From Italianness to the information on the label: what drives Italians’ shopping carts

What do you need to get an idea of average consumption of Italians, new eating habits and their relationship with health, as well as nutritional, issues? Just “look at 100 grams of shopping”: thus you discover that the success of proteins is growing, sugar consumption and caloric intake are decreasing, while carbohydrates remain the main nutrient, followed by (unsaturated) fats. But above all that Italianness remains one of the most widespread phenomena in large-scale retail tradewith almost 26 thousand packaged food products that highlight their national origin on the label and generate over 11 billion euros between supermarkets and hypermarkets.

These are some of the main findings that emerged from the fourteenth edition of theImagine GS1 Italy Observatoryconducted in collaboration with NielsenIQ, created on a basis of over 136 thousand consumer products. Yet not even this heritage of excellence escapes the effects of inflation, considering that in one year sales increased by +10.8% in value, but decreased by -4.2% in volume. A trend that united all the indications detected byObservatory I imagine, from denominations, such as IGP and DOCG, to claims such as “produced in Italy” or “100% Italian”. The only exception: the 1,286 PDO products, which, despite an +11.8% turnover, did not lose sales volumes. To suffer more? were the categories of cold cuts, frozen pizzas and fresh milk. More reduction? contained for the volume sales of the over 8000 products bearing the on-pack claim “100% Italian” (-4.1%) and greater growth in value (+13.8%), mainly attributable to the demand component (+14.3%) against a stable supply (-0.5%). The turnover was close to five billion euros. To impact more? The decline in volumes was affected by cold cuts, alcoholic beers, fresh-cut vegetables and multipack ice creams.

Even the traditional cross-section sui Italian regional baskets confirms the general growth of value sales of products which report on-pack the region of origin and the drop in volumes, except for the Molise (best performer with +7.5% in volume), followed by Valle d’Aosta, Puglia, Umbria, Basilicata And Sardinia. Looking instead at the ranking of the regions by turnover, the Trentino Alto Adige, with over 399 million euros in sell-out developed by 999 products. They follow Sicilywhich experienced a trend aligned with that of the leading region, and Piedmont, with over 1000 products that have generated 320 million euros in sell-outs. In value they grew by +7.1% while in volume they fell by -5.8%, driven by third beef processing, other traditional fresh cheeses and Doc and Docg wines. Confirmed in fourth place isEmilia Romagnathen follow the Veneto and the Tuscany. Third to last position for Liguria, whose basket in supermarkets and hypermarkets includes 202 products worth 24 million euros in sell-outs.

From a recent research on reading labels in consumer products carried out by Ipsos For GS1 ItalyFinally, an interesting fact emerges: When purchasing, consumers consult labels mainly for five reasons: 63% of those interviewed to check the expiry date of the products, 44% to verify the origin, places of production and places of origin, 31% to understand the methods of use and preparation, 31% to check the contents of fats and sugars, 27% for general health and another 27% to check nutritional values.

“As evidence that there is a significant portion of consumers who seek information that they consider useful for more purchasing and consumption? aware. – he comments Marco Cuppini, research and communication director GS1 Italy – In short, labels collect a lot of information – mandatory and optional – and this is what it is? a growing trend, so much so that the space available becomes increasingly scarce, to the detriment of readability? and usability? of this information by the consumer”.