{"id":733693,"date":"2026-01-31T19:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T19:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/733693\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T19:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T19:46:11","slug":"the-supermarket-in-spain-that-everyone-loves-better-than-aldi-or-lidl-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/733693\/","title":{"rendered":"The supermarket in Spain that \u2018everyone loves’ – ‘better than Aldi or Lidl\u2019 | World | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major supermarket<\/a> has dwarfed the competition in Spain<\/a> and been described as “the shoppers’ favourite”, maintaining a huge lead over its rivals in 2025. Mercadona, a chain which operates an impressive 1,618 stores across Spain and 61 in Portugal<\/a>, earned a market share of 29.5% last year, the same as in 2024, while its closest rival, Carrefour<\/a>, stayed in its distant second place with 7.2% and Lidl<\/a> in third with 6.2%.<\/p>\n

The figures were collated by consulting firm NielsenIQ (NIQ), which monitored the shopping habits of 12,000 households. The multinational Spanish discount chain, DIA, was fourth in the rankings with 4.8% followed by Eroski, with 4.3%, Consum on 4.1%, Alcampo, with 2.9%, Aldi<\/a> on 1.8% and El Corte Ingl\u00e9s with a share of 1.6%. In the last decade, spending on the shopping basket has surged from \u20ac82billion (\u00a371billion) to \u20ac131billion (\u00a3113billion) last year.<\/p>\n

NIQ\u2019s general manager for Iberia, Nacho San Martin, told El Pa\u00eds: “The sector in Spain is going through a very positive evolution, with a very interesting dynamism for both manufacturers and retailers<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one of the countries that has grown the most and we project that this will continue to be the case,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Driven by the rise of teleworking and an increased demand for convenience, consumer habits are shifting away from traditional hypermarkets<\/a> toward local and regional alternatives, the study revealed. According NIQ, regional supermarket operators now control a quarter of the market share, as shoppers prioritise proximity and ease of access over large-scale retail formats. This trend has led to a notable decline in hypermarket performance, while smaller convenience stores continue to see significant sales growth.<\/p>\n

In terms of store area, Mercadona leads with 16.7%, followed by Carrefour on 10.9%, Eroski, with 6.3% and DIA, with 6%. As for the number of outlets, the study puts DIA in first place with 2,360, followed by Mercadona with 1,603, Eroski with 1,374, Carrefour with 1,175, Consum with 964, Lidl<\/a> with 714, Alcampo with 504 and Aldi<\/a> with 495.<\/p>\n

Mercadona launched in 1977 as a small family butcher shop in Valencia<\/a>, before Juan Roig transformed it into a dedicated supermarket chain in 1981. They gained market dominance by launching highly successful private-label brands, such as Hacendado and Deliplus, that offer high-quality products at low prices. Mercadona opened its first international store in Porto<\/a>, Portugal, in 2019. As of April 2025, they have established a significant presence across the country with 61 stores.<\/p>\n

Lidl, meanwhile, officially entered the Spanish market<\/a> in 1994, opening its first store in Lleida. It expanded rapidly through the 1990s and is now one of Spain’s largest grocery retailers by market share. Aldi<\/a>, meanwhile, launched in Spain in 2002. Its entry was delayed for several years because a Spanish wholesale group (IFA) originally owned the rights to the “Aldi” name in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major supermarket has dwarfed the competition in Spain and been described as “the shoppers’ favourite”, maintaining a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[1796,38729,217738,83621,23699,47150,217742,2000,299,217740,1009,217736,217741,67335,3046,217739,217743,104,217737,2070],"class_list":{"0":"post-733693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-aldi","9":"tag-carrefour","10":"tag-consumer-habits","11":"tag-convenience-stores","12":"tag-dia","13":"tag-el-corte-ingles","14":"tag-eroski","15":"tag-eu","16":"tag-europe","17":"tag-hypermarket-performance","18":"tag-lidl","19":"tag-mercadona","20":"tag-nielseniq-niq","21":"tag-porto","22":"tag-portugal","23":"tag-regional-supermarket-growth","24":"tag-shopping-basket","25":"tag-spain","26":"tag-spanish-supermarkets","27":"tag-supermarkets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115991437855580040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}