Spanish convenience retailer Covirán opens its first African store, in Cape Verde

Aug 15, 2019

Coviran logo
Covirán has opened its first store outside the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish supermarket cooperative has opened a new 180m² store in Espargos, Cape Verde with a local partner. The new store will be supplied from Covirán’s distribution hub in Sintra, Portugal.

For almost a decade, Covirán has talked about entering Morocco as its first African market, and was close to opening two pilot stores in early 2018. This new store is part of a planned expansion of between 125 and 150 stores in 2019 – most of which are in Spain. Covirán has opened 16 stores in Portugal in H1 2019 (and refurbished a further 14). It will open a further 10 stores in Portugal in H2 2019.

The new 180m² store is in Espargos, the capital is commercial centre of the island of Sal, Cape Verde. It has a population of over 20,000. The store has an a bakery, cold counters for cheese and meat, a frozen food section and fresh fruit and vegetables. It will be supplied weekly by sea from Covirán’s distribution hub in Sintra, Portugal. It is anticipated that Covirán’s partner will open a network of small stores across Sal.

We understand that Covirán is looking to use Cape Verde as a test market ahead of possible expansion into other Portuguese speaking markets in Africa: Angola, Guinea Bissau and Mozambique. If so, it faces a major challenge: Angola already has a strong national network of convenience stores (Bem Me Quer), while more retailers are currently closing in Mozambique than opening.

Covirán has 3,034 stores in Spain, with a combined sales area of ​​461,006m2, and a further 283 supermarkets in Portugal (which we estimate account for a further 43,500m2). In 2018 it achieved revenues of €1.37bn ($1.53bn). It is the second largest supermarket retailer in Spain by store numbers and ranked ninth by floorspace.

In 2017, Covirán had 2,900 stores in Spain and a further 300 in Portugal, with a combined sales area of 477,957m² of floorspace (145m² per store). It achieved revenues of €1.34bn ($1.65bn) in 2017, 91% of which came from its stores in Spain. The remaining 9% came from its 300 stores in Portugal.

 

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