Private label wines registered significant growth in Italy last year, according to IRI research carried out for Vinitialy 2019.
The data includes sales in hypermarkets, supermarkets and independent small retailers.
Large-scale retail is still, by far, the most important sales channel for Italian wine, accounting for 619 million litres and a value of €1.9 billion.
Retail Investment
Private label wine achieved 4% of the market last year to a value of €156 million, the study found, following significant investment by major operators.
Conad has 85 private label wine references on its shelves, which account over €47 million in annual sales.
Elsewhere, Carrefour, with ‘Trancio Antico’ and ‘Terre d'Italia’ has seen a steady increase, especially in the medium-high value range.
Coop has two brands - ‘Assieme’, produced by winery-cooperatives, and ‘Fior Fiore’, offering 17 references of medium-high end wines, produced by well-known wineries, in collaboration with the Italian Sommelier Association.
Iper La Grande I offers 80 labels within its ‘Grandi Vigne’ brand, as a result of the collaboration with 35 local wineries and responsible for the entire supply chain. Discounter Penny Market proposes three brands: the prestigious D'Alleramo wines; the Rocca Merlata sparkling wines; the Archetto tetrapak wines.
Volume Contraction
However, 2018 saw a contraction in the volume sales of wine, influenced by the poor harvest in 2017 and the increase in wine prices.
At Coop, the price growth was limited to 2% for sparkling wines and 7% for table wines. Conad points out that prices increased, on average, by around 4%, with a higher increase for table/Igt wines and sparkling wines (up to 10%).
However, the price hike was less felt in the discount channel, with Penny Market reporting an average growth of 4.5%.
© 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
