Western Europe

Despite the Spanish government reducing VAT rates and even placing a 0% VAT rate on foods like fruit and vegetables and bread, food prices continued to grow in 2023, with Spain continuing to experience elevated inflation. While some consumer…

Like other types of grocery retailers, hypermarkets in Sweden were impacted directly by historically high inflation, which reached high single-digit rates in 2022 and 2023. As a result, consumers became more price-sensitive and they started to look…

Despite, or rather because of, average price increases, grocery sales and thus sales through grocery retailers, including hypermarkets, declined in Switzerland in 2023. Local consumers remained highly price sensitive and prioritised essential…

Hypermarkets was the most dynamic grocery retailers category in current value terms in 2023. Although people are spending less on the extra services that were installed in hypermarkets over review period (eg prepared meals, cobblers etc) they are…

Despite increased competition from discounters and warehouse clubs, which offer low-cost products appealing to the elevated number of price-sensitive consumers in 2023, hypermarkets in the UK maintained positive sales growth. Amid the cost-of-living…

After discounters, hypermarkets were the best performing grocery channel in Turkey in 2023, in terms of value growth. With inflation still high, hypermarkets registered both a double-digit percentage increase in current and constant value sales.…

Ice cream sales in Austria are set to record stable volume growth during 2024 following its slight decline in 2023. Ice cream is shaped by new product launches, line extensions and new, interesting flavours. In addition, sales are dependent on the…

Ice cream consumption in Belgium is traditionally very much dependant on the weather. Following the exceptionally hot spring and summer of 2022, weather conditions in Belgium were not as good in 2023. This factor, coupled with strong price increases,…

Despite being a popular category, ice cream in Denmark faced volume sales challenges towards the end of the review period amid rising prices. Increased energy costs have driven up the expenses associated with transporting and storing ice cream, along…

The market for ice cream in Finland is expected to see a stable demand in 2024, despite high unit prices. The product Is very popular in the country, with per-capita consumption levels being amongst the highest in Europe. While sales peak during the…