ESD Italia – Efficiency and Services for Distribution, 2001

Marcello Cestaro, who heads one of the groups that make up Selex, jokingly describes our merger as that between ‘the beauty’ – that is, Esselunga, probably the ‘most beautiful’ chain in Europe – and ‘the beast’, namely Selex...From them, however, we learn a huge lesson in humility: the beast, in fact, helps the beauty enormously to understand the market and double its profitability

How Walmart became an advertising powerhouse whilst remaining focused on its food, non-food and e-commerce businesses

It is a pity that no Italian company has had the scale, but above all the vision, to take on the world in the way these giants have done. In Italy, everyone thought: e-commerce must be self-sustaining. This was the case for Esselunga at home until it had no rivals, but Amazon and Walmart disprove this view. E-commerce is underpinned by other, more profitable sources of revenue

Esselunga- Rewe: the Penny Market joint venture

“… We decide to enter into an agreement with the te-desco giant Rewe to create a chain of discount stores to be called Penny Market, controlled with 50 per cent equal shares. A decision by the board of directors is required to start the venture. I vote in favour of our father’s proposal, while his historic lawyer Alfonso Pellegatta is against it…’ Le Ossa dei Caprotti, page 169

Unfair Practices : The failure of regulation

Penalties for unfair practices in 2023-2024 amount to only 665,000 euros against estimated damages of at least 350 million annually. in essence on prices and unfair practices the ‘dolce far niente’ of Italian politics continues. Remember this when you see the next tractors in the square or when you hear about the sad affairs of groups like Auchan, Casino, Carrefour Italia and others

How to measure – well – sales in distribution: with a constant network

Sales in distribution are measured by gross revenues, including new openings and restructurings. But there is another, healthier and clearer method to understand whether a company is really doing well or not, regardless of network development: constant network sales, which exclude new openings and major restructuring in the year measured