It’s no secret that almost all major supermarkets are constantly scanning the market for opportunities.


Thursday, August 8, 2019


 

Recently, Masoutis’ executives revealed that after the acquisition of Promitheftiki there were discussions with several small and medium-sized supermarket chains all over Greece, such as "Gountsidis" in Drama and "Dimitra Market" in Corfu, which could be incorporated in Masoutis "umbrella" of the region of Northern Greece.

 Other big players, such as AB Vassilopoulos and the METRO’s My Market, have made similar statements from time to time as they try to expand their presence.

"At the moment everyone is talking to everybody," they say, whilst an experienced member of the industry, describes the current situation and does not rule out the possibility of further re-arrangements in the near future, as happened in previous years with Marinopoulos’ vicious acquisition by Sklavenitis and from the Veropoulos by METRO owned by the Panteliades family.

 In addition to the lack of capacity of smaller players to cope with the adverse circumstances like the storm of offers and discounts available to consumers by the retailers, the stagnation in the recovery of consumption, plays a catalyst role in the concentration of the Retail industry. It is indicative that according to a survey by IELKA, an average increase in sales of only 0.5% is expected in the first half of 2019 compared to the corresponding period of 2018. As far as the above scene does not change dramatically for the better, the need for new alliances will remain intense.