Compared to the previous year, the German food retail sector has only slightly increased its turnover in 2016. The increase was 0.8%, which was 2.0 percentage points lower than the previous year. In 2016 the total turnover increased by 1.9 billion Euros to 237.7 billion Euros. In the same year, the food retail sales increased with almost 2.6%, from 191.9 billion (2015) to €196.9 billion (2016).
These data, together with the supermarkets’ total year values, were published in the 2017 edition of the market study TOP-companies of Nielsen Trade- dimensions. To clearly and simply analyze the data, this year’s edition has a completely new layout.
The top 5 covers 73.8% of the market
The Edeka Group still leads the top 5 of supermarkets. With a turnover of 54.8 billion Euros Edeka expanded its market share to 23.0%. Edeka is followed by Rewe Group whose turnover has grown by 1.9% to 41.1 billion Euros, which corresponds to a share of the overall market of 17.3%. The Schwarz Group, with an increase of 3.7% to 37.4 billion Euros, holds third place in the ranking of top supermarkets. Aldi and Metro swapped places. Aldi Group achieved a growth of 1.6% and passed the Metro Group. The Metro Group, Dusseldorf, recorded a decline in turnover, which is not just the result of the restructuring and demerger of Ceconomy (Media-Saturn).
Slower growth rates for organic retailers
The growth of the organic trade is not as strong as in recent years; however, it is still the fastest growing segment. Dennree leads the market with an increase in sales of 12.1%, followed on second place by EBL with 9.9%, and Voll Corner takes third place with 9.5%. Further, Bio Company reported an 8.3% growth, followed by the SuperBioMarkt with 6.8%. The organic wholesaler Weiling reported a growth of 5.1% and Basic of 1.3%. Only the growth of Alnatura is at a low level at a rate of 0.2%.
Discount supermarkets expand their market share
With 3% the discount supermarket segment has grown slightly more in 2016 compared to 2015 (2.4%). This corresponds to a sales increase of almost 2.3 billion Euros. So the total market share of discount supermarket sales is now around 32.9% (2015: 29.6%).