Oover the last decade there has been a steady increase in the number of foreign-owned stores which are opening branches in Majorca. In fact the main hypermarkets on the island are owned by French companies. German supermarkets are opening branches around the island and German and French stores have an important share of the local DIY, sporting and domestic appliances market. For years people have been asking why doesn´t Marks & Spencer open a branch in Majorca? The other day a Spanish friend remarked that Majorca needed a Tesco. It is quite amazing that despite the fact that Majorca is Britain´s favourite holiday spot and has a large expat community, British retailers have never ventured into the island on a large scale. As we know, Marks & Spencer did have branches on the mainland which they closed about a decade ago but never in Majorca despite plenty of rumours. Why? British food products are always in demand but none of the big supermarkets have ever shown any interest in opening a branch here. They say that the relatively small local population doesn´t warrant a major British supermarket. Perhaps they are right. But British retailers always appear to have their eyes on the other side of the Atlantic and not Europe. I would say that there is a big demand for British stores on the island. If the French and Germans believe there is a market, why don´t the British? Answers on a postcard please.
British retailers
27/01/2016 00:00
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4 comments
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What we need is a branch of Waitrose, not Tesco. Much more suitable for the expat demographic.
If you run through all the major UK retailers like Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Asda etc. - they are all struggling to contain the rise of Lidl and Aldi on home soil and they'd never get close to Mercadona and others if they tried to set up in the Baleraics. Kingfisher is a large retail group with a huge footprint in the UK but couldn't replicate in Spain, oiur sports firms couldn't hold a candle to Decathlon on either quality or price, Marks and Spencer have never travelled well, the Co-op concept is alien to Spain and failing in the UK, the John Lewis Partnership way of doing business would get trampled in the Balearics, none of the British electrical retailers could compete with Germany's Bauhaus and others, nor with Spain's big-store electrical offers. You maybe could see a revamped form of Matalan doing well if it researches the Spanish clothing market properly, but honestly I can see nothing British that could give anyone a run for their money, except perhaps a very exclusive Harrods. All very depressing.
One major reason,as you quite rightly say,is the small ex-pat population,Lidl and Aldi are successful here because of their lower prices so are popular with the Majorcans for that reason whereas Tesco,Morrisons et al go for high-quality but are much higher-priced so they would have little local appeal. Transport can also be a problem,as we have all seen at Calais in recent times but the main reason is probably fluctuating exchange rates,in December a pound was worth one euro forty,this is now down to one euro twenty eight so the price of goods would be continually changing,not an ideal way to do business.
Perhaps the supply lines are too long.Two stretches of water to cross from Uk to Mallorca. A lot of ex-pats like the German and fFrench shops and holiday makers have come here to get away from Tesco!