The Salzburg retail group Spar was able to significantly expand its market leadership in Austria, which it had achieved for the first time in the corona year 2020. The supermarket chain increased gross sales of food in Germany in 2021 compared to the previous year by 3.9 percent to 8.63 billion euros. According to preliminary industry estimates, Spar’s market share rose from 34.6 to 36 percent, while Rewe (Billa, Penny) achieved an increase of 0.6 percentage points to 33.9 percent.
The market environment is currently being shaped by inflation. In the supermarket, some foods have recently become significantly more expensive, butter alone by more than a fifth, but the price increases were also felt for bread, cereals, vegetables or oils and fats. For the Spar boss Fritz Poppmeier, the war in the Ukraine will decide on further developments.
“The really big point will be if the conflict in Ukraine can be settled. If that’s the case, then the speculative bubble in energy will burst and it would have an insanely price-dampening effect,” said Poppmeier. High energy prices are currently driving inflation. Inflation will remain at this level in the coming weeks, so he cannot rule out further price increases for individual products, said Poppmeier. The negotiations with the suppliers are currently “very, very challenging”. Poppmeier rejected the fact that manufacturers or farmers were being blackmailed or put under pressure, as Minister of Agriculture Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP) repeatedly criticized.
Poppmeier criticized the government’s corona management. Spar procured masks for the population and paid for them themselves and also set up a company vaccination and test system. “The government must manage the corona crisis clearly and actively,” demanded the manager.
Source: Nachrichten
