The large consumption market in Spain has registered a 3.5% growth in the accumulated until August 2025, a figure that reflects stability but also the consolidation of new purchase dynamics. This is collected by the second installment of the “Balance of the Distribution” published by WorldPanel by numerator, which confirms that households continue to exercise strong control over the expense, through smaller baskets, a greater number of visits to the point of sale and a greater alternation of teachers.

Consumption within the home grows 4.4%, while evolution is more moderate. This difference reflects a clear pattern: consumers continue to prioritize domestic consumption, although without completely abandoning leisure or restoration. In fact, the growth of consumption outside the home has been key for the total market of large consumption – food, drugstore, perfumery – to remain in positive terrain.

The new logic of the shopping basket

In terms of behavior, the report points to a relevant change in purchasing habits: visits to the linear are multiplied, but the baskets are increasingly light. The purchase frequency has increased 5.4% in the organized distribution and 3.1% in the traditional one. In parallel, 13.6% of purchases are made in more than one chain the same day, which reveals greater fragmentation in the purchase process and growing consumer availability to divide their expense between different operators.

This behavior responds, according to the study, to an attempt by homes to optimize each euro invested in food and daily consumer goods. The vision of the consumer is no longer limited to an teaching, but compares, evaluates and distributes the purchase.

The distributor brand is ongoing

One of the great levers of this new balance is the growth of the distributor brand, which has added 1.7 percentage points so far in 2025 and already reaches 45.9% quota in value. This advance is largely driven by short assortment chains, which already touch 40% quota (+1.5 pp compared to 2024). Regional chains also show positive behavior and reach 18.4% of the market (+0.5 pp).

On the contrary, traditional formats continue to lose relevance, although at a slower pace than in previous years. The hypermarket, specifically, closes the first eight months of the year with a quota slightly above 10%, which represents a drop of 1.2 points. The traditional channel maintains a quota close to 15% (-0.3 pp), confirming its slow but persistent decline.

Mercadona and Lidl lead

Among the big chains, Mercadona continues to be the reference. It has increased its quota by 0.7 percentage points so far this year and has reached a new record in Levante, with a 34.1%participation, almost 2 points more than a year ago. The company is especially capitalizing large baskets: 4 out of 10 large purchases are made in its supermarkets.

Lidl, meanwhile, has risen its 0.5 pp share thanks to a better conversion by category and an increase in buyers. ALDI also grows solidly: he wins 1.8 pp in buyers and increases its 0.2 pp quota supported by new openings and a more faithful customer base.

Dia, on the other hand, stands out for the growth in buyers (+1.2 pp) and for a moderate recovery of its quota (+0.2 pp), thanks to its proximity strategy and the commitment to its own brand. On the contrary, Carrefour suffers the impact of the recoil of hypermarket and fails to compensate him at all with his proximity stores.

According to Worldpanel by numerator analysis, the competitive context for organized distribution is increasingly complex. To market stability is added the progressive loss of the traditional channel, while alternative options such as e-commerce or food cast platforms grow, which have seen their consumption occasions increase by 26% compared to 2019.

In addition, there is an added pressure: the consumer has more and more alternatives, and more varied. In this scenario, loyalty becomes a capital challenge, and the profitability of each purchase act acquires critical importance.

Seniors without children and consumption outside the home

As for opportunities, the report identifies two large areas of development for brands and retailers: on the one hand, seniors without children, which represent more than 50% of the market that is not yet in the hands of organized distribution. On the other, the consumption outside the home, which is emerging as a fertile terrain to expand the traditional perspective of the large consumption market.

Both growth lines require specific approaches. In the case of the senior public, it is about integrating new segmentation strategies and adapting the assortment to their needs. As for consumption outside the home, the key will be to consolidate proposals that compete not only in price, but in convenience, format and experience.

More info.: Balance Distribution – 2025