As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many traditional grocery retailers recorded declining demand in 2020 and 2021. Many consumers opted to switch to shopping in larger grocery store formats, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets, where they could better maintain social distancing, as traditional grocery retailers tend to be small.
Despite the poor performance of some players and the fall seen in outlet numbers, overall current value sales in traditional grocery retailers showed strong growth during both 2020 and 2021. This was because of the strong performance of the leading player in the channel, state-owned alcoholic drinks monopoly Systembolaget, which saw its value sales increase strongly in both 2020 and 2021, being one of the few players in the channel to benefit from the impact of COVID-19.
In order to meet changing customer needs and expectations, physical stores are having to adapt and offer convenient solutions to make consumers’ shopping experiences smooth and easy. Some operators of traditional grocery retailers have managed to sustain sales growth thanks to their offer of additional services.
During the forecast period, given the dominant position of the state-owned alcoholic drinks monopoly Systembolaget, overall demand in traditional grocery retailers will remain fairly stable, with slow and constant current value growth expected. However, the poorer performance of other types of traditional grocery retailers will lead the channel to see a consistent decline in outlet numbers and a constant decline in share within grocery retailers.
Systembolaget’s market reach is huge, with outlets and distribution agents spread across the whole country. Systembolaget also tested home delivery in a few areas, and after the pilot, the government decided that it should become part of Systembolaget’s regular operations.
As in many other retail channels, sustainability is also evident as a trend in traditional grocery retailers, with leading player Systembolaget being a key player in this regard. The company’s goal is to reduce the climate footprint from its beverage packaging by 10% between 2019 and the end of 2023.
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Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Traditional Grocery Retailers industry in Sweden with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.
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Traditional grocery retailing is the aggregation of those channels that are invariably non-chained and are, therefore, owned by families and/or run on an individual basis. For Euromonitor traditional grocery retailing is the aggregation of three channels: Independent Small Grocers, Food/Drink/Tobacco Specialists and Other Grocery Retailers. While there can be modern (i.e. chained) food/drink/tobacco specialists or other grocery retailers, due to the store's presence in the channel, these stores are still considered as traditional for Euromonitor International.
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Traditional Grocery Retailers research and analysis database.
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