Mercadona Has Become the Most Profitable Supermarket in the World

The Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona, owned by Spain's most famous Valencian family, Juan Roig and his wife Hortensia Herrero, has reached the top spot globally in terms of profitability, outperforming major international retailers including Walmart, Carrefour, and Tesco, reports Expansión.

According to the report, in 2025, the company earned approximately 4.5 euros for every 100 euros of sales, representing a net margin of about 4.5%, which is above industry averages and significantly higher than its competitors. For comparison, Walmart's margin stands at about 3.1%, Costco's at 3%, Tesco's at 2.52%, Dia's at 2.26%, Coop at 1.77%, and Carrefour at 0.39%.

However, the Expansión comparative analysis only included companies that publicly disclose their sales and net profit data; therefore, German companies Lidl and Aldi, the Italian company Conad, and the French company E.Leclerc were not included. Additionally, for Auchan, Casino, Migros, Consum, Eroski, and Esselunga, 2024 data was used as they have not yet published their 2025 figures.

Mercadona's revenue grew by 8% over the year, reaching 41.8 billion euros. The majority of this income came from Spain, where the company remains the undisputed market leader, while approximately 2 billion euros were generated in Portugal, where the chain is actively expanding. Today, Mercadona has more than 1,600 stores and about 115,000 employees.

In its annual report, Mercadona explains that in 2025, it managed to increase profitability through process optimisation. Specifically, this involved saving about two million euros by using ovens in eco-mode, cutting costs, and improving operational efficiency in stores.

In 2026, the company plans to create about 1,000 more jobs and increase revenue to 43.2 billion euros.