Mercadona celebrates 5 years in Portugal, where it has…
Mercadona celebrates its fifth anniversary in Portugalwhere it opened its first store on July 2, 2019, in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, in Canidelo (Porto). In the same year, the company opened nine more stores located in the areas of the city. Porto, Aveiro and Braga.
Over these five years, the company has invested a total of 1 billion euros in Portugal, which has enabled it to open 50 supermarkets (with sales of over 2,770 million euros) and 2 logistics units: one in Póvoa de Varzim (Porto) and the other in Almeirim (Santarem). The latter will be operational this year after an investment of over 250 million euros. In terms of employment, the company has created 6,000 stable and quality jobs.
It was in 2016 when Mercadona announced its internationalization project with the creation of the Portuguese company Irmãdona Supermercados, based in Vila Nova de Gaia. The company hired its first employees that same year and opened its first co-innovation centre in 2017. Matosinhos (Porto)to adapt its offer to the habits and preferences of the Portuguese consumer.
Two years later, the first Mercadona store already had 1000 new products adapted to the Portuguese market, which is proof of the company’s commitment to offering an efficient range that guarantees maximum quality.
During these five years, Mercadona made purchases from Portuguese suppliers for 3 billion euros, issued invoices for 2.770 million and paid 370 million in taxes to the Portuguese state.
After opening several stores in northern Portugal in 2022, Mercadona entered the market Lisbon agglomerationwith openings in the Lisbon and Setubal districts.
This internationalization project has allowed Mercadona to meet and work with new Portuguese suppliers; In addition, it has allowed Spanish consumers to become familiar with Portuguese products such as bread, pastries, cheeses, wines and other typical products of the Portuguese country. This commitment of the company to Portuguese suppliers is reflected in purchases worth 3,000 million euros since 2019.
Under the premise “share with society a part of what you receive”Mercadona has also developed a Social Action Plan in the country, which includes food donations. In this context, all stores in Portugal collaborate with social organizations, donating essential products on a daily basis. Over the past five years, Mercadona has donated around 5,500 tons of food to social organizations in the various regions where it operates.
“Mercadona has moved forward and learned a lot by entering the very competitive Portuguese market. Today, we can proudly say that the efforts we have made to adapt to the country are reflected in people’s desire to have our supermarkets nearby, but we still have a long way to go to become the Portuguese company we want to be in Portugal. These five years have proven their worth a good start and the motivation to continue to build a project of shared and sustainable growth that creates jobs and prosperity in the country, contributing to its economic development,” he says. Ines Santos, Director of Institutional Relations Mercadona Portugal.
It was in 2016 that Mercadona announced its internationalization project, creating the Portuguese company Irmãdona Supermercados, headquartered in Vila Nova de Gaia.
“Five years, a good start”
Under the motto “Five years is a good start” Mercadona made several videos to remember and mark the main stages of the company’s project in Portugal, telling the stories of its employees, which took place in parallel with the company’s development in the country.
The birth of a child, a couple meeting in a store, and Internal promotion are examples of these milestones that the company will be celebrating throughout July.