The president of the Greek Supermarket Association and head of the Metro group, Aristotelis Panteliadis, sees further concentration in the market, while he does not consider the entry of new strong groups into retail as a threat.
Commenting on the upcoming acquisition agreement of Kritikos by Masoutis, Panteliadis stated, among other things: “We are looking at the competition, but such moves will not affect and should not affect ours. The number of stores will not change overall from the transaction, and their number may even decrease, as some neighboring locations will be closed.”
At an institutional level, we have said that the concentration in the Greek market in relation to the European one is low and it is inevitable that it will concentrate even more.
Asked to comment on the entry of new strong players in retail, such as the Motor Oil group, he said: “I am not afraid of the entry of new players. We have the ‘privilege’ of being in an industry with low profitability. There is no other ‘restriction’ for entering our own market, but the low profit margins are the reason that no funds or foreign players have entered.”
Panteliadis also added that the specific concept of convenience stores that attracts the interest of new players has little overlap with the small points of the chains, potentially affecting more traditional independent grocers.
Regarding the course of the market, he estimated that a revenue growth rate of 2%-3% is expected in 2025 mainly from the increase in sales volumes, as food inflation will remain either zero or move at a marginally positive rate.
