Retail companies spend the most on advertising

According to Nielsen, in Germany the number of stores decreased by 1,100 from one year to another. On the 82 million-strong market there are 46,425 hyper- and supermarkets, discount stores and drugstores. The average shopper spent more than a year ago but went shopping less often. The Edeka Group is the market leader, before Rewe (Penny Market’s owner), Schwarz (Lidl’s owner), Aldi, Metro, Lekkerland, Schlecker, drogerie markt and Rossmann. Hypermarkets had the biggest market share – 41 percent, followed by discount stores at 38 percent. Hypers improved their value sales by 3.4 percent and the number of stores grew by 3.5 in this channel. Discount stores’ revenue was up 0.7 percent and there was a 2.3-percent in the number of stores. Discount stores’ consumer acceptance is still the highest. The number of supermarkets fell by 4.2 percent. Drugstores: the channel lost 8.3 percent of stores but managed to increase sales revenues by 1.5 percent. Last year the advertising market expanded by two-digit numbers in Germany. Its size is above EUR 25 billion and television has the biggest share, growing from 42 to 44 percent. Retail companies are still the biggest advertisers, spending more than EUR 2 billion a year. Social media plays an ever bigger role in shopping decisions: 14 percent of German consumers only buy something after gathering information on the right websites about it.