In recent years, the dialogue between Europe and Latin America regarding retail strategies has become an academic exercise to convert into an operational necessity. There acceleration of the hard discount, repositioning of supermarkets and the growing presence over prices and brands is obliging Latin American retailers to replace your business logic. From Europe, where this journey began before, we observe very similar patrons: aggressive expansion of the discounter, an consumer every day more rationally and a Distributor brand that has become an economical alternative to an strategic herramienta of differentiation and competitiveness.
It is in this context that Food Retail Italy, In collaboration with TuttoFood Milan 2026, decided to organize a program designed specifically to unite both worlds: Latin American mass market operators and European manufacturers focused on industrial brands and MDD. And do it in an immense weekday environment — say the banners — by concentrating, without embargo, the content in a room of the maximum number of participants, divided equally between professionals from Latin America and European producers. The idea is simple: create a space where two philosophies can be explored without a filter.
El eje del programa será la main conference dedicated to Latinoamérica, un momento en el que Latin American retailers will be able to directly compare the experience of large European discounters. Find out how they transformed into a shop model, how they adapted to a more demanding consumer and how they managed their rapid growth. But also you will be able to find out firsthand the response from the major European supermarket categories, que han desarrollado una Highly competitive distributor brand to slow down — and in some cases reverse — the advances of the discounter. In Europe, the MDD is not just a herramienta de margen: it is a Surrounding architecture that supports customer loyalty, defines the identity of the retailer and allows innovation more quickly than traditional brands. This perspective is key to understanding the path that today crosses many Latin American groups.
The conference will also have a unique moment: one food experience where Our European producers will cook their products for us. It's more than a tasting; It is a practical demonstration of how the quality, origin and innovation of the European product can integrate into the commercial strategy of a Latin American retailer.
But the project goes much further to the conference. The next day will be dedicated to a day of visits to supermarkets, in the company of the same directors of the European schools. Seeing what has been explained in the room allows you to understand the real logic of the layout, pricing architecture, category management and MDD positioning. Many participants will discover that the decisions that in Latin America are considered “tactical” in Europe are profoundly strategic decisions.
Finally, the third day will culminate with an operational workshop, quizás the most valuable moment of the program. After studying, observing and analyzing, the Latin American teams will work hard to identify which learnings can be implemented immediately in their markets, which require a cultural evolution and which, of course, do not end up with its competitive reality. The objective is not to demonstrate that a better interpretation of the European model is to construct — among all — a minimum common denominator that can be converted into a strategic brújula for the region.
This ambitious project, driven by TuttoFood Milan 2026 and coordinated by Food Retail Italy, look for much more to transfer knowledge: aims to open a new channel of collaboration between Europe and Latin America, hence the assortment strategy, the MDD and the discount models must be abstract themes to convert into real transformation products.
