How does Malaga's supermarket ranking change with Maskom and Grupo Mas merger?

With Andalusian supermarket chains Maskom (Malaga) and Grupo Mas (Seville) merging, the regional distribution market consolidates one of the biggest novelties. This new alliance represents the Andalusian resistance to the hegemony of large national and international chains.

According to the managers of the two chains, the aim of the operation is to "create a large group with 100% Andalusian capital in the south of Spain". Thanks to this agreement, Maskom's 54 supermarkets will gradually be integrated into the Seville group's network.

What impact is this alliance going to have on the distribution ranking in Malaga? The answer to this question is provided by the Retail Data consultancy, which has prepared an updated ranking of the main supermarket chains in the province for SUR.

CEO of Retail Data Juan Carlos Matarrubia says that this is "the most important" acquisition in Malaga province's food distribution sector "since the acquisition of Supersol by Carrefour in 2021". "Mas is ahead of other potential competitors who could see in Maskom the ideal piece for their expansion in Malaga," he states.

The first conclusion when studying the ranking is that the acquisition of Maskom by Grupo Mas does not threaten the leadership of Mercadona, which accounts for almost 23%, with 83 supermarkets in Malaga province. The Valencian chain's share has hardly changed since 2020, despite the intense expansion policy of chains such as Dia, Mas or Aldi. Six years ago, Mercadona accounted for 25% of the retail space in Malaga, which means that it has only lost two points of market share to the other operators.

In second place is Carrefour, with 20.1%, having increased its share in Malaga the most since 2020, when it only had 12.3%. The acquisition of the Supersol network, which had 58 supermarkets in Malaga and a 10% market share, has allowed the French chain to gain a lot of ground (it has gone from 46 to 110 shops) and to double its retail area.

In fact, Carrefour has more shops than Mercadona. The problem is that many of them are small supermarkets, which means that the Valencian chain has more surface area.

To third place now rises the alliance between Maskom and Grupo Mas, with 74 shops and an 11.2% surface area share in Malaga province.

Separately, Maskom would occupy fourth position tied with Lidl, with a 7.5% share and 55 supermarkets, while Grupo Mas would tie with Covirán in eighth position.

It's important to note that the combined surface area of both chains may change in the coming months, as the integration of Maskom supermarkets into the Grupo Mas network will probably lead to some closures due to overlaps.

This new Andalusian alliance moves Dia to fourth place, with 93 establishments and 9% of the retail surface area in the province. It is worth remembering that Dia made a major leap forward with the purchase of supermarkets from Eroski in 2017.

Next in the ranking are Lidl, El Corte Inglés, Aldi, Covirán, Grupo Eroski and Grupo El Jamón. Covirán, with only 3.7% of the total retail surface area in the province, is the leader in number of shops, with 125. This can be attributed to the fact that most of these establishments are small self-service shops located in villages in the interior of the province.

Once the alliance between Mas and Maskom is definitively sealed (by 30 June), with prior authorisation from the competition regulator, it will have more than 250 supermarkets, a combined turnover of almost 900 million euros and more than 5,600 workers.

Spokespersons for the two companies do not hide the fact that this operation is a strategic step to raise the new group as a leader in the province of Malaga. The strategic plan includes a strong expansion plan along the coast of Malaga province, as well as in Malaga city and the interior of the province. "Malaga and its province are a key growth axis for Andalucía and this alliance will allow us to make the most of this opportunity," they stated during the agreement announcement.