etc. (the specialist channel, in the jargon of the guild), in addition to the super, while
now, in good measure, “we solved the purchase, both fresh and bottled, in a single visit to the supermarket, “Garcia
summarized.

In fact, in 2010, we spent 49.9% of the budget on them and now 61%. Meanwhile, specialists have been losing share:
at the beginning of the decade, we made 41.1% of the purchase of fresh in the specialists, by 30.7% last year. Including
packaging, these stores have gone in 10 years of solving 32.9% of the purchase to stay at 24.9%.

The fresco also explains the decrease in food expenditure in these 10 years. In 2010, each Spanish spent on average
4,344 euros to fill the fridge and 10 years later, 110 euros less. How is it possible? In the first place, because the fresco
has lost prominence in spending, going from 48% to 45.5%. That is, the budget in perishables has been reduced by
159 euros (in addition, from the fall of 35 acts of purchase, 30 are perishable). In products, the trend in vogue is that
of takeaway, which has originated the term “merchants.” Garcia denies that word, because he maintains that they are
not only stealing consumption occasions in restaurants, but, above all, “occasions of cooking at home.”

Another factor that explains the drop in spending is the rise of the white label, to which the Spanish dedicated 870
euros in 2019, 164 euros more than in 2010. Today the distribution brands (white) account for 37.7% of the expenditure
of consumers, 1.4 percentage points more than a year earlier. 10 years ago, when the crisis boosted the consumption
of these products, that percentage was 33.9%. The growth of the white brand has gone hand in hand with the establishments that most feed on them, the so-called short assortment (Mercadona, Lidl, Aldi, etc.), which in 2019 concentrated 37.1% of the expenditure, nine points More than a decade ago.

“The short assortment is the great protagonist of the decade,” Garcia said. Thus, Mercadona reigns in the distribution with a 25.5% share, seven points more than in 2010, while Carrefour has barely earned six tenths, from 8.1 to 8.7%. Another exponent of this type of supermarket, Lidl, has gone from 2.8 to 5.6% and already threatens Dia’s third place (6.4%). In this case, the crisis of the last year and a half has undermined its position and its image seriously, in addition to its results.

Not only traditional food stores have lost share. With the growth of the short assortment, the hypermarket, in which Carrefour and Alcampo dominate, has been losing bellows, going from a share of 14.6% in 2010 to 13.5% in 2019. A characteristic phenomenon of the sector in Spain are the regional supermarkets, which in some communities have served as a bridge between the specialist and the modern distribution. None of them sneaks into the first groups, but together they take 12.2% of the expenditure, three points more than 10 years ago. In any case, the most outstanding growth is that of online shopping, which already accounts for 1.9% of spending (0.3 points more than in 2018) when 10 years ago it was practically non-existent. “A greater differentiation of the offer with respect to the physical store together with an improvement of the delivery process would help this channel to grow,” Garcia said.

Source: El País