The evolution of the high-volume retail sector in Europe over the past 5 years

consumer-behaviour-and-protection||56public-policy||0
Practice area:Consumer behaviour and protection | Public Policy
Client:Consultative Commission on Industrial Change
Published: July, 2009
Keywords: quantitative analysis

This study aims to provide a complete and detailed insight of the evolution of high-volume retailers (HVR) in the food and clothing sectors in different EU Member States. The main conclusions from the analysis are the following. The number of HVR (firms with more than 5% market share) in the food sector is around 5 in each country. The combined market share of the top-5 firms (C5) in the food retail market varies significantly across countries. Germany and the UK are the most concentrated markets with over 70% of the market controlled by the largest five firms. The French market is also comparatively concentrated (C5 of 60%) whereas in Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic concentration ranges between 30% and 45%. Over the last three years, there have been significant increases in market concentration in the UK, the Czech Republic, Romania and Spain.

The clothing retail sector remains fragmented across the selected countries where data was available. The C5 in the UK is the highest with 35%, in Germany is second (around 25%), while in Italy and France the top-5 firms control less than 20% of the market. The report provides other interesting conclusions on the evolution of this sector.