Turnover increased in the country of supermarkets this June

In Austria food retail turnover grew by 1.5 percent in value in the June 2009-May 2010 period, compared with the same period a year earlier – informs Sigrid Göttlich, the retailer services director of Nielsen Austria. Sales by hypermarkets larger than 2,500 m² augmented by 7 percent and supermarkets with a 400-999 m² floor space grew by 4 percent; turnover decreased in all other channels. Mr Göttlich told us that the market share of the three biggest retailers was 79 percent in terms of value: the REWE Group carved out 31 percent of the cake with Billa, Merkur, Penny Market and Sütterlüty increasing their turnover by 4.3 percent last year; SPAR expanded by 2.5 percent and had a 28-percent market share; Hofer (Aldi) realised plus 1.1 percent and had a 20 percent share of the market. Last year 5,833 stores – 2 percent less than a year before – realised a food turnover of 17 billion (in Hungary there were 19,900 general food stores last year).
In Austria 56 percent of stores (3,235) belong to the 400-1,000 m² retail channel, including supermarkets and the discount stores of Lidl and Hofer. This channel was responsible for 65 percent of turnover in 2009. 38 percent of stores (2,238) has a floor space below 400 m² – their market share is 11 percent; there are 360 hypermarkets larger than 1,000 m², with a 24-percent market share.