Across Europe’s largest grocery markets, e-commerce still hasn’t become the threat to physical retail that it did in other categories. In Germany, online grocery sits at roughly 0.4% of the market. In France and Spain, our Signals to Savour research found the channel continuing to struggle for a real foothold against strong in-store preference. In Italy, it has gained traction mainly among younger shoppers, keeping its overall share low. Across every one of these markets, the physical store remains the dominant, and in most cases the overwhelming point of sale.
That’s not for lack of investment. Europe’s quick-commerce sector went through a period of aggressive, well-funded expansion – and has spent the past two years consolidating hard in the other direction. Getir withdrew from multiple European markets in 2024; other early entrants have been absorbed or wound down. The survivors are increasingly leaning on existing supermarket networks as fulfilment hubs rather than building new dark-store infrastructure from scratch. The pattern across the industry now is monetising the existing, physical store, not replacing it.
The broader data backs up what we’re seeing market by market. Online grocery growth across Europe actually decelerated in 2025 to 6.8%, down from 7.8% the year before, even as retailers continue investing in technology and data to get more out of their existing footprint.
For grocery-anchored real estate, that’s a meaningfully different risk profile to retail more broadly. This isn’t a category where physical space is being slowly displaced by a growing online channel. It’s one where the physical store remains the infrastructure the whole system runs on, online included.
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This update is for information purposes only. Shareholders in any Greenman fund are not required to act upon any of the information contained in this update.
Nothing in this update should be considered as investment advice or as a recommendation to invest.
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