Traditional Grocery Retailers in Tunisia

PROSPECTS

Traditional grocers remain resilient despite slow growth and strong competition

Recent years have seen Tunisia’s modern grocery retailers expanding rapidly, eroding the position of the country’s traditional grocery retailers in the process. However, despite the decreases seen in the share of total grocery retailers value sales accounted for by traditional grocery retailers in recent years, the channel can be expected to continue registering positive growth during the forecast period.

Questions about the sustainability of traditional retailing lead to calls for support

The growing presence of modern grocery retailers in all parts of Tunisia suggest that traditional grocery retailers may soon become an unsustainable retail channel. This has led to calls for official government support for independent grocery retailers operating in the traditional channel.

The trend towards one-stop shopping to continue working against traditional retailers

There is currently a major shift underway away from traditional grocery retailers and towards supermarkets and hypermarkets in urban areas across Tunisia. Tunisian consumers are transitioning to modern grocery retailers because these outlets often the opportunity to purchase a wide range of both packaged and fresh food under one roof.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

A handful of strong chains lead sales in a highly fragmented category

The vast majority of traditional grocery retailers in Tunisia are operated by independent businesses, often family concerns that are handed down from generation to generation. However, there are some chained players operating in the channel, notably Poulina Group Holding, the operator of the Al Mazraa chain of poultry specialists and the leading name in traditional grocery retailers.

Independent retailers dominate in a channel characterised by family businesses

“Others” accounts for the vast majority of value sales in traditional grocery retailers in 2019. Virtually all traditional grocery retailers in the country are independently owned and operated and it is common for these to be family businesses that have been in the same family for generations.

Informal retailing presents strong competition to traditional grocery retailers

In addition to the aggressive competition that traditional grocery retailers face from Tunisia’s burgeoning modern grocery retailers chains, channel players also face challenges from informal retailing, mainly unregistered traders operating from the country’s innumerable traditional open-air markets, known as souks. Many Tunisian consumers do much of their grocery shopping shop in outdoor markets, which are usually located in the central business districts of towns and suburbs.

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