Market share of leading grocery retailers in Italy 2023

Conad was the leading food retailer in Italy in 2023, with a 15 percent of market share, closely followed by Selex Gruppo Commerciale, which had a share of 14.7 percent. Among the top ten retailers with the highest market share also were some leading supermarket chains such as Coop Italia, Esselunga. Carrefour and Lidl.

Conad, the new leading supermarket

The Conad cooperative started in 1962 in Bologna, and since then, it has become one of the leading supermarkets. Although it featured in the ranking since previous years, it was not until the purchase of Auchan that Conad topped the list of the market share of food retailers.

Thus, in 2019, Conad's revenue increased to 9.2 billion euros, the highest figure in the last five years. Besides, the number of employees of Conad also grew by over eight thousand compared to the previous year, the highest increase in the reported period.

Coop, another supermarket cooperative at the top

The retail food cooperative movement emerged in the 19th century and consolidated in the post-war years in Italy. The above-mentioned Conad is not the only cooperative that has reached the present day at the top, Coop is one of the other leading cooperative-based supermarkets. And this is despite the fact the cooperative has decreased its sales in recent years, with a slight rebound in 2019. Moreover, the size of the hypermarkets owned by Coop is also down to 77.8 thousand square meters.