Italians prefer fast, protein-rich and sustainable food. And they cook less and less. So reports the Coop report on the economy, consumption and lifestyles of Italians.
Coop report, consumption at the table
Food purchases Italians are increasingly oriented towards easy-to-prepare foods, but with the added value of sustainability. At the supermarket wins theinstant food (+9.3% in one year). Exotic sushi, increasingly present in large-scale retail, is now a consolidated purchase. 42% of Italians are regular buyers.
Among drinks, there is a continued growth of prosecco and sparkling wines and the beer boom continues with 7 million hectoliters purchased in the first 6 months of 2019. A new trend for flavored waters emerges, whose sales in one year show +164.7% in value. On the other hand, consumption of soft drinks decreases.
In the shopping cart foods rich in fiber and protein prevail, at the expense of fats and carbohydrates. After years of consumption reduction, 2019 marks the great return of meat (+3.5% sales in 2019), especially Italian.
The Made in Italy, or Origin Italy, is a strong interest element for Italian consumers. It prevails also over the taste and price of the food. 78% of consumers declare themselves reassured by the 100% Italian origin. A plus which accounts for a +4.8% growth in one year (2018 over 2017).
Robot pots and food delivery
We cook less and less. In 20 years we have halved the time spent cooking every day and now dedicate only 37 minutes to it. In home preparations, the craze is for instant pot, electric pots, which promise to effortlessly prepare even the most complicated dishes. In the first 7 months of 2019, sales increased by 72.8%.
In this revolution gastronomic also blurs the concept of ‘course’. The first and second traditional dishes are favored by snack (sweet or savory, it doesn’t matter, both grow in double digits). The same trend is observed for every type of ready meal, including pre-packaged fruits and vegetables and meal replacement bars.
Restaurants and home delivery meal services are accordingly booming. Extradepartmental catering expenditure in 2018 amounted to 83 billion euros. Meanwhile the food delivery is now used by 26% of Italians.
Environmental awareness of Italians is increasingly pronounced. 68% approve of the forecast of a surcharge to discourage single-use plastic products. A sign of growing awareness of plastic invasion in air, water, and food.
The consequences of global warming
In the last 15 years, due to Planet overheating, 1 in 3 fruit trees have disappeared in Italy. Between Sicily and Calabria there are 500 hectares of exotic fruit cultivation, but the temperature rise has also increased mercury concentration in fish (for example, +27% in tuna in 30 years).
Italy is among the 5 countries most vulnerable in Europe. And the forecast of a temperature rise of three degrees higher by the end of the century predicts a 23 percentage point loss in per capita GDP, a marked concentration of wealth favoring some Northern countries to the detriment of others in the Southern Hemisphere. It is estimated that there will be 143 million so-called environmental refugees by 2050 (mainly) heading north from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The growing awareness of such dangers begins to influence the lifestyle and consumption choices of Italians. Many dream of an eco-sustainable home (55%), buy clothes (13% today and 28% in the future) and green cars (still a niche but sales of hybrid cars grow +30% and especially electric ones +148%), cosmetics green (1 in 4 women choose them and in 2018 alone over 13,000 products were launched with claim related to sustainability, +14.3% compared to 2017).
Sustainability certifications are a sought-after element by consumers. A consolidated trend on which food companies must reflect, considering that 9 out of 10 Italians say they switch brands without resistance. In the first half of 2019, they rewarded certified products with increased sales. +21.5% for UTZ certified products (sustainable agriculture) and +2.8% for Friend of the Sea, for example. In addition to organic, which remains at the top of the desired by Italian consumers, with a 4.6% growth in the first half of 2019.
Coop, the spirit of the consumer association
In line with the trends emerging from the Report, the leading brand of the Italian large-scale retail trade further relaunches along the lines of policies aimed at the sustainability of branded products.
Marco Pedroni explains, President of Coop Italia, ‘In a context of cooling consumption and acceleration of underlying trends in people's behavior, Coop started a thorough review of its policies in 2019. On one side, we strongly enhanced consumer choices on the environment, food well-being, and the convenience of the offer; on the other, a change took place in the internal arrangements of Coop Italia and ANCC which will allow us to more strongly address the strategic challenges of the future. At the end of September, we will launch a new information campaignand communication that will highlight the close relationship between Coop's values and its product and service offerings.
‘The Coop Branded Product, which continues to grow in shares, will be the cornerstone of our future actions and we work on this in close correlation with the green propensity of Italians and their purchasing choices as highlighted in the Coop Report', 'Coop sales in 2018 were 13.4 billion euros, in 2019 we estimate a confirmation of this figure, in a framework which sees on the one hand rationalizations of the network and on the other a limited number of new openings. At this stage Coop's investments amount to over 500 million, largely aimed at improving the offer in the current network of sales points..
Commenting on the Report, Luca Bernareggi, President of Ancc-Coop (National Association of Consumer Cooperatives), recalls ‘We are a cooperative world made up of different entrepreneurial experiences and diverse results, but we are also a consumer association that cares about the stability of the country system and we closely watch the intentions expressed by the new Government and its consequent actions.
In addition to renewing the appeal to the government to avoid resorting to safeguard clauses and the VAT increase (introduced by the Berlusconi government in 2011), ‘which, with the current decline in food consumption against a static price trend, would cause further negative repercussions‘, Bernareggi hopes for a reduction of the tax wedge, to be combined with the citizenship income. The latter measure has already been enhanced by Coop, which since July applies a 5% discount to customers holding the income card.
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of journalistic investigations on food, she published the book 'Reading the labels to know what we eat'.
