Healthy diet, quality food, but also savings to balance family budgets and ease the fear fueled by the winds of war. The Coop Report 2024 investigates again 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 concern that afflicts Italians, still marked by the pandemic and the economic crisis.
The numbers recorded by the Coop Report 2024 clearly describe the evolution of the malaise. Compared to 2022,
– the share of those who look to the future with confidence drops to 24%, down 4%
– instead, fear increases, as testified by 31% of Italians, +11%
– concern affects 32% of respondents, +8%.
The majority of Italians (55%) are dealing with a life very different from their initial expectations, often in a worsening sense (44% of the sample). 75% declare themselves dissatisfied with their salary.
Superfluous consumption cut to the bone
The data report that purchasing power in Italy has returned to pre-pandemic levels. ‘Only’ 12 million Italians declare they live with deep hardship (they were 20 million in 2022), while one in three (33%) could not face an unexpected expense of 800 euros (it was 45% in 2023).
Consumption is reduced to the essentials and the first purchasing criterion for 75% of respondents is saving. Clothes, smartphones, cars, and homeownership become a mirage. Superfluous expenses are cut and people return to repairing or buying second-hand items. A frugality also driven by a creeping de-consumerism, according to 85% of respondents.
More spending on health and wellness
Health and wellness personnel are instead the areas where Italians remain willing to spend more, within the limits of what is possible.
In the first case, medical care, paying is often a necessity: with an increasingly less welcoming national health system, Italians turn to private healthcare. 23% of the health expenditure in the country (40.6 billion euros) is directly funded by citizens.
The search for 'well-being' is instead expressed in spending on aesthetic and cosmetic treatments. Italians spend an average of 320 euros per year on the former (2023 data), while makeup generates a business turnover of over 13.5 billion euros (+29% compared to 2019).
Food endures, between tradition and 'trends'
Nutrition retains a central role. Only 10% of respondents declare they will reduce their spending by 10%.
The Mediterranean diet remains the reference diet for one in three Italians (34%). Organic products are back among Italians' wishes: 24.8 million families are already buyers with a penetration of 96.6%, and 9.6 million Italians will increase their purchase in the coming months.
Attraction also grows for ‘identity’ dietary models and/or for weight control. From hyper-protein plant-based diets to vegetarian, flexitarian diets, etc.
The trap of high prices
In 2024 inflation is zeroed and mass consumption volumes return to positive after four years (+0.9% in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023), reports the Coop Report 2024.
The channels alone hypermarkets, supermarkets, and self-service in the first half of 2024 show higher volume sales, +3.9%, compared to those of 2019.
The economic scenario clears up, in short. A ‘is glimpsedan economic outlook that could improve, allowing Coop to activate the levers at our disposal to better meet the needs of members and consumers’, comments Maura Latini, president of Coop Italia.
However, ‘iand on one hand the inflationary picture seems to stabilize, on the other the fact must be considered that prices, even if stabilized, are actually 20% higher than those of 2021’, explains Domenico Brisigotti, general manager of Coop Italia.
Coop Italia therefore ‘fights inflation and continues to develop a strong policy of quality and convenience offerings with its very wide range of branded products’, emphasizes Marco Pedroni, president of Ancc-Coop (National Association of Consumer Cooperatives).
MDD and discount
Saving, inevitably, still drives Italians' food purchasing choices. And the best option is to stock up through the most convenient channels, which in large-scale retail trade are
– private label products (Mdd, distributor brand) sold in the first half of 2024 represent 38.2% of total market volume sales. They grow by +2.2% in value and +2.4% in volume. Numbers that highlight the convenience of distributor brand products. In comparison, branded products (TOP 20) still show a gap destined to reduce consumption: value sales -0.5%, but volume sales -2.2%. Are Italians beginning to leave branded industry (Idm) products on the shelf? (2)
– discount stores, with their sometimes rock-bottom prices (often at the cost of quality sacrifices, as shown by our market surveys), are rewarded by consumers' need to save. (3)
Also thanks to a continuous expansion of the sales network, they reach a 23% market share, with an increase of about +4% compared to 2019.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Coop Report 2024 – Consumption and lifestyles of Italians today and tomorrow https://italiani.coop/rapporto-coop-2024-anteprima-digitale/
The Report is drafted by the Ancc-Coop Study Office (National Association of Consumer Cooperatives-Coop) with the scientific collaboration of Nomisma, analytical support from NielsenIQ, and original contributions from Circana, GS1-Osservatorio Immagino, CSO Servizi, GfK, Mediobanca Study Office, Campo Ricerca-Scomodo.
(2) Marta Strinati. High prices, reduced food consumption. The 14th edition of Osservatorio Immagino. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 25.1.24
(3) V. le GIFT market research, Great Italian Food Trade
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of investigative reports on food, she published the book 'Reading labels to know what we eat'.
