European discount food retailers have reported strong trading as the global slump prompts shoppers to cut spending.
Carrefour revealed that sales at Dia, its discount business in Spain, rose 11.9 per cent to E4.53bn (£3.97bn) last year, while German retailer Rewe unveiled a sales hike of Czk18bn (£551m) at its Czech discount operation, Billa – a year-on-year increase of almost 40 per cent.
Rewe now intends to expand Billa in the Ukraine, where it plans to open about 10 stores a year in towns with populations exceeding 1 million.
Billa launched in the Ukraine in 2000, but to date its activities in the country have been on a modest scale and it has only 10 stores there at present.
Planet Retail global research director Bryan Roberts said: “Across both mature and emerging markets, discounters continue to enjoy extremely favourable market conditions on the back of clearly adverse economic developments.”
The economic backdrop and the rising appeal of discount chains has been forcing the hand of mainstream food retailers. This month, for instance, Carrefour has slashed prices on some products at its eponymous Spanish hypermarkets by up to 72 per cent.
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