This grant scheme of the Secretariat of State for Trade forms part of Component 13 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, “Boosting SMEs”, under Investment 4, which supports the retail sector within the local economy, promotes job creation and fosters social cohesion. Its objectives include funding projects that enhance competitiveness, innovation and the modernisation of distribution channels, as well as supporting municipal markets, urban retail areas, itinerant trade and short supply chains.

These grants are aimed at local authorities to finance projects with a technological, innovative or sustainability focus, as well as improvements to retail sector infrastructure located within their jurisdiction.

The following local authorities may be eligible for these grants:

• Municipalities, represented by their respective local councils.
• Provinces and islands, through provincial and chartered councils, island councils and cabildos.
• Comarcas or other entities grouping several municipalities.
• Associations of municipalities, provided that municipalities with populations exceeding 100,000 inhabitants do not account for more than 60% of the total population of the association.

Eligible expenditure

• Digital transformation costs: investments aimed at the digital transformation of municipal markets, retail areas and short supply chains, to introduce, maintain or improve sales functionalities through digital channels, promote omnichannel business models, and enhance the customer’s digital shopping experience.
• Point-of-sale transformation costs: optimisation, integration or automation of internal management operations; costs related to construction works and refurbishment of public spaces to improve the sales process, accessibility, equipment and the adaptation of occupied areas.
• Sustainability and circular economy costs: measures to reduce the consumption of inputs by businesses and consumers within retail establishments, replacing them with more environmentally friendly alternatives.
• Supply chain and traceability costs: support for collaborative platforms involving local or “Km 0” producers, retail SMEs and distributors; investments in new technologies; and training costs related to skills development, use and management of technological tools, digital marketing, and data exploitation and analysis.​