Climate, environment and sustainability are the keywords of 2020, according to the Coop-Nomisma year-end survey and Coop report. A snapshot of Italian consumer expectations as the new decade dawns.
The desire for change
Italians surveyed by Nomisma express a desire for change. Change jobs, cities or countries, retire. But also live-and consume-better. Namely:
– Use less plastic (65 percent of respondents). An issue that is impossible to escape, because of the now obvious aggression of microplastics in the environment, and even in our diet,
– waste less (64 percent). A topic that has been talked about for many years now, but without achieving tangible results,
– consume more traditional foods (30%) and less
junk food
.
The food of 2020 between healthism and tradition
Domestic food consumption, as anticipated, continues to grow (+12%). Be that as it may, with greater use of egrocery and
meal delivery
.
Tradition and naturalness are the characteristics of foods that 30% of Italians say they would like to devote more resources to. Twenty-two percent of respondents expect fast food use to drop, as will red meat consumption and ready-to-eat meals. Increased interest in whole grain products, ‘alternative’ grains, white meats and legumes, preferably organic. Ethnic, vegan, gluten free and lactose free products, on the other hand, appear to be stalled.
2020 rosy for retail
For modern distribution 2020 is shaping up to be a positive year, with projected growth of 1.4 percent, thanks to a turnaround in the South (+0.9 percent compared to -0.6 percent in 2018) and a return to positive sales for fresh produce at variable weights (+1.6 percent, after a sharp drop of more than 3 points in 2018).
The ecommerce channel-which already, in 2019, recorded significant growth (+26%, with a 2.5% share of total grocery )-will continue the climb. With growth estimated at 30 percent, for 2020.
Physical retail in turn is expected to expand the sales network, following the trend in 2019. Expansion, expressed in square meters, is expected to be 3.5 percent for discount stores, 0.5 percent for supermarkets.
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".
