More than six out of ten households in Italy have shopped at least once in a discount supermarket in 2015, while low cost purchases were up by 53 per cent in terms of volume.
These figures come from research conducted by Unimpresa, an association that groups 18,000 Italian small and medium enterprises.
The recession has radically altered grocery shopping habits, with 68.9 per cent of Italians opting for saving, while the purchase of special offers more than doubled between January and August 2015.
Italian shopping baskets increasingly include discounted products, especially those whose prices have dropped by over 30 per cent. Consumers have become experts in leaflets, aim for promotions and end up buying only products on offer, while all other products remain on the shelves of supermarkets and small neighbourhood stores.
All of this has inevitable negative consequences on the revenues of retailers. According to initial estimates, the negative impact on their accounts may reach 65 to 70 per cent.
The survey indicates that small shops are increasingly less popular (-6.5 per cent) and the trend is also negative for supermarkets (-2.1 per cent), while only the discounters are gaining in popularity (+4.8 per cent).
Unimpresa does not expect this trend to change radically in 2016.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
