Mercadona

Mercadona has gotten rid of its search engine and replaced it with its own. They did it in a month with Claude Code and saved 90%

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Mercadona’s online store processes 4.4 million searches a week. Until recently, that volume was managed Algoliaa well-established search service used by companies like Sephora or LVMH. They had been with him for eight years. Now They have replaced it with their own search enginebuilt largely by José Ramón Pérez Agüera, CTO of Mercadona Tech. He has done it largely by himself, from his home, over a long weekend. This is how he told it in a successful LinkedIn post which now extends us in a video call with Xataka. “I’m going to be very honest and I know that this is going to look tacky, but it’s the truth,” says Pérez Agüera. “70% of the work (implementing the search engine, improving search quality and laying the foundation) took three days. One weekend plus an extended Monday.” The result: an 85% improvement in the quality of the ranking, the complete elimination of searches without results (previously 4% of the total) and a reduction in the monthly cost of between 9,000 and 15,000 dollars with Algolia to less than 900. That is, a saving of between 90% and 94% depending on the month. A decision that had been on hold for years The idea of ​​abandoning Algolia is not new at Mercadona Tech, it had been ruminating for a long time. The reasons are not surprising either: the search engine directly moves between 30 and 35% of the products that end up in the cart, which makes it a critical piece of business. And Algolia, like most SaaS services, has a pricing model that scales with use: as the company grows, the cost grows, with no way to stabilize it. “In the end you end up in a vendor lock-in of very critical software that is then difficult to get rid of,” explains Pérez Agüera. But Every time the team considered building something of their own, the work estimate was pushed back.. “The most optimistic vision we had, and with a much more basic version than the one we are going to release now, was five months. And it already seemed fast to me.” Then came the era of AI agents in software development. Pérez Agüera used Claude Code as the main tool and began to experiment on his own, without a formal project or assigned team. More out of curiosity than anything else. For playing. What AI did and what it didn’t The technical process combines hybrid search (by keywords and semantics) with a machine learning system that optimizes the ranking of results. AI made it possible to iterate on dozens of experiments in hours, analyze 479 MB of catalog and analytics data in days, and explore different ranking configurations by chatting with the agent instead of manually implementing them one by one. “I easily did 40 or 50 experiments in a weekend. That would have traditionally taken me weeks,” he explains. But the speed has a precise limit: the 29 technical decisions that AI did not make. Documentation generated during the experimentation process with Claude Code: the 14 parameters that Mercadona’s search engine evaluates to order results (from the popularity of a product to how well it fits semantically with what the user is looking for), its relative weight in the final ranking (popularity and semantic similarity account for two thirds of the decision) and the configuration of the machine learning model used to train it, based on click and purchase data from the last four weeks. Each of those parameters was discussed and validated with the AI ​​agent, but the final selection was made by the human team. Image provided by Mercadona Tech. The most representative was the choice of the indexing engine. Most systems, and probably any AI agent consulted, would have recommended Elasticsearch, the most widespread solution. Pérez Agüera chose Tantivy, a much smaller library written in Rust that integrates as an embedded component, without the need for a separate Java virtual machine. An impossible decision without knowledge of the Mercadona ecosystem. “The AI ​​always recommends the most generic option,” he says. “I made that decision because I have the context and the knowledge to make it.” The transfer to the team When the core of the search engine was ready, the project passed to the engineering team. What they found was not bad code, but it was ccode that did not follow Mercadona Tech’s internal standards. The architecture was hexagonal, as is the company’s style, but it used a different approach than usual. The tests existed (Pérez Agüera applied TDD during development) but some did not make sense or were missing cases. The agent had written thousands of lines of code in a few hours and reviewing them all was unfeasible. “The team’s Tech Lead took two or three days to adapt the project to our good practices,” he summarizes. “Not because the code was wrong, but because it didn’t meet our standards as a company.” In total, adding the initial phase and the launch into production, which includes load testing, infrastructure adjustment and integration into the Mercadona Online architecture; The project has taken approximately a month of work. And “two and a half people” have been in charge of it: Pérez Agüera, the Tech Lead of the Shop team and a part-time Staff Engineer for infrastructure. The original five-month estimate required five or six people. “FWe have easily done a x5 to the speed of the projectand what we have now is much more advanced than what we would have had in five months,” he says. What changes for the teams For Pérez Agüera, the search engine is one more experiment within a larger transformation that Mercadona Tech continues to process internally. The question on the table is not whether to use AI in development, but how to redesign the entire development process based on it. His diagnosis of the profiles is forceful: “AI is going to mean that fewer developers are needed and more engineers are needed. Coding loses value per se; the … Read more

A supermarket chain is expanding and selling more than ever in the Mercadona fiefdom: Masymas

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Mercadona dominates the sector of food in Spain, but this control is especially robust in the Valencian Community, where splits its roots the company directed by Juan Roig. There the chain monopolizes more than 30% of the entire business, above the average share it has in the country as a whole. Although with such data it would be logical to think that the rest of the competitors have little room to expand their sales in that fiefdom, a family chain has insisted on prove the opposite. Its name: Masymas Supermarkets. Despite the competition from Mercadona, the chain, with stores spread throughout the Valencian Community and Murcia, is achieving increase your turnover. One figure: 440.3 million. 2025 has not been a bad year for the Masymas supermarkets managed by Juan Fornés SA. At least according to the figures presented by the company itself, which just revealed which in 2025 reached a turnover of 440.3 million euros (sales with VAT). Although other key indicators are missing (such as the result), at first it seems like good data on two counts: it means 4.3% more than the previous year and consolidates the increase in income that the chain has been registering for years. According to your balancein 2021 it had a turnover of 321.2 million, a figure that rose to 360.6 million in 2022 and has continued to grow since then. In five years the increase has been 22%. A percentage: 3%. It is not the only positive indicator left by the chain directed by Fornés. Your sales grew by 3% in volume and the company boasts of having invested 15 million between renovations and the opening of two new points of sale, one in Dénia (Alicante) and another in Las Torres de Cotillas (Murcia). Its loyalty program has also reached 227,000 homes. Regarding its sales network, the chain manages 115 super distributed throughout the Valencian Community and the Region of Murcia, 45 of them under the Masymas basic brand. This year it plans to open two more establishments in Calpe and Sueca. In total, the company has a staff of 2,763 people200 more than in 2020. Why is it important? Beyond the interest that these data may have for the chain’s clients, Masymas’ balance sheet leaves an interesting reading for the sector: the super regionals continue to find holes to expand. Even in a scenario as complex as the great fiefdom of Mercadona. Although Juan Roig’s company leads the sector in market share at a national level, this dominance is especially intense in Alicante, Castellón, Valencia, Murcia and Albacete. A recent study from Worldpanel by Numerator shows that its footprint there reaches 33.6%, above the 27% share nationally. The complete “photo”. Masymas has not revealed its market share, but the analysis from Worldpanel by Numerator suggests that he doesn’t have it easy. In the Levant as a whole, the second best positioned chain is Consum (16.8%), followed by Carrefour (7.9%), Lidl (5.2%) and Family Cash (2.9%). In any case, these percentages must be handled carefully: Worldpanel studies a broader area than Masymas covers, focusing on the Valencian and Murcian coasts. When studying the case of Masymas, another characteristic that the company itself reports must be taken into account. on your website: The brand actually belongs to a company owned by four different companies. One focuses on Asturias and León. Another in Alicante and Valencia. A stubborn one in Córdoba and Jaén. And the fourth, Juan Fornés SA, in Castellón, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia. It was the latter that has disclosed your 2025 billing data. The push of the regional. The case of Masymas connects with a larger phenomenon that goes beyond the Levant: the push of regional supermarket chains. Although in recent years Mercadona has achieved dominate the sector (both in value share and percentage of buyers) and that they are forced to compete with multinationals the size of Grupo Carrefour, Lidl, Aldi or Alcampo, regional companies are holding their own. Worldpanel by Numerator estimates that after growing 0.4 percentage points (pp), its share reached 18.5% in 2025. The data shows “symptoms of deceleration”, as the consulting firm points out, but it is still significant. In fact Masymas is not the only one that is growing. The Galician Froiz has also done it and months ago The Country revealed that Consum, based in Valencia, aims in the same address. How is it possible? This resilience is partly explained by its territorial penetration, customer loyalty, the sale of local products and direct treatment. While Mercadona wants to bet Because of the fish already cut and packaged in trays, in many regional supermarkets it is still possible to find a stall with fresh goods and a fishmonger with whom to deal in person. The same happens with fruit, vegetables, meat or sausages, which for some analysts They turn super regional stores into successors to neighborhood stores. White label and cooked food. There is another important detail in Masymas’ strategy. The chain boasts so much of its “own brands”focused on food, home, cosmetics and pet care, as well as its “Kitchen Section”, which it has implemented in thirty stores. The signature promotes it as a space with prepared dishes, such as chicken, rice, lasagna or noodles. Both bets are very similar to the strategy that Mercadona has deployed in recent years, although the two chains are still very far apart in billing. Masymas has gone from 440 million euros in 2025, but the signing of Roig has touched the 39.8 billion. And that in Spain, without its Portugal stores. Images | Masymas Supermarkets 1 and 2 In Xataka | Years ago we feared that an “apocalypse” would sweep through shopping centers. In Spain, exactly the opposite is happening.

Mercadona is growing more than ever and still has the capacity to grow more. The game is played in the north

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He who leads always leads, even if he does not always lead the same way. It sounds like a tacky tongue twister, I know; but that phrase sums up well the place that Mercadona occupies in the national distribution sector. We have been repeating for years that the Valencian chain is the one that takes largest portion of the “pie” of the sector, with a business quota 27% at the state level, but that reality is not equally forceful throughout Spain. For example, in Levante its footprint skyrockets to almost 34% while in the northwest it remains at 18.2%, only three points above its most direct competitor in that region, Eroski. What does that mean? That there is a part of Spain in which the company has ample room for growth. And in a way the Duero marks it. The general photo. Whether or not you are satisfied with your commercial offer or corporate strategythere is something that cannot be denied: Mercadona has known how to play its cards well. The company led by Juan Roig has managed to gain a share in its sector that is close to 30%. And that the distribution is not un simple business in Spain, where the super regional and ultra low-cost. NielsenIQ estimates that by the end of 2025 that footprint was 29.5%0.3% more than in 2024. Worldpanel by Numerator lowers it slightly until it is in 27%. In any case, the reading is the same: the Valencian company clearly dominates, comfortably ahead of its most direct competitors, Carrefour and Lidl. It has even made a more than respectable place for itself in the portuguese marketwhere it has carved out a 7% distribution share in just a decade. Paying attention to the map. The above will surprise few. What is striking is that just revealed Expansion based on data from Worldpanel by Numerator: Mercadona may be the sector leader in value share, but that dominance is not equally solid throughout Spain. Its great fiefdom is in what the consultancy calls ‘Levante’, an area made up of the Valencian Community, Murcia and Albacete. There its share reaches 33.6%. Not only is it the highest percentage in the entire Spanish geography and it is seven percentage points above the chain’s national share. It also doubles the mark of its main competitor, Consum, which remains at 16.8%. The ‘photo’ It is completed by Carrefour, with 7.9% of the pie, Lidl (5.2%) and Family Cash (2.9%). Are there more cases? Of course. The other region in which Mercadona has gained the largest share in value is the Canary Islands, with 31.9%, ten points above the next chain on the list, Dinosol (21.1%). In the ‘South’ territory (Andalusia and Badajoz) the firm’s footprint also exceeds 30% (31.5%). The results of Mercadona are equally strong in the ‘Central’ region (Madrid, Cáceres and part of Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and Aragón), where it reaches 27.5%, and ‘Northwest’ (Catalonia and the rest of Aragón), with 26.2%. In all cases the same photograph is repeated, replicated in the areas of Madrid and Barcelona: Mercadona far surpasses its main territorial rival. The northern redoubt. The really interesting thing is, however, in the northern Atlantic and Cantabrian seas. The Worldpanel data by Numerator They show that Mercadona is still a leader there, but in a much less emphatic way. First because its quota is much lower than that held in Levante or the Canary Islands. Second, because it does not maintain much of an advantage over its competitors. The most revealing case is the ‘North-Central’ (Cantabria, Navarra, Palencia, Burgos, La Rioja and the Basque Country), a territory in which Mercadona’s footprint is 19.1%. It is enough to be dominant, but it is only one percentage point behind Eroski (18.1%). In third place is Carrefour (9.8%). It is a scenario similar to what we find in Galicia, Asturias and León, what the consultancy calls ‘Northwest’. Mercadona registers its lowest share in that region, 18.22%. Second place is once again occupied by Eroski (15.1%), followed by Gadisa (10.1%), Carrefour (6.8%) and Alimerka (5.8%). Click on the image to go to the tweet. Why is it important? Beyond the fact that these percentages help us better understand how the company is distributed and how it has managed to dominate the market at a national level, the regional results from Worldpanel by Numerator leave an interesting reading about Mercadona: its future largely passes through the north of the peninsula, where it has greater room for growth. When we decide where to make the purchase, we not only evaluate the prices and variety of the assortment, we also take into account factors such as proximity or more subjective values ​​such as taste or loyalty to a brand. Together they form a ‘barrier’ that determines how far a company’s share can go. At the moment Mercadona has managed to extend its footprint nationwide to 27%. It is not unreasonable to think that even has not hit the ceilingbut the fact that in the northwest area it is only 18.2% and in the Cantabrian Sea it is around 19% suggests that in those territories the margin for growth is much broader and clearer. Not everything is advantages. No, of course. The data published by Expansion They also reveal that the leadership of the Valencian chain is much weaker in the northwest and the area made up of the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja and the north of Castilla y León, where it is only one point ahead of its regional rival, Eroski. This makes it easier for them to be overtaken and to see their position threatened. After all, Mercadona has not been established throughout the country for the same amount of time. In Vigo, without going any further, I only had two stores in mid-2013. And that is a city of almost 300,000 inhabitants, the largest in the entire northwest of the peninsula. If it wants to establish itself, Roig’s company will have to erode the share of … Read more

Prepared food already represents a business of 3,000 million for Mercadona. And that is a problem for McDonald’s and Burger King

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The proverb says that a picture is worth a thousand words. The success of the so-called ‘merchants’ Supermarkets that are hybridizing to become places where you can buy and consume already cooked dishes are not only measured in images and words. It can also be followed with something much more forceful: figures. One of the most resounding he just left her Mercadona. Throughout 2025, the Valencian chain had a turnover of around 700 million euros in Spain through its section ‘Ready to eat’. If we expand the focus to include its pre-cooked offering (refrigerated, trays…) the joint business volume in Spain and Portugal amounts to 3,000 million euros. What has happened? We have just obtained data that helps us better understand how the ‘Ready to Eat’ section is working for Mercadona. According to the information advanced by Food RetailIn 2025, the Valencian chain invoiced 700 million euros in Spain through this channel. Perhaps it seems like a discreet figure when compared to its global sales, which were close to 39.8 billion in Spain, but it is interesting for two big reasons. First, because the ‘Ready to Eat’ section is young. It was not launched until 2018. Since then Mercadona has been expanding it throughout its network (in 2025 it reached 210 new supermarkets) until it was present, at the end of last year, in 1,469 points of sale from Spain and Portugal. The second reason is that in reality ‘Ready to eat’ is only one of the multiple channels that allow Mercadona to capitalize on the growing demand for already cooked food. If the entire business and its turnover in Spain and Portugal are taken into account, the level of income is much higher. How much do you earn then? In total, if we count both the business generated by the ‘Ready to eat’ section and the sale of pre-cooked food (creams, packaged chicken or refrigerated pizza, for example), Mercadona entered around 3 billion of euros in Spain and Portugal. Not only does it represent just over 7% of the company’s global turnover, it also shows a growth of 20%, which confirms the potential of that line of business. The figure helps to understand Mercadona’s commercial strategy, which has been betting on the ‘Ready to eat’ section for years (in 2025 it implemented it in 250 new super) and in recent months it has redoubled its bet, adding to its offer of dishes and desserts a new service of freshly ground coffee. The cooked food sections also play a decisive role in the so-called ‘Store 9’the new establishment format that the company wants to implement in its network. Does the data matter that much? It is certainly striking. FRS contributes another brushstroke which helps to understand to what extent the sale of pre-cooked or ready-to-eat food has grown in Mercadona. The 3,000 million euros registered in Spain and Portugal in 2025 far exceed McDonald’s annual sales in Spain (around 2 billion euros) or Burger King (others 1.5 billion). In fact, it almost equals the sum of both subsidiaries. It’s not surprising at all. Mercadona has conquered 20% of the entire food and beverage business (in value share) and ships a large part of the hamburgers with buns sold in Spain. According to the Numerator signatureis behind approximately 10.2% of consumption occasions. They are just nine points lower than the national market leader McDonald’s (19.5%). Does it only happen with Mercadona? At all. The chain stands out for its considerable market share, but it is not the only one seeking to benefit from the growing demand for already cooked food. In February, the consulting firm NielsenIQ estimated that “prepared and ready-to-eat food solutions” are growing at a rate of more than 10% in supermarkets and hypermarkets, which is in turn shaping a billion-dollar business. “Right now this segment represents a total of about 3.7 billion,” explains Nacho Biedmatechnician of the consulting firm, in an interview with elDiario. There are analysts who calculate that the distribution sector (which includes supermarkets) already monopolizes 23% of what we spend on food outside the home. Why this change? Because consumer habits are not immutable. We do not eat the same, nor in the same way nor in the same places as our grandparents. And our grandchildren probably have different habits too. I predicted it last year Juan Roig, predicting that in the middle of this century Spanish homes will no longer have kitchens, so supermarkets will become more than just the place where we buy food to fill our refrigerators: they will be our great reference in food. Beyond these changes at the domestic level, sections like ‘Ready to Eat’ play a great role. They offer customers variety, agility and, above all, rates that traditional bars can hardly match. Prepared meals from supermarkets are in a way the successors of a ‘menu of the day’ that has been in crisis for yearssuffocated by rising prices. More and more people stop going to the corner restaurant to spend 14 euros in a menu of first, second and dessert that will take you 45 minutes to consume. He goes to an Alcampo, Carrefour or Mercadona, buys a couple of dishes for 10 euros and devours them in less than half an hour in the dining room located in the supermarket itself. Many people even take cooked food to devour at home. Images | Mercadona Via | FRS In Xataka | Very few national supermarkets are resisting Mercadona: regional chains like Froiz are

Fish has been in a deep crisis in Spain for years. Mercadona believes it has the formula for that to change

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He video It is from October 2024, but it could have easily been recorded yesterday, today or even tomorrow. In a piece lasting just under a minute, Jana Quiles, tiktokerrecounts his disastrous time at a fishmonger: “I just wanted a piece of fish for dinner and, because I didn’t know what to order, I ended up buying 25 euros worth of hake.” Your case is interesting because it connects with a phenomenon shared by many other young people on networks and that is reflected in the statistics from the Government: Spanish households buy less and less fish. Mercadona has taken note and has decided to step on the accelerator in a bet that it’s been a while implementing: the move from the fishmonger to the trays. What has happened? That Mercadona wants a “new fish sales model” in its stores. The chain itself announced it in a statement posted on its website, a note that, beyond its corporate tone, stands out for two things. The first, the message. The company advances its intention to complete the transformation of its sections, betting 100% on the packaged product. “We transfer all products to trays, guaranteeing quality and freshness.” The second thing that draws attention is the images. Mercadona’s statement only shows photos of fish already packaged, labeled and arranged in open refrigerators. Not a counter. Not even a stand with fresh goods and fishmongers to consult about the goods or a special cut. Nothing, in short, that can lead to experiences like the one that Jana Quiles lived in her day. @janaquiles This happens to me as a beginner 😂🐟 ♬ original sound – Jana Quiles Is it something new? In a way. Although Mercadona seems determined to complete its “reengineering” of fish, in reality the change comes from behind. Does more than a year There was already talk of the chain’s desire to find a more efficient model for the section, betting on the consumption of clean merchandise arranged on trays. The idea, how it progressed TOB.C. in January 2025: greater offer in packaging, with items ready for consumption, and much less assisted sales, moving away from the model that prevails in traditional markets. From the traditional image of customers browsing the hake, turbot and mussels displayed on ice, with the fishmonger on the other side of the counter, we move to a more functional one in which there is only the customer and the tray. Why this change? Mercadona argues who wants to “adapt” to how we consume in our homes and defends the benefits of the new model: “The key is to reduce as much as possible the time that passes from when the fish comes out of the water until you consume it.” To older claims that the trays allow it to reduce waiting times in stores, offer an “assortment adapted to real consumption” and work with merchandise “clean and ready for consumption.” In short, selling merchandise made almost to measure for a clientele that has lost the habit of buying fish and no longer has the vocabulary and the keys to ordering fresh goods. Again the case by Jana Quiles is paradigmatic. His experience with hake is not something isolated, it connects with an entire generation that has not acquired the habit of going to traditional fishmongers. That’s all? No. To these advantages are added others that Mercadona does not cite and directly affect its production costs, logistics and even the management of spaces in the store. In January the company already made it clear In any case, the change in model would not imply dispensing with employees, they would simply be assigned new roles. “The entire fishmonger’s team continues to be part of Mercadona. Their work adapts to other needs in the store.” Does it only affect fish? No. The focus may now be on fish, but it is only part of a much larger Mercadona strategy that connects with two of its main bets. One is food ready for consumption. For years, the chain has aspired to be more than just the place where you buy products to fill your refrigerator and pantry; It seeks to be directly the space in which you feed yourself. The clearest reflection of this slogan is the section “Ready to eat”but the commitment to trays of fish that are clean, cut, filleted and practically ready to put in the oven goes in that same direction. And the other bet? The ‘Store 9’the new local format that the Valencian chain wants to bet on. Your goal is optimize processes and improve efficiency, but in practice that translates into moving even further away from traditional counters and moving towards already packaged merchandise. Interaction with staff during purchases is reduced to a minimum. No chats with butchers, fishmongers or fruit sellers, like in traditional supermarkets. Speed, efficiency, and functionality prevail, which in turn leads to handling and packaging tasks being removed from public areas. Is this just about Mercadona? Not at all. Roig’s chain has managed to gain a considerable market share in Spain, close to 30% in terms of value, so their decisions affect thousands and thousands of families. However, the changes in fish consumption go further and partly connect with the Quiles video that we mentioned at the beginning of the article. We Spaniards buy less and less fish. The official data of the Government show that per capita consumption of fish (both fresh and frozen) in homes has been plummeting for years. And it doesn’t get better. He latest reportfrom November, shows interannual falls of between 4 and 5.5%. With its latest movements, Mercadona seeks to position itself in the part of the business that performs best. While Fedepesca talks about the closure of thousands of fishmongers Since 2007, there are businesses in the sector more focused on the sale of ready-to-buy merchandise, online orders and home delivery that they keep growing. Fish consumption itself is leaving homes to focus at leisure. Now Mercadona aspires to carve out … Read more

Touristification has made Mercadona find itself with a rival in Barcelona: 24-hour supermarkets

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Mercadona maybe is taking over of the retail at a national level, but in Barcelona there is another phenomenon that seems to advance even faster than it grows the business fee of the Valencian chain: 24-hour supermarkets. They grow. A lot. Lot. So much so that according to the latest data of the County Council during the second half of 2025, almost a hundred were put into operation, which translates more or less into one opening every two days. There are so many that even they have sneaked in in public debate. Super 24 hour drip. The data has disclosed them The Vanguard and they are to say the least surprising. During the first half of 2025, 92 24-hour supermarkets opened in Barcelona. If we go back further, to the period between October 2020 and the end of last year, the number of activated businesses is even more significant: the total amounts to 643. The Catalan newspaper speaks of “openings” or “start-ups”, not of net growth in supply (it is likely that there are also stores that close), but even so the data is striking. It shows that on average they are activated 3.5 business every week. Is it that striking? Yes. And not only because of the figure itself. Data from the City Council confirm that, far from showing signs of saturation, the sector continues to expand with the sixth production. In autumn 2025 it was already spoken that between 2020 and 2024, 686 licenses had been granted for these premises, which translated into three openings a week. Now the rhythm has increased. The records The City Council also reflects that this expansion has not been uniform nor is it affecting the entire city equally: although openings have been noted in Sant Andreu or Nou Barris, the majority are concentrated in El Eixample and Sant Martí. Between them they have close to 140 openings in just a few years. Two suspects: tourists and expats. At this point, the question is obvious… What is the reason for this super 24-hour boom? Why does the phenomenon seem to be affecting the Catalan capital above all? To answer these questions, you just have to visit one of these places. In most of them there are two characteristics that attract attention, as mentioned recently Luis Benvenuty, reporter for The Vanguard. The first is the prices. The second, the assortment they offer. Customers find drinks, sausages, sweets, pasta… but also items that are more difficult to buy in traditional supermarkets, such as souvenirs clearly focused on tourists. As for rates, the prices are also significantly higher than those found in conventional stores. For example, a can of Coca Cola can cost €1.5, the same as a bottle of water. It is not strange that the prices in this type of business are above those applied by the rest of the sector, but also there are those who see in these rates an offer aimed primarily at tourists and expats with high purchasing power. And the controversy broke out. The problem is not the proliferation of this type of establishments itself, but how it is developing. In September The Catalan Newspaper revealed that in just two years the inspection of 209 premises had revealed 2,700 violations. The majority (more than 1,400) were by activity, although many were motivated by the impact on the landscape (600), public health issues (243), waste (157) or non-compliance with the Treasury (113) or in the workplace (118). In total they resulted in more than 500 files. Commercial fabric earrings. Although there are dozens of stores in which inspectors found no anomalies, the violations pose a problem for the group. The SER specifies that on average each of these supermarkets commits around 13which explains why there are professional groups in Barcelona that already warn of the risk of degradation of the commercial fabric. “Betting on public-private collaboration and promotion to attract certain demand would bring us much closer to a solution. In this way we would transform our commercial hubs,” advocate Barcelona Open. From the streets to local politics. Proof of the extent to which 24-hour supers are expanding in Barcelona is that they have already entered the political debate, covering the entire ideological spectrum. The PP for example has claimed greater control and the application of “exemplary” sanctions to those who break the law. Meanwhile, ERC warns of “the substitution” of native businesses. The Consistory already has been proposed improve the regulation and control of this type of business. In fact they claim that since mid-2024 its inspectors have opened almost 300 sanctioning files and more than 450 restitution files, but the doubt remains as to what extent it will affect the expansion of a business model that (as suggested by the municipal records) generates more and more interest. Images | Sandor SAmkuti (Flickr) and Google Earth In Xataka | After decades committed to being a tourist power, Barcelona already surpasses Paris or New York in something: overcrowding

The daily menu has been in an existential crisis for some time. Now Mercadona threatens to take it ahead

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“This is more practical and faster. You eat for 6 euros and I don’t spend 45 minutes. I haven’t eaten off the menu since summer.” The phrase It is from David, 35 years old, technical director of a gym in Madrid. The World He interviewed him recently while having lunch at a Mercadona in the capital. His comment may seem like a simple anecdote, but it summarizes a phenomenon that in the coming years threatens to transform the healthcare sector. retailhospitality and even our eating habits: the struggle between the ‘menus of the day’ of bars and supermarket dishes. For now the figures are clear. Why are you going to the supermarket? A few years ago (not that many) that question would sound like a truism. You go to the supermarket to buy fruit, meat, preserves, milk… whatever you need to fill the pantry. At most you leave there with toiletries or perhaps home decorations, if we’re talking about stores. hypermarket type. However, more and more people go to the supermarket with another purpose: to eat. Literally. Go to a Mercadona, Carrefour or Alcampo (to name just three chains with a presence in Spain) and buy ready-to-eat dishes. Some stores even offer tables, chairs and microwaves. “Merchants” they call them. If you look splendid you can even buy a cup of freshly ground coffee. And do they work? Yes. A few days ago a reporter from The World visited a Mercadona in the center of Madrid, and found that, in addition to people shopping, there was a dining room full of customers eating dishes prepared in the supermarket itself. Three caregivers were having lunch together. At another table a woman was eating a hamburger while looking at her cell phone. Tables. Unknown. Dishes. Exactly the same as in a bar. And it is not something that happens only in Madrid. Not even in Mercadona. In another neighborhood, a retiree waits in line at a Carrefour to buy a rice and hake salad in green sauce. It is the menu of the day from the store, although his idea is actually to take it home. What does the data say? That the above are more than simple scenes of customs. It is proof that something is changing in the sector. retaila change that connects with our eating habits and threatens to hit traditional hospitality completely. According to data from the consulting firm Circana, the distribution sector already accounts for almost the fourth part (23%) of spending on food outside the home. And it is not the only indicator that points in that direction. Another recent NIQ report estimates that the prepared food sector in supermarkets, a broad category that includes everything from refrigerated dishes to other ready-to-eat dishes, recorded year-on-year growth in 2025. 11%well above the 5.8% at which the food distribution as a whole grows. In net terms, this translates into a turnover of billions of euros. In general, Asefapre, the association of manufacturers of prepared dishes, estimates that in 2025 per capita consumption amounted to 18 kg per person, 5% more than in 2024. Its most popular products are refrigerated pizzas, frozen potatoes and pasta-based dishes, so it does not exactly coincide with the foods offered in sections such as ‘Ready to eat’ from Mercadona, but it still gives a valuable clue about consumer trends in Spain. Which chains stand out? In Spain, brands with higher weight In distribution by value quota they are Mercadona, Carrefour and Lidl. The ‘photo’ is not very different when we talk about spending on food. At least that is what the data from Worldpanel by Numerator (Kantar) suggests, which recently disclosed a report which shows that the Valencian chain accounts for a value share in food and beverage consumption of 19.7%. Carrefour reaches 6% and Lidl 5.1%. The study leaves another interesting reading: with its share of almost 20%, Mercadona far exceeds the sum of bars, cafes and terraces (with a 11.2% share of total value) and independent restaurants, which remain at 8.6%. That Roig’s chain occupies such a prominent place is no coincidence. Beyond the gap that has been made in the sector retail thanks to the white labelthe group has been betting on its line for years ‘Ready to eat’in which it offers already cooked dishes that can often be enjoyed without having to leave the store. Today the section is implemented in 1,469 stores distributed throughout Spain and Portugal. Only throughout 2025 did the model expand to 210 new premises. What about the menu of the day? As Víctor, the young man from Madrid with whom we started this report, implies, this new offer of ready-to-eat dishes (many of them based on “traditional recipes”) represents direct competition for bars that offer daily menus. That’s interesting in itself. However, there is another reason why it is worth paying attention to this struggle between ‘merchants’ and bars: catch the traditional hospitality ‘menu’ in the middle of the crisis. Its format is largely based on affordability, but the escalation of costs in recent years (and which may yet be yet to come) makes it turn out every time more difficult keep them at attractive prices. At least if hoteliers want to maintain their margins. Have daily menus become more expensive? Yes. The data from the employers’ association show that every day in Spain they continue to serve millions of menusbut that does not mean that they are getting rid of price escalation. Between 2016 and 2024 They became more expensive on average by 19.5% (they went from 11.7 to 14 euros), but even with that increase the increase accumulated by the general CPI is not equal. A quick Google search arrives to find recent news that warns that in the last decade this increase in prices it’s already over 21%complicating the possibility of finding menus by less than 15 euros. What does that mean? That things get complicated for hoteliers, forced to maintain a profitability margin that guarantees their businesses and compete … Read more

Mercadona wanted to find out in Portugal if its business formula works outside of Spain. You already have the answer

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Your bet on the white labelthe short assortment, ready-to-eat foods and territorial expansion has allowed Mercadona to gain almost 30% of the Spanish market, far surpassing its competitors in the retail. That’s nothing new. What is curious is that this same bet seems to be giving good results also in Portugal, a country in which the chain premiered in 2019 with a first store in Vila Nova de Gaia. Since then the Valencian company not only he got sixth in your expansion lusa, has also expanded its business quota. And it doesn’t seem to be going bad at all. Beyond Spain. The percentage may vary depending on the period or region being analyzed, but for some time now studies on retail show that Mercadona is (by far) the chain that takes the largest part of the distribution business in Spain. In January, the consulting firm Nielsen presented a report on “mass consumption” that it assigns to Juan Roig’s chain 29.5% of the marketwell above direct competitors such as Carrefour, Lidl or DIA. This footprint is explained by a strategy that dates back (at least) to the end of the 80s, when the Valencian company made the leap to Madrid. On the other side of ‘la Raya’, however, its history is much more recent. Mercadona did not put its head into the Portuguese market until 2016when it decided to bet on its internationalization, and its first store in the neighboring country is even more recent: a 18,000 m2 supermarket in Vila Nova de Gaia opened in 2019. Chain Distribution share in Portugal (2024) Distribution share in Portugal (2025) Continent 26.6% 27.5% Pingo Doce 21.7% 21.7% Lidl 13% 12.9% Mercadona 7.0% 7.2% Intermarché 6.6% 6.4% Auchan 4.4% 5.3% aldi 2.7% 2.9% Miniprice 23% 0.8% Leclerc 0.8% 0.8% And how is it going there? We knew that the company was expanding for Portugal, which in 2024 achieved a positive net result and that in 2025 its profit in the neighboring country amounted to 26 million of euros; What we have just discovered is that this data is largely explained by its share of business. The Economist just published a report from Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar) that shows that the Valencian chain has established itself in the ‘TOP 5’ of the most important firms in the Portuguese distribution sector. A percentage: 7.2%. To be more precise, in 2025 its quota rose to 7.2%two percentage points more than in 2024. It is a much lower percentage than in Spain, but it draws attention when analyzed in its context. First, because Mercadona has gained that 7.2% gap in just five years, a time in which it has overtaken firms such as Intermarché, Auchan or Aldi. Second, because it is already the fourth distribution chain in terms of business footprint. It is only surpassed by Lidl (12.9%) and above all Pingo Doce (21.7%) and Continente (27.5%), the undisputed leaders of the retail in the neighboring country. Gaining weight. Mercadona has not only increased its share of the pie in the Portuguese business. It has also expanded its territorial footprint. And clearly. When it opened its first store, in the summer of 2019, the firm has already advanced that its landing did not only include the supermarket in the Porto area, it also contemplated a logistics block, offices and plans to open nine other stores that year. In his last annual reportpresented just a few weeks ago, Mercadona specifies that it closed 2025 with 69 stores, 7,500 employees and a turnover of 2,092 million euros in Portugal, which contributed to closing the year in green. If nothing goes wrong, the company plans launch another five super soon. “Since 2019, the company has invested a cumulative total of 1,230 million euros and, in this second year in which it registered a positive result in the country, it achieved a net profit of 26 million,” explains. According to his calculations, he already monopolizes 3.5% share in total sales area in Portugal. Are they all advantages? Not at all. If Mercadona has managed to establish its business share in Portugal, it has been largely thanks to its investment, the opening of new stores and the creation of a ambitious logistics block in Santarém. However, the Worldpanel by Numerator data that confirms its growth also reflects that it will not be easy if it wants to continue growing. The Valencian firm has Lidl ahead of it, but above all Pingo Doce and Continenttwo chains with decades of history and a very wide presence in Portugal. Between them they add up hundreds and hundreds of points of sale spread across the country and a market share that the old Kantar figure at 49.2%. Images | Continent and Mercadona Via | elEconomista.es In Xataka | Mercadona and the rest of the supermarkets have realized something worrying: they spend a million dollars on printing paper

Mercadona has been a threat to other supermarket and restaurant chains for years. Now it is for Starbucks

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Mercadona gained fame (and money) as a supermarket chain, but it has long since explore business avenues in sectors that go far beyond the retail traditional. The clearest movement was made in 2018, when it launched a section of cooked dishes and “ready to eat” (in fact the service is literally called that) that has grown at record speed. Today it is already offered in 1,110 stores and has allowed Juan Roig’s chain to become an unexpected rival for hoteliers, who have seen how the firm monopolizes almost 20% of the expense in food and drink, more than bars and restaurants. Now there is another sector with reasons to be on guard: coffee shops. What has happened? That Mercadona has just launched a new service in Euskadi. At the end of February The Mail revealed that the Valencian chain installed a freshly ground coffee machine ready to go in a supermarket in Bilbao. Said like this, it may seem like minor news, but it has more to it than it seems. To begin with, because it is the first Mercadona establishment to adopt this service in Basque lands. Second, because it demonstrates the speed with which the company is filling its supermarkets with ground coffee machines. Are you riding that many? It’s not so much that coffee makers are available in many stores as it is the speed at which they are expanding. Mercadona’s commitment to freshly ground coffee machines is very recent. People began to talk about her in March 2025when the company started its first tests in a handful of locations in the province of Valencia. “This is a laboratory,” the company then recognizedwho did not hide his desire to move the bet beyond Valencia. Its initial objective was that (if the idea worked) it would move to premises in the Community of Madrid after the summer. Now it is looking further, as demonstrated by its premiere in Bilbao. Is it really growing? Yes. At least if we take as reference the dossier of gastronomic services published by Mercadona itself on its website. It details that the company has continued to expand its network of coffee services, taking it to new cities. Not only that. For months Mercadona advertise the service with a specific section in which it states that it has black coffee, milk, coffee and cappuccinos. The cups can be consumed on the premises. The bet connects in part with Mercadona’s new store concept, the T9which seeks to adapt the premises to new consumer trends. Why is it important? Everything that revolves around Mercadona generates expectation. And it’s normal. Roig’s firm has managed to conquer a market share of about 30%which (beyond struggles within the retail) means that it is the chain that thousands of families trust when they need to fill their refrigerators. This growth has allowed it to become a heavyweight in the food sector, one that is no longer just viewed with suspicion by the rest of the supermarket chains. Its long shadow is also felt in the hospitality industry. Recently the consulting firm Worldpanel by Numerator published a report in which it states that Mercadona already has a value share in food and beverage consumption of 19.7%. What does that mean? That practically a fifth of everything we spend on food and drink ends up at Mercadona checkouts. The percentage is tremendous not only because of its reach. It is also the case when compared with other actors analyzed in the same study. The sum of bars, cafes and terraces is assigned a quota of around 11.2% and independent restaurants 8.6%. Conclusion: Mercadona is not only ending the idea of ​​cooking at home, it threatens to do the same with restaurants. Why is it important? Because regardless of how Mercadona is doing, its commitment reflects profound changes in the consumption habits of Spaniards. In fact, the chain’s success is largely explained by its aim when drawing up strategies. First, it opted for the short assortment model, filling its shelves with private label items. He then launched himself into the prepared food market, convinced that kitchens have the days counted. Now your new bet invites you to ask yourself another question: Will we continue going to cafes for a mid-morning coffee or will we have it at the supermarket? Images | Mercadona In Xataka | The war against Mercadona in Spanish retail is having a great beneficiary: the supermarket next to home

Europe has found a hole that has been sending sensitive material to Russia for years: a “Mercadona” from Germany

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More than 400 billion packages circulate around the world every year, and the international postal system is designed to move them as quickly as possible. To achieve this, many shipments cross borders with simplified controls and risk-based reviews, not full inspections. That logistical efficiency, designed to speed up commerce and everyday correspondence, sometimes generates unexpected cracks in much larger systems. An unexpected hole. Since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Union has lifted one of the sanctions regimes wider of its history with the aim of economically isolating Russia and hindering access to technology that can feed his military machine. Advanced electronics, sensitive components or certain industrial equipment are theoretically blocked to prevent them from reinforcing the Kremlin’s war economy. However, the practical application of these restrictions faces a constant problem: the more complex the sanctions system, the more ingenious They become the routes to avoid it. And in this case the weak point has appeared in a place so everyday that it is difficult to believe. A clandestine channel in the supermarket. The story was told in a report in Politico. Apparently, in several Russian chain supermarkets throughout Germany, among shelves of sweets or freezers, advertisements have appeared that promote a logistics service specialized in sending packages from Germany directly to Russia. What at first glance seems like a postal service for the Russian diaspora has become an unexpected crack within the European sanctions system. Customers may drop off boxes that supposedly contain clothing, books or small personal items. No one inspects the contents and, for a few euros per kilo, the package begins a journey that ends in Moscow or St. Petersburg. In this apparently innocent flow, even sensitive electronic components whose export is prohibited. The inherited logistics network. The middle counted that behind this circuit is LS Logistics Solution GmbH, a German company created by former employees by RusPostthe subsidiary that the Russian state postal service had established in Germany before sanctions forced it to close. After the invasion of Ukraine, that structure did not completely disappear. It was reorganized under a new namekept part of its staff and continued to operate from Germany with a similar system. The result is a kind of parallel postal network that collects packages throughout Europe and concentrates them in a warehouse near the Berlin airport, from where shipments to Russia are organized. The seal trick. The key to the system is an apparently bureaucratic detail. The packages do not have labels from the Russian Post, but from the state postal service of uzbekistan. Since that country is not subject to European sanctions, the shipment can take advantage of special rules that protect international postal traffic. In practice, this means that packets move with lighter controls than traditional commercial shipments. This administrative difference, designed to facilitate mail between citizens, becomes a back door for sensitive goods to cross borders without raising too many suspicions. A kilometer trip through Europe. The route of the packages illustrates chow it works the system. After being picked up from supermarkets or delivery points, they spend a day or two in Germany before moving to a large logistics warehouse near Berlin airport. From there they are loaded onto trucks that cross Poland on the A2 highway and continue to Belarus. Even though this country is also sanctioned for its support to Moscow, the packages continue to advance thanks to your status international postal mail. After traveling more than 2,000 km, they end up arriving at addresses in Moscow or Saint Petersburg. The problem of sanctions. Plus: the episode also reflects a challenge that those who design economic sanctions are well aware of. Officially blocking trade is relatively simple, but preventing alternative routes appear It is much more complicated, and that is already we have told it in the drone war in Ukraine. Each new restriction forces the creation of more complex control systems, while those who try to circumvent them constantly search new legal cracks or logistics. The result is an endless game of adaptation in which authorities try to close holes just as new ones begin to appear. Always one step behind. They finished the report explaining that European authorities are already reviewing the case and have strengthened the rules to pursue sanctions violations. Be that as it may, the discovery of the network itself demonstrates to what extent the system can make fun. As governments design increasingly strict legal frameworks, makeshift logistics networks continue to find ways to move sensitive goods across of unexpected routes. And in this case, the blind spot that allowed this channel to Russia to be kept open was not in an industrial port or a large cargo terminal, but in something as everyday as the check-in counter. a supermarket. Image | flowcomm, RawPixel In Xataka | In 2022, the war in Ukraine sent supermarket prices soaring. Iran threatens to make it child’s play In Xataka | The EU has a perfect plan to suffocate Russia. The problem is that now it needs its oil to survive

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