In 2021, Mercadona has increased its consolidated sales at constant surface area by 3.3%, to 27,819 million euros. the online channel (Hives and Teleshopping) of the company has achieved growth 40% compared to the previous year until reaching the €510 million.
Likewise, Mercadona Online (Colmenas) has increased its number of orders up to 1.8, compared to 1.2 million in 2020, and has closed the year with a team of 1,636 people. In order to have the trust of the “Bosses” (customers) who make their purchases through this channel, Mercadona had three Colmenas (exclusive stores for online sales) at the end of the year, located in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, to which it plans to incorporate two new ones in 2022, one in Alicante and the other in Seville.
Another noteworthy fact is that Total revenues, 415 million correspond to the sales of its 29 stores in Portugala country in which the company, after two years of presence, has reached a market share of 3%.
The Supermarket has faced in these twelve months, especially since April, a complex economic and social context, in which it has had to manage the different measures of the different administrations in relation to the pandemic, such as mobility restrictions and confinements ; as well as a high increase in costs derived from the soaring growth of raw materials, transport or industrial prices.
Faced with this inflationary situation and to minimize its impact on sales prices, Mercadona decided not to transfer all of these significant increases to its customers, which has generated a negative impact of 100 million euros on its operating margins, which has resulted in in a 6% reduction in its net profit, which in 2021 was 680 million euros.
1,200 million euros of investment and creation of 1,000 new jobs
Mercadona has continued to make progress in its brutal transformation to consolidate a more digital, productive and sustainable business model. To do this, it has made a new investment effort this year of 1,200 million euros, a figure that added to the investment of the three previous years exceeds 5,000 million.
As a result of this investment, the company has ended 2021 with 1,662 supermarkets, 29 of them in Portugal, after having opened 79 supermarkets, 9 of them in Portugal, and closed 58 stores that did not fit its new, more efficient store model and sustainable. Likewise, it has maintained the renewal process, until the end of the year with 1,200 supermarkets of the New Efficient Store Model (Store 8). The company has also continued with the implementation of the new “Ready to Eat” section (“Ready to Eat” in Portugal), which has allowed it to end the year with 825 stores with the new section.
In addition to generating wealth and activity, its investment commitment has materialized in the creation of 1,000 new stable and quality direct jobs, which have raised the total workforce to 96,000 people, 2,500 of them in Portugal.
Likewise, the Management Committee agreed to raise the salary of the entire staff according to the rise in the CPI, 6.5% in Spain and 2.7% in Portugal, with the aim of guaranteeing their purchasing power and in coherence with a company model that has been in force for 28 years and whose workers are the best asset of the clients and essential for the growth of the Mercadona Project.
The company’s commitment to generating quality work has also been reflected throughout the year through different initiatives. Thus, for example, throughout 2021, important preventive and training work has continued to be carried out in occupational health, a factor that has taken on an even greater role in a pandemic context, with the aim of making the workforce feel sanitary protected and safe. With this same objective, the 3C (Call Center COVID) telephone service has been reinforced, made up of 180 professionals, including health and medical professionals, who have offered attention 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, receiving in the most complicated moment of the sixth wave, in which 5% of the workforce was infected, up to 8,000 calls a day.
Another example of this commitment is the incorporation of new technological applications to facilitate work and family reconciliation. In this sense, the mobile application for internal use Activo2 has been consolidated in 2021 as one of the main internal communication channels that has allowed not only to keep the entire workforce informed, but also to collect their opinions to continue consolidating Mercadona as a differential project by incorporating a large part of the contributions received through this collaborative tool.
Advance in sustainability
To continue promoting its sustainability and its “yes to continue caring for the planet”, Mercadona has invested more than 49 million euros in different initiatives and measures aimed at promoting a more positive and sustainable impact in all its actions. In this context, the company has continued to strengthen its Strategy 6.25, which allocates an investment of 140 million euros until 2025 to achieve the triple objective of reducing plastic by 25%, making all packaging recyclable, and recycling all waste. of plastic; and the implementation of the 6.25 Store throughout the chain has been completed, where “The Boss” and the workers are informed and trained in waste management.
Likewise, through AENOR, Mercadona has verified the impact of its carbon footprint, after calculating both its direct and indirect emissions from electricity consumption, introducing new sustainable decarbonisation measures, such as renewing the fleet with alternative fuels, incorporating of solar panels in some of its facilities or the change of refrigerant gases in the equipment.
Aware of the social impact that COVID-19 is generating, as well as its social and economic consequences, it has increased by 21% the donations of essential products to soup kitchens, food banks and other charities with which it collaborates, reaching 20,600 tons donated, of which 19,200 have been distributed in Spain and 1,400 in Portugal. In addition, as a sign of its solidarity with the island of La Palma, from the first day of the eruption, Mercadona made 74 tons of food and 1 million masks available to them.
An investment of 1,100 million euros in 2022 and 1,000 new jobs
Mercadona plans to invest 1,100 million in 2022 to continue promoting its strategic transformation plan. These resources will be used mainly for the opening of 68 new supermarkets, 58 in Spain and 10 in Portugal; to the reform of 43 supermarkets to adapt them to the New Efficient Store Model (Store 8); and the implementation of the new Ready to Eat/Soon to Eat section in another 150 supermarkets. For all this, the company will create more than 1,000 stable and quality jobs in 2022, between Spain and Portugal.
The year 2022 is proving to be very difficult, the current inflationary scenario is being reflected in the company and will mean an increase in our expenses of more than 500 million euros. To minimize this impact, Mercadona will continue to bet on productivity and efficiency in each of the processes in order to be increasingly competitive. An example of this strategy is the removal of the logo from the corporate mask, an initiative that alone generates savings of 400,000 euros per year.
the president of Mercadona, Juan Roighas stated that “In 2022 our investment plan continues. It will surely continue to be a very, very difficult year that we will overcome by applying our Total Quality Model, which is our beacon for navigating this scenario of uncertainty that we are experiencing. I am sure that with the individual and collective effort of the 96,000, we will achieve the goals we have set for ourselves”.
Legacy Project Juan Roig and Hortensia Herrero
One more year, so Juan Roig as the vice president of Mercadona, Hortensia Herrero, have reinforced their commitment to society by deciding to reinvest in it an important part of the dividends from their participation in the company and from their personal assets. In total, both have earmarked 100 million euros in 2021 to different initiatives (Entrepreneurship, Training, Sports, Entertainment, Art and Culture) that have been channeled through the Legacy Project.
This commitment, which began more than a decade ago and which in 2022 will continue to be promoted with another 100 million euros of his personal assets, stems from the conviction on the part of both that “knowledge and money give happiness… if you share them”. And in his case, through different sustainable and supportive projects, such as Marina de Empresas, Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, Valencia Basket Club, L’Alqueria del Basket, Licampa 1617 (Casal España Arena de València) and Hortensia Herrero Foundation.
