Italy

The inflationary climate has had a strong impact on yoghurt, not least in pushing retail current value over volume sales. Indeed, the anticipated drop in retail volume sales of by far the main type, flavoured yoghurt, is expected to lead to…

Sales of writing instruments increased in both volume and value terms in 2023 thanks to the continued normalisation of lifestyles, including returns to school and a strong reduction in smart working. The good performance of the category was largely a…

Wound care is set to see moderate growth in current value and retail volume terms in 2023. Sales are benefiting from Italian consumers returning to their old pre-pandemic lifestyles with there being a growing desire to spend time outside pursuing…

After the slump in demand and retail current value sales in 2020, due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, womenswear rebounded in 2021 and 2022. The category moved towards a full recovery, as pandemic restrictions gradually eased…

Consumers’ remained price-sensitive in Italy in 2023, which translates into the popularity of discounter stores for products such as wipes. Indeed, non-food discounter stores offer lower prices for many basic and essential products, which is notable…

Wine saw volume sales fall in Italy in 2023. While wine had seen on-trade growth in the previous year as consumers eagerly returned to socialising outside the home once COVID-19 related restrictions were lifted, the category experienced decline in…

Meal replacement is seeing moderate growth in current value and retail volume terms in 2023, with the category remaining the largest area of weight management and wellbeing in Italy. After having been negatively impacted by the impact of inflation on…

With both the ageing of the population – and Italy already has one of the oldest populations in the world – and the general rise in consumer health consciousness, health monitoring has become one of the key features that smart watches have been…

Multivitamins is set to deliver moderate growth in current value terms in 2023, representing a significant slowdown from the growth seen during the pandemic. This slower growth is largely the result of the lower demand for multivitamins positioned…

Static consoles were a key driver of value growth in video games in Italy during 2023, as there had been a delay in product deliveries to Italy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing console brands are still perceived as relatively new by…

Vending saw strong growth in current value terms in 2023 for the third straight year with sales seeing an almost full recovery to pre-pandemic levels. Drinks and tobacco vending, the most important category, also saw strong growth in 2023. The return…

2022 was a difficult year for the vegetables category, as there was a drop in volume terms resulting from several factors, including a high rate of inflation and rising energy costs. The high rate of inflation led to an increase in vegetable prices,…

Due to higher energy prices, rising inflation, and a sharp rise in the cost of living Italian consumers have been looking at minimising their expenditure in many ways. This more conservative approach to spending has had a negative impact on overall…

Travel in Italy is performing very well in 2023, with increasing travel flows both inbound and domestic. Domestic trips are seeing a particularly fast recovery with consumers looking to take holidays in closer proximity to their home with the…

Consumer demand for traditional toys and games continued to decline in Italy in 2023, as the tough economic climate in Italy and high costs of living forced families to reign in expenditure. Games and puzzles and plush registered the best performance…

The traditional and connected watches category registered growth in both volume and value terms in Italy in 2023. Value growth outpaced the rise in volume sales on the back of rising prices during the year. During and after the COVID-19 crisis,…

Toys and games in Italy proved to be a robust industry in 2023, despite the declining value sales of some traditional toy and game products. With the rate of inflation falling slightly, consumer spending showed some improvement for affordable…

Tourism flows in Italy have performed very well in 2023 with figures expected to come close to pre-pandemic levels in terms of number of trips. The Easter weekend contributed to the recovery of tourism in Italy, with domestic and foreign tourists…

Consistent with trends across home care generally, volume sales of toilet care products declined in 2023. As inflation continued to rise, placing household incomes under intense pressure, consumers started to trade down to cheaper products. This…

Tobacco in Italy in 2023 continued to perform well in value terms, despite rising costs caused by inflationary pressures, reduced disposable consumer incomes, and various measures taken to curb the practice of smoking overall. In fact, was something…

Tissue and hygiene continued to see healthy value growth in Italy in 2023, supported by inflationary pressures which have pushed up unit prices. Meanwhile, this same inflationary environment is causing price-sensitivity in consumers, thus, many…

Tea is seeing a more sluggish performance than coffee, with retail volume sales remaining in negative figures and retail value barely managing to achieve a positive result. Foodservice volume, on the other hand, is seeing a healthier performance.…

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers in Italy spent a lot of time in home seclusion in 2020. This boosted sweet spreads consumption in this year, as many consumers use these products as a breakfast solution or as a sweet treat or snack.…

Sales of honey have continued to decline in 2023 in retail volume terms. This decline has mainly been seen in sales of larger jars (over 400g), which represent the largest share of the market. Smaller pack sizes (less than 400g) and single formats…

Sales of biscuits, snack bars, and fruit snacks in Italy in 2024 are being supported by a particular emphasis on protein/energy bars. This phenomenon can be attributed to several reasons. Firstly, there is a growing awareness of the importance of…

Recycling and reducing food waste is well-established in Italy, and a high proportion of Zero Wasters are willing to pay more for sustainable goods. While the majority of consumers aim to positively impact the planet, over half feel their actions…

Surface care suffered a third consecutive year of declining volume sales in 2023, in contrast to the surge in demand seen in 2020. The advent of the COVID-19 virus in Italy had a very strong positive impact on retail sales in both volume and current…

Supermarkets is the grocery retailers channel with the highest penetration in Italy and it saw moderate growth in current value terms in 2023 as inflation started to show signs of stabilising, albeit prices continued to rise. Aside from the impact of…

Sunglasses is set to see slight current value growth in Italy in 2024. After two years of double-digit growth in both value and volume terms, sunglasses sales, since 2023, have returned to their historical sluggish growth pattern represented by…

Sun care saw a slow start to the year in 2023 due to a milder than usual spring and a belated start of the summer. However, the summer season started to pick up from July onwards, with sun care sales performing extremely well in the key month of…

Sugar confectionery is achieving positive sales in both value and volume terms in Italy in 2024. However, performance differs between categories, with boiled sweets and pastilles, gummies, jellies and chews seeing good growth in both value and volume…

The sugar supply chain in Italy had to face various problems related to costs and raw materials in the last two years of the review period. Firstly, the production costs of sugar are already high due to the need to use advanced technologies to…

2023 was another good year for street stalls/kiosks with the category seeing an increase in value and volume terms but also in terms of the number of outlets. Chained street stalls/kiosks saw more dynamic growth than independent street stalls/kiosks…

Store cards continued to register a negative performance in 2023, in terms of both the number of cards in circulation and the value of transactions, continuing the trend established during the review period. This was due to strong competition from…

In 2022, volume sales of starchy roots declined in the Italian market. Meanwhile, from a production point of view, yields had been lower than expected and investments had been made. The main cause was the effects of climate change, with the weather…

Overall, 2023 was a challenging year for the staple foods sector in Italy, characterised by stagnation in retail sales volumes. However, the market saw considerable current value growth driven by persistent inflationary pressure. During the second…

Overall, sportswear is expected to see healthy growth in retail current value terms in 2023. All categories of sportswear are predicted to continue their retail current value growth trajectories, albeit at a slower rate, compared with 2021 and 2022.…

Sports nutrition looks set to see double-digit growth in current value terms in 2023 for the second year running with sales having already exceeded pre-COVID-19 levels. The category had already seen a full recovery in 2022 in Italy after the decline…

Sports drinks is suffering from cross-category factors which are placing downwards pressure on soft drinks sales overall, leading to a strong off-trade volume slump. To start with, sports drinks is a non-essential category, with products…

Spirits saw volume sales decline in Italy in 2023. Strong price rises and pressure on purchasing power had dire effects on demand for spirits through both on-trade and off-trade channels during the year. Indeed, consumers became more and more…

Sales of spectacles are set to see continued current value growth in Italy in 2024, with growth being supported by the recovery in Italians’ purchasing power. Indeed, the spectacles category is expected to see volume sales grow faster than in the…

While the 1,500ml bottle is the most popular size in bottled water and 500ml is the most widely used size among the smaller pack types in this category, there has been strong growth recorded by smaller pack sizes in bottled water, such as 250ml or…

Inflationary pressures leading to price rises are placing downwards pressure on off-trade volume sales of soft drinks in Italy. Additionally, the poor weather in 2023, especially compared to the heatwaves in 2022, has further suppressed potential…

Sales in snacks in Italy in 2024 are being characterised by growth in terms of value, while volume tends to be a little lower due to lingering inflationary pressures. That said, inflation is notably easing in 2024, thus heralding a gradual return to…

Smokeless tobacco, e-vapour products and heated tobacco was the winning category in Italy in 2023, seeing good volume and value sales. However, we note the absence of moist snuff, chewing tobacco, and smokeless tobacco, thus, the category consists of…

Smal local grocers continued to suffer from fierce competition from other retailers in 2023, including larger format grocery retailers, but especially discounters. Despite this, small local grocers maintained a positive growth trajectory in current…

Within small cooking appliances there are a large number of local and foreign manufacturers selling both online and in stores, alongside a myriad of options brought to the table by wholesalers and importers that bring their low-cost products directly…

Sales of sleep aids continue to decline in 2023 in current value and retail volume terms, following the trend observed in the previous year. Sales of sleep aids soared in 2020 and 2021 following the outbreak of COVID-19 with the pandemic resulting in…

Skin care dynamic growth in current value terms in 2023, registering stronger growth than that seen in the previous year. The category continued to perform well despite the challenging economic environment thanks in part to skin care routines…

After a strong recovery in demand in 2022 as COVID-19 measures were relaxed the number of transactions through self-service cafeterias started to decline again in 2023. This decline was in part due to the fact that more consumers are now spending at…