No surprises? Yes, there are!

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/6-7

No one is surprised at Lidl’s No.1 spot, having moved so far ahead on the list that it was clear the discounter would be unbeatable in 2023. Although the Lidl’s sales growth was 18%, the fact alone that sales were up nearly HUF 220m and opened the gap to almost HUF 400m against the No.2 in the ranking is staggering. While the top 15 FMCG retail chains in 2022 had generated gross sales a little above HUF 6,900bn, this figure increased to HUF 7,900bn last year – which is a 14% growth rate, less than the inflation. So we can confirm what many before us have said in many places: overall, there is no evidence of market expansion.

Zsuzsanna  Hermann
CEO-editor-in-chief
Trade magazin

There is no change in the top 3, Tesco’s sales revenue was at negative zero, but it is still great that this kept the retailer in the 3rd place. A stable point between Lidl and Tesco in the No.2 spot is SPAR, which – with huge investments – delivered exactly the market average in 2023. The situation is similar among the big Hungarian chains, in the sense that Reál is holding its own with a tiny increase alongside the two similarly performing COOP and CBA. There is a small change here, as last year Auchan was behind Reál but this time it has overtaken the domestic chain, with a sales growth slightly above inflation. If we take a look at drugstores, we can see that they are soaring: dm, Rossmann and Müller all performed superbly, and Dél-100 did well too. All in all, everyone did their best in 2023, which was a very difficult year. On the following pages the top-ranked retailers evaluate 2023 in alphabetical order, and the highlight what the key areas are for them in 2024. //