Kesko grocery declines first time in years

After several years of strong growth, Kesko’s grocery division seems to be facing the same headwinds as many other major grocers in Europe. Price of groceries is becoming more important throughout Western Europe, also in Finland.

For the first time in years, Kesko grocery sales have declined, offline and online. For online the decline came against really high pandemic numbers.

Despite the decline in sales, grocery operates still a very healthy profit margin business: 5,8%.

Kesko’s decline is a bit surprising given that the overall market grew by 1% and the main competitor S-Group grew by 1,5%. Most probably also Lidl has grown.