The Mercadona supermarket chain, owned by Juan Roig, has increased purchases from Catalan suppliers by 8% in the last year. The banner acquired products worth 4,362 million euros in 2022, compared to 4,036 million a year earlier. The advance is due both to an increase in the total volume of purchases and to the rise in prices that the entire agri-food chain has faced, including manufacturers.
The distribution leader in Spain, with a market share of 26% according to the latest Kantar data, has also added new suppliers, going from 200 in 2021 to 240 in 2022, in addition to some 1,700 SMEs. Notable among these are companies such as Catafruit, Nufri, Golden Export, Girona Fruits, Casa Tarradellas, Noel, La Selva, Cooperativa d'Ivars or Làctics Masachs, which produce the fruit, sausages or mató that are sold in supermarkets in Catalonia. In the personal hygiene section, there are firms such as Rofersam (Franqueses del Vallès), which produces facial creams for the company, or Essity (Tarragona), which manufactures diapers for babies, among other products.
The network of stores in Catalonia remains almost unchanged in terms of numbers, with 250 supermarkets (one less than in 2021), most of which (174) are located in Barcelona. And it is that the strategy of the chain in the Catalan market does not focus on new openings –its expansion is already mature–, but on the reform of the stores to adapt them to its new model. To date, Mercadona has already transformed 187 stores since 2017, the year the store adaptation plan was launched. With this, it ensures that it saves 40% of energy expenditure. In addition to the 250 establishments -it has 1,637 throughout Spain and 39 in Portugal-, it has three logistics blocks (Abrera, Sant Sadurní and Sant Esteve Sesrovires) and a "beehive", the warehouse that is exclusively used for online sales.
In the personnel chapter, it is consolidated as one of the main employers in Catalonia, with a workforce of 14,615 people at the end of 2022, the same number as the previous year. In total, Mercadona has 95,500 workers in Spain and 3,500 in Portugal. The gross monthly salary for a basic worker with less than one year of seniority is 1,507 euros, and from four years of seniority, 2,039 euros.
