Italy Supermarkets Market Report 2020
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Report Summary
Providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date information and analysis of the Italy Supermarket industry including the behaviors, preferences and habits of the consumer.
As with most other retail sectors, the grocery retailing sector in Italy has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak during 2020. A national lockdown mandated that only essential stores (which included grocery retailers) were able to stay open for a period which lasted around two months. However, unlike most other retail sectors, the impact of the outbreak has been generally positive, with a few exceptions, since sales have been boosted by the enforced closure during lockdown of nearly all out-of-home eating establishments, while the lockdown and consumers’ subsequent reluctance to shop in-store has also provided a dramatic boost to the uptake of online grocery shopping services.
Quickly understand
- The impact of COVID-19 on the grocery retailing sector.
- The winners and losers in the grocery retailing sector since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
- The growth of the online grocery channel and the boost given to it by the COVID-19 outbreak.
- How people shop for groceries and which retailers they use for main and top-up shops.
- How behaviours of grocery shoppers have changed since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Covered in this report
Brands featured: Conad Group, Coop Italia, Selex, Esselunga, Crai, Gruppo VéGé, Eurospin, Lidl, Carrefour, Despar and others.
Expert analysis from a specialist in the field
Written by Michael Oliver, a leading analyst in the Retail sector, his extensive knowledge delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends and add expert context to the numbers.
Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, the focus of many Italian households was on price and value when it came to grocery shopping and this played into the hands of the discounters. With rising unemployment and reduced household disposable incomes for many in 2021, these pressures will only increase, so we expect discounters to gain further share. However, the likes of Conad and Coop have the tools to respond to the threat posed by the discounters, each having a strong and growing own label range, while their cooperative structures play into the trends towards community, localism and sustainability.
Michael Oliver
Senior European Retail Analyst
Table of Contents
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Overview
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- Key issues covered in this report
- Areas covered in this report
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Executive summary
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- The market
- Consumer spending
- Figure 1: Italy: annual percentage change in consumer spending on food and beverages, 2015-19
- Sector size and forecast
- Figure 2: Italy: food retailers, sales (excluding VAT), 2015-20
- Channels of distribution
- Figure 3: Italy: estimated distribution of spending on food and beverages by channel, 2019
- Companies and brands
- Key metrics
- Market shares
- Figure 4: Italy: top 10 grocers’ shares of all food retailers’ sales, 2019
- Online
- Figure 5: Italy: Online purchasing in the last 12 months, 2014-19
- The consumer
- Who shops for groceries
- How they shop for groceries
- Figure 6: Italy: how they shop for groceries, August 2020
- Where they shop for groceries
- Figure 7: Italy: Where they shop for groceries, August 2020
- Attitudes towards grocery retailers and COVID-19-related issues
- Figure 8: Italy: Attitudes towards grocery retailers and COVID-19-related issues, August 2020
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Supermarkets
- Short, medium and long-term impact on the sector
- Figure 9: Short, medium and long term impact of COVID-19 on food retailing, December 2020
- Opportunities and threats
- COVID-19 brings new opportunities online
- Figure 10: Albert Heijn’s temporary home delivery service, May 2020
- Technology and robotics used to support operations
- Figure 11: Aldi’s traffic light queueing system in the UK, May 2020
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- Figure 12: Delhaize’s robots disinfect trolleys at stores, May 2020
- Collaborations enable better service
- Discounters pose threat to supermarkets as shoppers look to price
- How COVID-19 will reshape the industry
- Supporting the local community will gain further relevance
- Figure 13: Sainsbury’s volunteer shopping card, May 2020
- Mobile apps create space in home delivery for smaller players
- Discounters boosted by limited budgets
- Supermarket sales benefit in 2020 and beyond
- Figure 14: Europe Big Five: Total food retailers’ sales and forecast, 2015-25
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- Figure 15: Europe Big Five: Total food retailers’ sales and forecast, by country, 2015-25
- The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour across Europe
- Concern about exposure to COVID-19 begins to rise as second wave bites
- Figure 16: Europe: Those extremely worried about the risk of being exposed to COVID-19, March-October 2020*
- The financial impact of COVID-19
- Furlough and job losses
- Cutting back spending but adding to savings where possible
- Figure 17: Europe: Financial impact of COVID-19, November 2020*
- Changes to shopping behaviour
- Non-essential spending takes a hit
- People want to spend less time in-store
- Cash is no longer king
- Localism rises up the agenda
- Online shopping receives major boost
- Assisted shopping provides challenges for grocery retailers
- Second wave prompts renewed stockpiling
- Figure 18: Europe: Changes to shopping behaviour since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, November 2020*
- Consumers are trying not to handle/touch products in-store
- Figure 19: Europe: people who would feel uncomfortable handling/touching products in-store, November 2020*
- Spending intentions
- Food one of the sectors least affected by reduction in spending
- Figure 20: Net balance* of expected spending on selected items in the next month, November 2020**
- French consumers most likely to be planning to spend less on food
- Figure 21: Europe: Net balance* of expected spending on food (excluding takeaways/home deliveries) in the next month, November 2020**
- How the crisis is impacting on key consumer segments
- Women and older people most concerned about the virus
- Figure 22: Europe: Those extremely worried about the risk of being exposed to COVID-19, by gender and age, November 2020*
- Women and older age groups also trying to limit time in-store
- Figure 23: Europe: consumers trying to limit the time they spend in-store, by gender and age, November 2020*
- Online shopping boom is relatively uniform
- Figure 24: Europe: consumers shopping more online, by gender and age, November 2020*
- Shopping locally appeals more to older age groups
- Figure 25: Europe: consumers shopping more from local businesses, by gender and age, November 2020*
- COVID-19: Market context
- UK
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Spain
- Short, medium and long-term impact on the sector
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Issues and insights
- Consumers look for value and local suppliers in wake of COVID-19
- Discounters have been the prime beneficiaries
- Big two are well placed to deal with COVID-19 impact
- Hypermarkets will be the main losers
- Will the growth in online grocery continue after 2020?
- Online grocery sales turbocharged by COVID-19 outbreak
- Strong growth in usage of online grocery services
- Capacity still a barrier to faster growth
- Shoppers reluctant to spend time in-store
- Future prospects generally look good
- Some potential obstacles
- Important not to exclude some consumers from online ordering
- Consumers look for value and local suppliers in wake of COVID-19
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The market – Key takeaways
- Hard times ahead
- Mixed fortunes for food retailers
- COVID-19 has resulted in food price rises
- Grocers dominate sales of food and drink but share slips marginally
- Hard times ahead
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Consumer spending
- The impact of the Brexit deal on the rest of Europe
- Consumer spending on food
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- Figure 26: Italy: Consumer spending on food, drink and tobacco (including VAT), 2015-20
- The impact of the Brexit deal on the rest of Europe
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Sector size and forecast
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- Figure 27: Italy: Food retailers, sales (excluding VAT), 2015-20
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- Figure 28: Italy: Food retailers, forecast sales (excluding VAT), 2020-25
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Inflation
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- Figure 29: Italy: Consumer prices* of food and drink, Annual % change, 2015-19
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- Figure 30: Italy: Consumer prices* of food and drink, Annual % change, January 2019-August 2020
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Channels of distribution
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- Figure 31: Italy: estimated distribution of spending on food and beverages by channel, 2015-19
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Companies and brands – key takeaways
- Conad pushes ahead with more to come
- Coop Italia plateaus
- A concentrated market
- Online grocery still lags in Italy
- Conad pushes ahead with more to come
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Leading players
- Conad pushes ahead with more to come
- Coop Italia plateaus
- Selex breaks through the €10 billion sales barrier
- Mixed fortunes at Esselunga
- Other players
- Figure 32: Italy: Leading grocers, sales (excluding VAT), 2015-19
- Figure 33: Italy: Leading grocers, outlets, 2015-19
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- Figure 34: Italy: Leading grocers, sales per outlet, 2015-19
- Conad pushes ahead with more to come
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Market shares
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- Figure 35: Italy: Leading grocers’ shares of all food retailers’ sales, 2015-19
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Online
- Online activity
- Figure 36: Italy: Household penetration of broadband internet, 2014-19
- Shopping online for food
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- Figure 37: Italy: Online purchasing in the last 12 months, 2014-19
- Online grocery market size
- Leading online players
- Esselunga
- Conad
- Coop Italia
- Online activity
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The consumer – Key takeaways
- Women main grocery shoppers and most concerned about COVID risk
- Localism grows in importance
- Greater spotlight on value has potential to boost own label sales
- COVID-19 cements feelings of community
- Sustainability rises steadily up the agenda
- Women main grocery shoppers and most concerned about COVID risk
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Who shops for groceries
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- Figure 38: Italy: Where they shop for groceries, net of responses, August 2020
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- Figure 39: Italy: Who shops for groceries, by gender, August 2020
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How they shop for groceries
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- Figure 40: Italy: how they shop for groceries, August 2020
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- Figure 41: Italy: how they shop for groceries, by gender, August 2020
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- Figure 42: Figure 43: Italy: how they shop for groceries, by age, August 2020
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Where they shop for groceries
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- Figure 44: Italy: Where they shop for groceries, net of responses, August 2020
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- Figure 45: Italy: Where they shop for groceries, August 2020
- Customer profile
- Figure 46: Italy: Where they shop for groceries by age and income, August 2020
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Attitudes towards grocery retailers and COVID-19-related issues
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- Localism grows in importance
- Greater spotlight on value has potential to boost own label sales
- COVID-19 cements feelings of community
- Sustainability rises steadily up the agenda
- Figure 47: Italy: Attitudes towards grocery retailers and COVID-19-related issues, August 2020
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- Figure 48: Italy: Attitudes towards grocery retailers and COVID-19-related issues, by where they shop for groceries**, August 2020
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Appendix – Research methodology, data sources and abbreviations
- Abbreviations
- Data sources
- Abbreviations
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