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ALDI conquers Manhattan


Drafted 23 August, updated 25 August 2025 The new shop near Times Square will open next year and will be 2,500 sqm. The discount chain has 2,500 outlets in the United States and already has outlets in the city (see photos below). The trend of discounters replacing supermarkets in city centres is confirmed: Lidl is opening in the centre of Milan(while Aldi has it surrounded). Confirmation on Italy can be found here. On the other hand, the Casino discounters in Paris have been in the centre for decades. Interesting: Aldi creates a Fan Club in the USA Compiled 25 August, updated 1 September 2025

AldiCasinoDiscountLidl
 

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In a country where there is now an ever-increasing polarisation of consumption, as well as of wealth, the best performers in the medium term are those in the discount segment


"From 2019 to 2023, their revenues grew at an average annual rate of 9.3%, compared to 5.7% for the other operators," explains Mediobanca's Focus Gdo. "The distance between the two aggregates narrowed in 2023, when the discounters' revenues grew by 9.2% and those of the other operators by 7.3%. Even in terms of marginality, the discounters stand out with an Ebit Margin of 4.8%, which compares with 2.3% for the other groups, and a Roi of 16.5% (5.9% for the other operators), which is also higher than the average of the international panel (9.5%)".

Discount
 

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At the supermarket, one in four products is Italian. Over 11.6 billion spent


Gs1 Italy, in 2024 the basket volume marks -0.7%. The most widespread 'indicator' of Italianness - the economic report points out - is the tricolour flag, present on over 16 thousand products with positive annual sales in value and stable in volume. It is followed by the claims '100% Italian', which remains stable in value but loses 1.5% in volume, and 'produced in Italy', with negative sales in value and volume. Analysts point out that "2024 was not an easy year for European geographical indications either: in the basket of 4,888 references and 1.6 billion euro turnover of PDO, DOC and DOCG products, only PDO references record positive sales in value (5.8%) and volume (2.7%)" for a total of almost 803 million euro. Flags with the tricolour no longer work. So says someone who put them on Esselunga organic products 25 years ago. Also because they often 'don't beat inflation' and, without proper labelling on the product's characteristics, they could simply be 'Italian sounding'. Read also : The false myth of '100% Italian' food

Esselunga organicInflation
 

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Sycamore completes acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance: the end of Stefano Pessina’s dream


The private equity firm acquired assets in transactions valued at up to $23.7bn. New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners completed the acquisition of retail pharmacy company Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc(WBA). WBA is an integrated healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader serving millions of customers and patients every day. With approximately 12,500 locations in the US, Europe, and Latin America, its consumer brands include Walgreens, Boots, Duane Reade, No7 Beauty Company, and Benavides. WBA, under the Boots brand , also has a presence in Milan and was a supplier to Esselunga (beauty products). Covid- 19, Amazon and Walmart contributed to its sale to Sycamore.

AmazonCovid-19EsselungaNon-foodWalmart
 

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Eurospin over 9 billion turnover. Ready to land in Serbia


Source The Eurospin network has about 1,340 stores. At the beginning of September it will open 3 more: in Parabiago, Orte and Terni. In 2024 it cut the ribbon at 35 new pdv... In 2024 the Eurospin Italia group achieved a value of production of 9.14 billion, 4 .9%, an Ebitda of 635 million (-2%) and a profit of 395 million (-7.4%). Net retail revenue growth (9.03 billion) stopped at 5%, half the average from 2019. And the margin ratio also lost half a point to 7%. Eurospin is the only Italian retailer with international projection (about fifty stores in Slovenia, Croatia and Malta and soon in Serbia), except for Conad in Albania, which relies on third-party entrepreneurs, and Crai in Malta. In Italy, the market share in the discount channel exceeds 31% and 8% in the large-scale retail trade. Average revenues per pdv are 6.8 million . 100% of the offer is own brand.

ConadDiscountPrivate Label
 

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Temu: sales up, profits down


Revenues of PDD - the holding company that controls Temu - rose 7% to 103.98 billion yuan ($14.53 billion) during the quarter ended June, beating analysts' estimate of 103.34 billion yuan, according to data compiled by LSEG. Its operating profit fell 21%. Adjusted earnings per US depository share stood at 22.07 yuan, beating the estimate of 15.74 yuan. Competition from Amazon is very strong. Temu is testing the sale of food - under an advertisement for the sale of Coca-Cola on its site - in Italy.

AmazonCoca-ColaE-Commerce