A Market of Singles? Large Retailers Are Adapting

More and more households are composed of single individuals and this is forcing large retail chains to rethink their offer and organization of selling space. "Our approach is based on a continuous evolution of our assortment, more functional store layouts and strategic store positioning," explains Roberto Eretta, Managing Director for Sales and Logistics at Lidl Italia. The trend is irrefutable: if in 2019 single-person households were 31.2% of the total, in 2024 their number has risen to 35.6%, according to the Lidl Observatory.

What are the causes of this acceleration?
They are attributable to the decline in birthrates and the aging of the Italian population. For us it is important to be able to give the right answers, because it is a target that must undoubtedly be taken into consideration: the incidence of purchases by singles on the total of mass consumption has grown considerably. We went from 22% in 2019 to 29% in 2024. A leap of 7 percentage points. However, Italy is not homogenous in this respect: the South has different numbers from the North, there single-member households are just a little bit more than 31%.

What is the strategy you are implementing?
Our approach is based on three main drivers: assortment, organization of spaces and proximity of stores. This strategy allows us to respond to the needs of single households made up of young people as well as those who live alone and are elderly. In the former case the approach to spending is more functional, while it is more traditional in the latter. Both groups, however, have a lower frequency of visits to the store than other consumers and the value of average spending is slightly lower.

So how are stores changing?
We focus on the freshness of supply to increase the frequency of visits to the store. We have introduced single-portion items and, in some product families, loose and ready-to-eat products ready for consumption to intercept the needs of younger people. We have also worked on the arrangement of products inside the store, on the basis of our data. This target group in particular is attentive to convenience, but does not necessarily looks for promotions. They are loyal to brands and, given that our assortment is made up of 80% private labels, we represent a concrete response. There is a study underlying the positioning of the various product categories, to create what we define as the cognitive bridge that unites us and our customers, which is also based on the need to save time, through a simple and smart shopping experience.

The choice of location is crucial.
The positioning of the stores is the third prong of our strategy: we have always sought proximity, so as to be closer to our customers. And this has rewarded us considering single-member families in general, or the elderly who do not like to shop in large stores. Proximity is also functional for the younger demographic, a segment of the population that is very attentive to the time factor.

Lidl is present in 30 countries, with over 12,000 stores. In short, you look at demographic trends from multiple points of view: how do you react in other markets?
We have guidelines that represent an orientation on all fronts, from the policy on assortment, from real estate development up to the internal layout. Our format is recognizable internationally, however each country has wide room for maneuver that allows us to adapt the implementation of the guidelines by taking into account individual peculiarities of local markets.

The issue is also urgent for other retail chains. How is the big-box industry moving?
Single-person households are a target that, in large cities such as Milan and Rome, has been studied for several years, by us and our competitors. Big cities lead and now the trend is spreading. The answers are not so different: proximity has become a must to bring the store as close as possible to the target audience, given that the time factor plays a crucial role. We are increasingly moving towards proximity, even to the detriment of surface size. As regards assortment, a lot depends on the capacity of the space and the consequent optimization of management costs. There is no magic recipe: everyone is clear about the demographic trend in progress and it is necessary to find the right balance based on your format and characteristics, adapting organizational structure to achieve company objectives.