Healthy diet, quality food, but also savings to balance family accounts and ease the fear fueled by the winds of war. The Coop 2024 Report returns to investigate the purchasing choices of Italians, starting with food. (1)
Concern (well justified)
The threat of war, the imbalance between wages and necessary consumption, climate change are the main ingredients of the anxiety that afflicts Italians, still marked by the pandemic and the economic crisis.
The numbers detected by the Coop 2024 Report describe well the evolution of the malaise. Compared to 2022,
– the percentage of those who look to the future with confidence drops to 24%, minus 4%
– fear is increasing, 31% of Italians feel it, +11%
– 32% of those interviewed are concerned about anxiety, +8%.
The majority of Italians (55%) are struggling with a life that is very different from their initial expectations, very often in a worsening sense (44% of the sample). 75% declare themselves dissatisfied with their salary.
Superfluous consumption to the bone
The data report that purchasing power in Italy has returned to pre-pandemic levels. 'Only' 12 million Italians declare they are experiencing profound hardship (they were 20 million in 2022), while one in three (33%) could not face an unexpected expense of 800 euros (they were 45% in 2023).
Consumption is reduced to the essentials and the first criterion of choice in purchases for 75% of the interviewees is saving. Clothes, smartphones, cars and home ownership become a mirage. The superfluous is cut and people go back to repairing or buying second-hand objects. A frugality also dictated by a creeping de-consumerism, according to what was declared by 85% of the interviewees.
More spending on health and wellness
Health and well-being staff, on the other hand, are the areas where Italians remain willing to spend more, within the limits of the possible.
In the first case, medical care, paying is often a necessity: with a national health system that is increasingly less welcoming, Italians resort to private healthcare. 23% of healthcare spending in the country (40,6 billion euros) is directly financed by citizens.
The search for 'wellbeing' is expressed instead in the expenditure for aesthetic and cosmetic treatments. For the former, Italians spend an average of 320 euros per year (2023 data), while for make-up they fuel a turnover of over 13,5 billion euros (+29% on 2019).
Food resists, between tradition and 'fashion'
Power maintains a central role. Only 10% of respondents say they will reduce their spending by 10%.
The Mediterranean diet remains the reference regime for one in three Italians (34%). Organic returns among the desires of Italians: there are 24,8 million families who already purchase it with a penetration of 96,6% and 9,6 million Italians who will increase their purchases in the coming months.
The attraction is also growing for 'identity' food models and/or for weight control. From high-protein plant-based diets to vegetarian, flexitarian, etc.
The trap of high prices
Inflation in 2024 it is zeroed out and the volumes of mass consumption return to positive territory after four years (+0,9% in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023), reports the Coop 2024 Report.
The only channels hypermarkets, supermarkets and self-service stores in the first half of 2024 show higher volume sales, +3,9%, compared to those of 2019.
The economic scenario it's getting clearer, in short. You can glimpse 'an economic outlook that could improve, allowing Coop to activate the levers in our possession to better meet the needs of members and consumers', comments Maura Latini, president of Coop Italia.
However,, 'sand on the one hand the inflationary picture seems to be settling down, on the other hand it will be necessary to take into account the fact that prices, even if stabilized, are in fact 20% higher than those of 2021', explains Domenico Brisigotti, general manager of Coop Italia.
Coop Italy therefore 'fights inflation and continues to develop a strong policy of offering quality and convenience with its very wide range of branded products', underlines Marco Pedroni, president of Ancc-Coop (National Association of Consumer Cooperatives).
MDD and discount
The savings, inevitably, still guides the food purchasing choices of Italians. And the best option is to stock up on the most convenient channels, which in the large-scale retail trade are
– private label products (Mdd, private label) sold in the first half of 2024 represent 38,2% of the total volume sales of the market. They grow by +2,2% in value and +2,4% in volume. Numbers that highlight the convenience of private label products. In comparison, branded products (TOP 20) still show a gap destined to cut consumption: sales in value -0,5%, but sales in volume -2,2%. Are Italians starting to leave the products of the branded industry (Idm) on the shelves? (2)
– the discount stores, with their prices sometimes cut to the bone (often in exchange for sacrifices in quality, as our market research shows), are rewarded by consumers' need to save money. (3)
Also thanks to a continuous expansion of the sales network, they reach 23% of market share, with an increase of approximately +4% compared to 2019.
Marta Strinati
Footnotes
(1) Coop Report 2024 – Consumption and lifestyles of Italians today and tomorrow https://italiani.coop/rapporto-coop-2024-anteprima-digitale/
The Report is drawn up by the Research Office of Ancc-Coop (National Association of Consumer Cooperatives-Coop) with the scientific collaboration of Nomisma, the analytical support of NielsenIQ and the original contributions of Circana, GS1-Osservatorio Immagino, CSO Servizi, GfK, Mediobanca Research Office, Campo Ricerca-Scomodo.
(2) Marta Strinati. High prices, reduced food consumption. The 14th edition of Osservatorio Imagine. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) See the GIFT Market Research, Great Italian Food Trade
A professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic studies on food and has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
