Consumption is rising up. According to Iri, unit sales of basic commodities climbed up from 1.9 pc to 2 pc in value over the past year. At the start of february the sales rose up 0.9% in the first week, at the end of month the rate increased more up to 3,2%. The consumption is still going on. Is it a weak and delicate spot or a big possibility Italy can moving up faster? Gianpaolo Costantino, Iri’s economy analyst, says:” After long years of red signs and so many fakes, now we are convinced that the recovery is real but the growth needs time to be boosted. The sales results were secured without the help of any promotion strategy implemented by large distribution players”.
So what’s gone well? In the basket monitored by firm Iri, the unit sales of food items posted a positive growth of 2.3%, beverage 3,6%. In the food sector the strong performers were the category of fruits and vegetables (1,8%), dairy (+1,2%) and petfood (+3,4%). On paper at least Iri reveals the weak value of money in the large distribution continued ( -0,6% in January) meanwhile private labels products are drilling down : 17,6% in january vs 18,1% over the same period 2014. Less promotion and more nutrition and health products. However, consumption has been steadily rolling up over the last decade as consumers have sought out more alternatives.
