SPAR is the new market leader in domestic food retailing

SPAR is now the leader in Austrian grocery with a 34.6% market share with the latest growth.

The SPAR Austria Group looks back on a very successful 2020 in which it became the retailing leader in Austria. Gross sales in all three business segments, food retail, sports retail and shopping centres, grew by a total of +5.6% to €16.60 billion.

In 2020, the conditions for retailing in the 8 countries in which the company operates were very different due to Corona and also had a different impact on each of the business segments. Due to the particularly positive development in the food retailing business, Group earnings before taxes (EBT) increased slightly to 353 million euros.

In the Food Retailing business area, SPAR grew above the market in Austria as well as in Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Northern Italy and is among the top 3 local food retailers everywhere. In Austria, SPAR achieved a +16% increase in sales, well above the general market trend, which Nielsen reports at +10%. As a result, SPAR gains 1.8% points of market share and is now the leader in Austrian grocery with a 34.6% market share. The company invested around 720 million euros in 2020 and created almost 5,000 new jobs.

“This was a real challenge at times. We were able to prove our efficiency in the process. But not only that: we also deliberately wanted to make our contribution to overcoming the crisis and invest in jobs, health, education and sustainable building projects. We created almost 5,000 new jobs in the Group and paid out Corona bonuses to almost 90,000 employees in all countries. 36 million euros went into the provision of masks alone,” said Fritz Poppmeier, Chairman of the Board.