Mercadona falls behind as Consum wins Spain's home delivery race

Mercadona is asleep at the wheel: Consum is already beating it at home delivery

Mercadona's 3-euro burgers have someone waiting for them at home. But not Mercadona. Juan Roig's chain, which has set the pace of the sector for decades, is watching a regional rival —Consum, with its neighbourhood stores and multilingual packaging— overtake it precisely in the field where shoppers have moved their basket: buying ready meals online.

The list of complaints keeps piling up. Customers want, in order, home delivery of its burgers and daily dishes, a new fish counter (or perhaps its removal, depending on how you look at it), and even wifi and Sunday opening. Behind the grumbling lies an older grievance: the own-brand products that once set the standard for supermarkets in Spain are no longer what they used to be. A plate of reheated macaroni at almost 5 euros has become the symbol of a drift that some customers won't forgive.

Prices, meanwhile, deserve their own chapter. Some argue the pandemic was used as an excuse to raise the cost of the shopping basket with more enthusiasm than necessity. And while the cost argument is always there, the discontent persists when the bill is compared with that of twenty-five years ago.

Mercadona doesn't have to listen to every request. But the example of Consum —delivering to homes the equivalent of its takeaway food— suggests there is room to manoeuvre. The question is how long Roig can afford to keep his own rhythm while the shopping cart moves increasingly online.