Coop Italia closed 2014 with a market share of 19% and a stable turnover compared to the previous year. International alliances are fundamental and the cost of labour needs perspective.
Results for the leading Italian supermarket chain increasingly and quite rightly make the headlines but this time, scrolling through the official comments that accompanied the presentation of the final 2014 Coop financial statements, it turns out that there are two pieces of news. The first is essentially the holding of their position, despite seven years of uninterrupted crisis of consumption, and the second is the reference to the need to address the issue of labour costs, linked to a different working contract adopted compared to competitors.
Firstly the numbers: the national leadership is confirmed – the market share of Coop is largely unchanged from a year ago and stands at 19% – as well as turnover, which was 12 billion and 421 thousand euro compared to 12 billion and 724,000 euro in 2013. Strengthened investment in convenience while continuing to grow the grass roots of nearly 8 and a half million with an increasing trend of 3.1% compared to 2013. Coop also announced that it has strengthened “the aggregate net assets of the nine main cooperatives to €30 million and has significantly improved the cash level of the asset structure”.
Good news for branded products, which in total has exceeded 26% in the consumer goods sector, an increase of one point compared to 2013.
A fundamental chapter is that of international alliances: the new Coopernic, which was set up from an encounter between Coop Italy and Leclerc, first saw the joining of Delhaize and has recently accepted the application for entry by Rewe. Coop underlines how Coopernic – with €130 billion in total sales, more than 20 thousand stores and 630 thousand employees – is set to become the largest central European buyer, thus undermining Emd who declares a potential market of 145 billion euro.
“We continue to act as a stronghold of good value and quality for customers and partners of our country – explains Marco Pedroni, president of Coop Italia – though the signs of recovery in consumption are addressed at the moment more towards durable goods and services than food. And if this trend is confirmed in the course of 2015 it can only generate concerns about the future. We will not stand back and watch and confirm our involvement in responding to the challenge of competition, including searching for synergy with other companies related to us internationally because we are sure that it is the scenario in which we need to move forward.”
