Last week's Marca event in Bologna provided a platform for some of Italy's leading retailers to showcase their latest private label ranges, as well as new product launches.
Pam Panorama showcased three private label ranges: ZÓA, dedicated to pet food; ECO, ecological products for the care of the home and laundry; and PamIntegro, a range of branded supplements. Private label accounted for around 19% of Pam Panorama's turnover last year.
Going forward, the retailer plans to focus on health and the environment, by shortening the ingredient list of private label products and reducing the use of plastic in its packaging.
Gruppo Selex has rolled out a new eco-friendly home care range, comprised of seven certified Ecolabel references under the Natura Chiama Selex and La Natura Vale brands. Also new to the range is Armonia & Benessere BIO, a range of personal hygiene natural products.
Currently, the retailer has more than 5,400 PL references under the private label brands Selex, Vale and Il Gigante, accounting for 5% of total sales.
Auchan Retail Italia is planning to devote more attention to the Italian origin of products and ingredients, as well as reducing packaging and focusing on compostable and renewable packaging.
It added 480 new private label food SKUs in 2018, taking the total number of products offered to more than 9,000 articles. New lines launched include L’Uccellino Verde (competitively priced products), L’Uccellino Oro (origin-focused products) and OneTwoFun (a toy range).
Despar Italia presented its new cold-extracted juices from the Scelico Verde Biologico range, available in five flavours. The juices use High Pressure Processing (HPP) technology, a pasteurisation process at high pressures that maintains the organoleptic quality of the raw materials used.
Gruppo VéGé announced plans to source more products from small producers, having increased its private label offering from 621 to 710 SKUs last year.
Discounter MD presented its first premium private label line, Lettere dall’Italia, launching in April. which will include products highlighting Italian gastronomy, region by region.
Turnover of the PL sector in Italy reached €10.3 billion (+2.5% year-on-year) in the first 11 months of 2018, accounting for almost one in five purchases, according to the Private Label Observatory published by Nomisma and IRI.
The market share of private label in Italy was 19.3% (+0.6%) and the average number of own-brand references stood at 1,582 (+6.1%).
© 2019 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.
