Wine sales in large-scale retail stores fall: -4.6% in one year and -6.4% in the last five years

A legacy of the pandemic, the excesses and addictions that, in 2022, manifested far higher levels than in the pre-pandemic period, from the use of technology to “food-mania”, return to decline in 2023, at least in Italians’ statements. Amid the general decline in consumption due to still-running inflation and rising prices, the avoidance of non-essential products also sees alcohol consumption in Italy decline, with a -2% drop in 2023 over 2022. And, overall, wine sales at constant prices in the large-scale retail perimeter also register -4.6% (June 2023 compared to 2022), and even in the longer-term comparison (2023 compared to 2019) the percentage is decreasing (-6.4%; source: Nielsen). The wines toward which consumers will show the most attention in the next 2-3 years? They are those with low alcohol content (49% of Italians say so, it was 38% in 2022) and alcohol-free (for 24%, it was 15% in 2022; source: Nomisma Wine Monitor). Saying this, are data analyzed by Coop for WineNews, which confirm a trend already underway.
After the post-Covid euphoria, with the increase in prices and cost of money due to inflation, Italians are living with an increasingly tight household economy made up of renunciations of products that are not strictly “necessary”, and, among these, as also pointed out to WineNews by some of the most important Italian wine companies, is wine, less present in a shopping cart that, according to the “Coop Report 2023”, is getting lighter and lighter (-3% of sales at constant prices in the first half of 2023 and in forecast 2024 on 2023 with a further reduction of -0.5%) and in which, to suffer, is also the food identity of Italians, who abandon the dictates of traditional culture, territory and typicality, of which the Mediterranean Diet and wine are a symbol. And while it is true that Italians, after regaining pre-pandemic levels in the first half of the year, still indulge in lunches and dinners in the summer, albeit very wisely, in the coming months spending intentions signal a sharp reversal (36% those intending to reduce consumption versus only 11% planning to increase it) and people will once again spend the autumn at home, with 51% saying they will reduce the number of convivial occasions away from home in the next 12-18 months.