Modest growth
Modest growth in Norwegian grocery sales in the first half of the year.
The store mass has been relatively stable over the past year. Movements in this regard (ie organic growth) - shows a decline of 0.6% so far this year compared with the same period last year.
Discount prices continue to strengthen their position (67.4% of the total market) at the expense of both neigborhood stores (6.5%) and supermarkets (26.1%). This is mainly due to increased number of dsicount outlets. Average sales per low-cost store decline by 0.9% YTD.
Weakest development is found in the household, health and beauty categories, which is down 5.1% and 1.1%, respectively.
The main categories of fresh food and beverages contribute the strongest in absolute growth and have grown with NOK 1.1 billion so far this year.
Developments for brand suppliers are weaker then for the chains own brands, despite a much stronger position. Own brands account for 35% of the value growth, and have a share of around 16% of the total market.
Strong development beyond traditional grocery stores
Figures from Statistics Norway for the first quarter show an increase in border trade of 5.8%. Of a turnover of NOK 14.4 billion (Q2 / 2016-Q1 / 2017), approx. 50% are groceries.
Food on the move is also slowing down the development in traditional grocery store. For the first time since 2007 the total turnover is now growing in kiosk and gasoline stores. (0,8%)
Online grocery and food box solutions also have an increase. 11.6% of Norwegians have traded online groceries in 2017, a doubling since the previous year.
In addition to this, we also see that the supply of goods typically purchased in Norwegian grocery stores within certain categories is now available in other types of stores.
A typical example is Europris which in principle focus on other products, but increasingly are competing with Kiwi, Rema and other chains. Europris grew as much as 8,7 % in first half year of 2017, writes Nielsen in its latest quarterly report, which was presented on Wednesday, 9 August.