Selling to Italian grocery retail

In short

Italian grocery retail is large and fragmented. Packaged consumer goods alone were worth €117.1 billion in 2025. No single group holds more than about 16% of the market. The leaders are networks of independent retailers and cooperatives, not single companies: Selex, Conad, Coop and VéGé. They negotiate nationally, but regional members and their distribution centres (ce.di.) often decide what reaches the shelf. Discounters such as Eurospin and Lidl keep gaining ground, and promotions drive about a quarter of sales.

Market at a glance

The competition authority (AGCM) took these shares from the Guida NielsenIQ Largo Consumo (GNLC), second edition 2025. Shares cover the whole grocery market, including discount.

What this means:

• Fragmented, but concentrating. Cooperatives and associations of independent retailers, often family-controlled, make up more than half of the market. The top seven gained almost 20 points since 2010 through networks, buying groups and alliances, not through large single companies (Startmag on Mediobanca, 13 Jul 2026).
• Strong regional players. Many of the companies inside Selex and VéGé are regional retailers with their own banners, such as Il Gigante, Dok or Bennet (Selex; VéGé members).
• Discounters keep growing. Discount sales grew by an average of 8.4% a year from 2019 to 2024, against 4.9% for other formats (Quotidiano Nazionale on Mediobanca, 31 Mar 2026).
• Carrefour has left. NewPrinces completed its purchase of Carrefour Italia on 1 December 2025. The network (982 stores) is moving back to the historic GS name (Distribuzione Moderna, 11 Jul 2026).

Who buys how

Italy has two main buying models, plus discounters and integrated chains that buy for themselves.

Buying alliances in 2026:

• ESD Italia: Selex, Agorà, Aspiag (Despar) and Acqua & Sapone. One negotiator, annual contracts. 24.9% share (Circana, June 2025; AGCM: 22.53%) and more than 6,000 stores (Selex, ESD Italia; AGCM bulletin 6/2026).
• Conad + Finiper: listed together by the competition authority at 17.05% (AGCM bulletin 6/2026). Conad also belongs to the European alliance AgeCore (Conad Annual Report 2025).
• Forum: set up in 2020–2021 by Despar Servizi, C3, Crai and D.It (Sigma, Sisa) (GDOWeek, 1 Mar 2021); still listed as a buying alliance by the competition authority in 2026 (AGCM bulletin 6/2026).
• VéGé: buys on its own. Aicube 4.0, its buying centre with Carrefour Italia, closed at the end of 2023 (ESM Magazine, 7 Jul 2023), and the competition authority lists VéGé alone in 2026 (AGCM bulletin 6/2026, 9 Feb 2026).

Getting listed in Italy

1. National agreement first. With Conad and Coop, the national consortium is the gatekeeper. With Selex and VéGé, the central agreement sets the framework, but each member company still decides whether to list you (AGCM bulletin 6/2026).
2. Then the regions. Plan time and field work for each regional cooperative or member ce.di. A national deal does not mean shelf space in every region.
3. Discounters run their own process. Eurospin, for example, accepts suppliers only through its online supplier portal (Eurospin supplier area).
4. Italian labelling. Mandatory food information on products sold in Italy must be in Italian; other languages may be added, not used instead. D.Lgs. 231/2017 sets fines for labelling breaches (Diritto.it, 5 Jul 2018).

The unfair trading practices law (D.Lgs. 198/2021)

Legislative Decree no. 198 of 8 November 2021 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 285, 30 November 2021) applies EU Directive 2019/633 to the agri-food supply chain (text of the decree). Key rules in the text as published:

• Written contracts concluded before delivery, stating duration, quantities, product features, price, and delivery and payment terms. Supply contracts last at least 12 months unless there is a justified exception (art. 3).
• Payment terms: within 30 days for perishable products and 60 days for non-perishable products (art. 4).
• Banned practices include double-reverse electronic auctions ("aste a doppio ribasso") and imposing terms that lead to sales below production cost (art. 5).
• Enforcement: ICQRF, the inspectorate of the agriculture ministry, can inspect, order a practice to stop and impose fines of up to several percent of turnover (arts. 8 and 10).
• 2024 changes: Decree-Law no. 63 of 15 May 2024 added production-cost definitions and made respect for production costs a principle of price-setting (LCA Studio Legale, May 2024).

This is not legal advice. Check the current consolidated text on Normattiva and speak to an Italian lawyer before you negotiate.

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Retailer guides in Italy

• 

  Selex

  How Selex and its 18 independent member companies buy, how to get listed, how promotions and private label work.

  Read the guide →
• 

  Conad

  How Conad buys through its national consortium and five regional cooperatives, how to get listed, how promotions and private label work.

  Read the guide →
• 

  Coop Italia

  How Coop Italia buys for Italy's consumer cooperatives, how to get listed, how promotions and the Coop own brand work.

  Read the guide →
• 

  Gruppo VéGé

  How Gruppo VéGé and its 32 independent member companies buy, how to get listed, how promotions and private label work.

  Read the guide →
• 

  Eurospin

  How Eurospin buys through its supplier portal, lab tests and sealed-bid negotiations, and how promotions and its own brands work.

  Read the guide →
• 

  Esselunga

  How Esselunga buys centrally, how to apply through its supplier portal, how Fìdaty promotions and private label work.

  Read the guide →

Sources

• AGCM: Bulletin no. 6/2026, case C12751 (9 Feb 2026)
• Conad: Annual Report 2025 (2026)
• Selex: 2025 results (29 Jun 2026); Selex Media and 2026 plan (1 Dec 2025); Selex home; ESD Italia
• VéGé: 2025 results (3 Jul 2026); members; alliances
• ESM Magazine: Aicube 4.0 to close at the end of 2023 (7 Jul 2023)
• Quotidiano Nazionale: Coop 2025 results (26 Jun 2026)
• NielsenIQ: Linkontro 2026 (14 May 2026)
• WineNews: Mediobanca GDO observatory (1 Apr 2026); Quotidiano Nazionale: Mediobanca report (31 Mar 2026); Startmag: Mediobanca (13 Jul 2026)
• Circana for MARCA: private label report (Jan 2026)
• GDONews: promotional pressure, NielsenIQ (20 Aug 2026)
• Distribuzione Moderna: NewPrinces and Carrefour Italia (11 Jul 2026)
• GDOWeek: Forum buying alliance (1 Mar 2021)
• D.Lgs. 198/2021, text as published (GU no. 285, 30 Nov 2021); LCA: 2024 amendments (May 2024)
• Diritto.it: D.Lgs. 231/2017 labelling sanctions (5 Jul 2018)
• Eurospin: supplier area; flyer; Eurospin Family
• Conad: stores and flyers; miPREMIO

This guide is based on public sources. Sellva is not affiliated with any of the retailers named.

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