Consumption trends in Italy in 2022, GS1-Italy report

After the pandemic and in the midst of multiple crises, consumption trends in Italy are changing under the sign of saving but also the search for new experiences and preferences. The picture comes from report 2023 ‘A year of trends’, produced by GS1 Italy, which gathers a reasoned summary of content published over twelve months on its web magazine Trends online channels.

The weight of the long crisis

Among the key themes of 2022, several capture consumer behaviors coming from ‘extraordinary times’. After the pandemic, the economy faced the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the energy price storm, and price increases.

The inflation race – in October 2022, acquired general inflation is +8%, but the consumer price index approaches 12% – this takes Italy back 40 years and the average loss of purchasing power for families is estimated at 2,300 euros.

Italy of 2022 reveals an increasingly vulnerable country, with the middle class in difficulty and a sharp increase in outright poverty. On the other side of the post-pandemic period is the growth of the luxury market (the wealth held by the few but representative billionaires of Italy increases by 36%). In Italy, wealth polarizes due to wage rigidity and the rise of absolute poverty.

The consumer gives up, reduces and postpones

A first great trend is the triple R of ‘give up, reduce, postpone’.

‘Faced with the onslaught of inflation, the strategies implemented by the consumer include a spending review of non-essential goods, which also becomes a new way of understanding consumption, more flexible, more variable, more distinctive, more fragmented and contradictory. With some non-negotiable reference points – the search for convenience, the interchangeability of purchase channels, the sharing of values – so much so as to require new qualitative and quantitative analysis tools’.

‘Out of the pandemic and catapulted into a context of war, the consumer faces the new crisis seeking security, reassurance and help in understanding what is happening, but ready to react quickly by reviewing their purchasing behaviors and spending priorities’.

From the storm of these years results a more reflective, more planner and less impulsive consumer, so much so that the number of Italians who buy on impulse has decreased by 3 million in 6 months. Concerned about the cost of living, they decide to waste less, pay attention to the energy efficiency of what they purchase (in the tech in particular) and love promotions.

New basic of consumption, states the report, are price, security and simplicity.

Dependencies increase

Difficulties increase addictions. ‘Betting, consumption of alcohol, psychotropic drugs and drugs are increasing. There is an escalation of excesses in which the area of possible pathologies such as 

• alcohol consumption, 11% from 3% in 2019, 
• betting and games, from 4% to 11%), 
• the use of psychotropic drugs, which almost quintuples (from 2% to 9%),
• the use of drugs (from 2% to 8%)’.

Eating disorders increase, especially among the most fragile people.

Consumption trends in Italy, many renunciations

It will no longer be the same the way of consuming, states 57% of Italians (with a 7% increase in one year). Italians feel poorer and give up more, especially on energy and food, and look more for products on promotion.

With a personal ‘spending review’, they postpone not only large expenses, such as buying a house, but also everyday superfluous expenses (bars and restaurants, clothing and entertainment). They postpone trips and holidays and delay purchasing technology.

For the first time, however, compared to other economic crises, food is not affected by a spending review. 24.5 million Italians, despite rising prices, ‘are not willing to compromise on their food choices and in the following months plan to reduce the quantity but not the quality of their food’. It mainly concerns basic food, while the private label (MDD) continues its advance, with a market share that in 2022 approaches 30% (and brands are expendable).

Saving and new consumption styles

The emergency exit of Italians is saving. 68% are already adopting saving strategies, 85% of families are saving or declare that they will do so shortly.

To cope with the increase in prices, various strategies are implemented:

• waste reduction (57% of respondents),
• elimination of some categories of products/services in purchasing choices (52%),
• refusal to purchase superfluous products and services (52%),
• reduces the quantity of usually purchased products (21%),
• postponement of planned expenses (26%).

New research on consumption trends in Italy

Behaviors consumer behaviors change rapidly. To understand them, the founding research ‘New Consumption Code’ was launched, carried out by GS1 Italy in collaboration with Ipsos and McKinsey & Company, aimed at thoroughly understanding the purchasing behaviors of Italians today and imagining possible evolution paths by 2030.

They are identified six key thematic areas explaining the relationship between Italians and consumption:

• Emotionality of products and brands,
• Innovation of the consumption experience,
• Omni-channel and shopping experience,
• Care for the environment and the individual,
• Territoriality,
• Convenience and thrift.

They outline new paradigms in consumer behaviors, characterized by various elements:

• orientation towards thrift, which is saving and an end in itself as well as a way of consuming,
• need for experiences in the purchasing process and availability of the store 24/7 thanks to multi-channeling,
• push towards sustainability,
• metropolitan styles expanding to the province.

They are dynamics accelerated by the pandemic, inflation, and fear of the consequences of the war in Ukraine.

The role of the private label

In this context also fits the role of the Private Label, which has built a close relationship with consumers.

In the general uncertainty, ‘the Private Label constitutes a lifeline for many Italian families to balance their grocery budgets.’

The choice of the Private Label is not motivated solely by savings. It is associated with additional values: enhancement of territoriality and local products; attention to healthiness and sustainability demands, promotion of ethical behaviors along the supply chain.

I driver most relevant for purchasing a Private Label product are

• greater accessibility compared to major brands (42%),
• offers and promotions (33%),
• products that are good to eat (29%),
• good assortment of products (28%),
• items referring to product quality.

Non food, hunt for convenience

In the non-food sector Non food, ‘some trends already emerged are consolidated, such as the constant dialectic between digital and physical stores (the latter recovering) in the variability of purchasing behaviors and the consumer's attention to seeking convenience, increasingly careful not to succumb to the grip of inflation’.

Clothing and footwear, consumer electronics, furniture, optics, perfumery and sporting goods are affected by the post-pandemic not only because of the resumption of consumption but also because of the purchase channels.

The role of the digital channel

‘During the pandemic Italians have learned to increasingly use new digital technologies also for shopping, a trend that has been confirmed and evolved in 2021. 

Compared to pre-Covid-19, 30% of consumers declare having adopted new purchasing behaviors, particularly resorting to online shopping’.

About one third of consumers have exploited purchasing and delivery more flexible modes, such as remote orders (pc or phone) with store pickup or orders in store with home delivery. Digital channels are present throughout the consumer purchase journey, they help discover the brands, they are also important as marketing channels.

The saving obstacle course

In the Non food, worried about uncertainty and price increases, consumers play defense: they reduce purchases or postpone them, as declared by 50-70% of interviewees.

The search for savings leads to comparing prices in stores, in online channels, on e-commerce websites, based on offers and promotions.

The methods also change of shopping. ‘Among those who have changed habits, 65% go to stores less often, 31.2% organize themselves to spend less time there (also using shopping services drive o pick-up) and 26.4% choose less crowded days’.

Thee-commerce websites in Italy

in Italy Thee-commerce websites becomes adult. In 2022 it is estimated that the value of purchases online channels (products plus services) worldwide continue to grow and reach about 4,500 billion euros (+15% compared to 2021). In Italy in 2022 the forecast is that purchases online channels they are worth 48.1 billion euros (+20% compared to 2021) with a slowdown in the growth of product purchases.

The numbers ofe-commerce websites in Italy well describe the trends of 'digital' consumption:

• the audience of e-shopper has reached 33.3 million people, ten million more than pre-Covid,
• an estimated 31.5 million average monthly deliveries of purchased products online channels,
• account for 57.2% of buyers online channels who have made purchases via in the last six months app on mobile device,
• every 100 purchases online channels, half (50.1) comes from smartphone;
• the average value of purchases online channels of Italians in 2022 is estimated at 4.7 billion euros.

The shopping multichannel

Consumers follow a multichannel purchasing method: they will not go back from this change. One third of those who buy in store also shop on the websites online channels of the same brands.

Instead it is still in an initial phase the live streaming commerce, 'a new way of presenting products that exploded in the East, especially in China, and arrived in Italy during the pandemic, which allows a store, a producer or a private individual to showcase a product via streaming and sell it as it happens on some specialized TV channels, with a direct relationship with the buyer who can ask questions during the live presentation'.

51.8% of Italians online channels know the phenomenon, 11% have participated in an event and bought, 6.9% have participated in an event without making purchases.

There is also a move towards new modes of interaction. 72% of consumers intend to buy a brands that reflects their values (consumers therefore expect companies to be leaders of change). With some paradox also in the pursuit of sustainability. 65% of consumers want to buy sustainable products but only 26% actually do.

Sabrina Bergamini

Notes

A year of trends 2023. GS1 Italy. https://gs1it.org/content/public/6d/d9/6dd965dc-b889-4a5b-9885-8171be2787cc/un_anno_di_tendenze_2023.pdf