R&S presents Focus on Mass Distribution on the occasion of the first GDO Annual Talk

In 2017, Italian large-scale distribution continued to grow, with aggregate total revenues up 4.4% year on year. However, the 5.5% reduction in industrial margins shows the risk of saturation in an increasingly consolidated market. These are some of the highlights to emerge from the 2018 edition of the survey on the Italian and international large-scale organized distribution sector compiled by the Mediobanca Research Area.

The report, presented on the occasion of the first GDO Annual Talk promoted by the Mediobanca Area, reveals the excellent performances recorded by discount stores (sales up 9.7% versus 2016) organized distribution (up 6.1%), whereas the hypermarkets and traditional formats suffered. In general terms, the leading sector operators delivered their best performances in terms of profits since 2013, posting €1,095m in 2017. E-commerce also appears to be on the increase throughout Italy, without, however, reaching the figures posted by the international giants.

At a global level, WalMart, with turnover higher than the GDP of Austria, again emerged as the strongest player on the market. The Italian groups, limited by their exclusively national dimension, lagged a long way behind. One surprise, though, was Eurospin, which ranked first overall for ROI Roi (23%).

The full survey is available for download from www.mbres.it