European champions in promotions

Supermarkets account for half of total FMCG sales in The Netherlands, while both the market share and turnover of hard discount stores is shrinking. The food retail business is highly concentrated with 5,552 retail units for a population of 16.5 million. According to Han Eisma, sales director of Nielsen Netherlands, the number of stores is expected to continue shrinking in the future. The total market of food amounts to EUR 28.5 billion and produced 4.4 per cent growth last year. Supermarkets achieved growth well above this figure. Supermarkets are the most popular store type in The Netherlands, accounting for 21 per cent of all retail units and 50 per cent of total sales. Superunie has the largest number of stores (1,774), followed by Albert Hejin (710), C1000 (461) and Super de Boer (358). In the discount store segment, Aldi has 429 stores, while there are 249 Lidl units. Last year, the market share of discount stores showed decline in spite of opening 58 new stores. Aldi is down from 9.6 per cent to 8.9, while Lidl produced stagnation. The market share of private labels increased slightly last year, from 28.3 per cent to 29. Dutch people go shopping to one of the retail chains on 14 occasions per month. Their most important consideration in choosing a store is to find everything in one place. The Dutch are European champions regarding their enthusiasm for promotions. One out of four consumers are willing to go to a new store instead of their regular POP, if an attractive enough promotion is held there. However, they are no better informed about prices than the European average. Only one out of nine consumers say they are aware of the prices of products they buy on a regular basis.