Wine sales in the large scale retail and e-commerce channels in Italy grew by 9% and 12%, respectively, in the first half of 2020, new data has shown.
Despite the strong growth of online sales, the ratio of wine sales in e-commerce to those of traditional retail is still 1 to 16, according the Nomisma Wine Monitor – Nielsen report.
During the first half, online wine sales in mainstream retailers increased by 147% in value terms, compared to 95% growth in online sales among specialist wine retailers.
Mainstream Retail
According to Nielsen data, wine sales in the period 9 March – 3 May increased by 6.7% in value and 9.7% in volume across the mainstream retail market, while the average price dropped by almost 3%.
In the following eight week post-lockdown period (to 28 June), sales were up 16.2% in value and 12.9% in volume, while average prices increased by 3%.
During the eight weeks of lockdown, Italians mostly bought still and semi-sparkling wines (+12.5% in value) and, within this category, red wines (+14.9%).
At the same time, sparkling wines saw a decline in sales (-19% in value).
In the post-lockdown period, the sales trend for both categories was positive, with still and semi-sparkling wine sales up by 13.9%, Sparkling wines (including Champagne) grew by 27.5%, with Charmat Secchi being the best performer (+32.4%).
As expected, overall wine consumption in Italy in the period January to June was strongly affected due to closure of the HoReCa channel.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
