Healthy diet, quality food, but also savings to make ends meet and allay the fear fuelled by the winds of war. The Coop Report 2024 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, and climate change are the main ingredients of the anxiety that afflicts Italians, still marked by the pandemic and the economic crisis.
The numbers recorded by the 2024 Coop 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, felt by 31% of Italians, +11%
– disquiet afflicts 32% of respondents, +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 well-being
Health and personal well-being, on the other hand, are 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 unwelcoming national healthcare system, Italians resort to private healthcare. 23% of healthcare spending in the country (EUR 40.6 billion) is financed directly by citizens.
The search for ‘wellbeing’ is expressed instead in spending on beauty treatments and cosmetics. For the former, Italians spend an average of 320 euros a year (2023 figure), while for make-up they fuel a turnover of over 13.5 billion euros (+29% on 2019).
Food resists, between tradition and ‘fashion’
Food 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
In 2024 inflation will fall to zero and FMCG volumes will return to positive territory after four years (+0.9% in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023), reports the 2024 Coop Report.
The hypermarkets, supermarkets and self-service channels alone showed higher volume sales in the first half of 2024, +3.9%, than in 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 , ‘if 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).
Private label and discount
The savings, inevitably, still drive the food purchasing choices of Italians. And the best option is to stock up in 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 accounted for 38.2% of total volume sales in the market. They are growing 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) are still showing a cut in consumption: value sales -0.5%, but volume sales -2.2%. Are Italians starting to leave branded products on the shelf? (2)
– the discounters, with their prices sometimes reduced to the bone (often in exchange for sacrificing quality, as our market surveys show), are rewarded by consumers’ need for savings. (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
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
