Mercadona continues to dominate the Spanish grocery store sector, securing a 29.5% market share in 2025, unchanged from the earlier yr. This positions the chain properly forward of rivals, with operations spanning 1,618 shops in Spain and 61 in Portugal.
Market Share Rankings
Latest information from consulting agency NielsenIQ (NIQ), based mostly on monitoring the habits of 12,000 households, highlights Mercadona’s lead. Carrefour trails in second place with 7.2%, whereas Lidl holds third at 6.2%. Different notable gamers embrace DIA at 4.8%, Eroski at 4.3%, Consum at 4.1%, Alcampo at 2.9%, Aldi at 1.8%, and El Corte Inglés at 1.6%.
Over the previous decade, whole spending on groceries in Spain has risen sharply from €82 billion to €131 billion. Nacho San Martin, normal supervisor for Iberia at NIQ, said, “The sector in Spain goes via a really constructive evolution, with a really attention-grabbing dynamism for each producers and retailers.” He added, “We’re one of many nations that has grown essentially the most and we undertaking that this can proceed to be the case.”
Shifting Shopper Habits
Shopper preferences are evolving, pushed by elevated teleworking and a requirement for comfort. Customers more and more favor native and regional shops over conventional hypermarkets, with regional operators now accounting for 25% of the market. This shift contributes to declining gross sales at giant hypermarkets and sturdy progress at smaller comfort shops.
By way of retailer house, Mercadona instructions 16.7%, adopted by Carrefour at 10.9%, Eroski at 6.3%, and DIA at 6%. For outlet numbers, DIA leads with 2,360 shops, carefully adopted by Mercadona at 1,603, Eroski at 1,374, Carrefour at 1,175, Consum at 964, Lidl at 714, Alcampo at 504, and Aldi at 495.
Firm Background
Mercadona started in 1977 as a family-owned butcher store in Valencia and developed right into a full grocery store chain in 1981 underneath Juan Roig’s management. The corporate achieved prominence via profitable private-label merchandise like Hacendado and Deliplus, delivering high quality at inexpensive costs. It expanded internationally by opening its first retailer in Porto, Portugal, in 2019, and now operates 61 places there as of April 2025.
Lidl entered the Spanish market in 1994 with its inaugural retailer in Lleida and grew quickly via the Nineteen Nineties to change into a significant retailer. Aldi adopted in 2002, after a delay brought on by a Spanish wholesale group, IFA, holding the rights to the Aldi identify within the nation.
