1. Mercadona
TURNOVER: €25.26 BILLION (2021)
Spanish retailer Mercadona was founded in 1977 by Grupo Cárnicas Roig (Butcher Group Roig). The company operates 1,633 stores in Spain (along with 29 stores in Portugal). Juan Roig holds the position of CEO, with the retailer boasting a team of 95,800 employees.
Mercadona’s annual turnover in 2021 was €25.26 billion, according to Retail-Index, while its market share stood at 25.4% as of December 2022, according to Kantar data. It operates a number of private label brands, including Hacendado (food), Bosque Verde (household), Deliplus (personal care), and Compy (pet products).
2. El Corte Inglés
TURNOVER: €9.33 BILLION (2021)
Spanish department store chain El Corte Inglés was founded in 1940. It currently operates more than 1,750 stores across a wide variety of banners, including El Corte Inglés, supermarket chains Hipercor and Supercor, and clothing stores Sfera and Sportown.
The group’s turnover in 2021 was €9.33 billion, according to Retail-Index. Marta Álvarez is the CEO of El Corte Inglés, and heads up a team of 79,800 employees. Its private label brands include personal care brand Veckia, organic brand Special Line, and the deluxe El Corte Inglés Selection, among others.
3. Carrefour
TURNOVER: €8.22 BILLION (2021)
French retailer Carrefour opened its first store in Spain in 1973. It operates 2,307 stores across the country under a variety of different banners, including the Carrefour hypermarket brand, low-price supermarket Supeco, and Carrefour Express supermarkets and proximity stores, among others.
The retailer’s annual revenue was €8.22 billion in 2021, while it held a 9.7% market share as of December 2022, according to Kantar. It has a team of 58,500 employees, under the leadership of Alexandre de Palmas, Carrefour Spain’s CEO.
Its private labels include the vegan range Carrefour Veggie and premium brand Carrefour Selección, as well as non-food varieties, such as clothing brand Tex and the eco-friendly cleaning and personal care range Carrefour Eco-Planet.