Wine consumption in Italy still reflects the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that caused the Horeca channel closure. In the first half of the year, the resulting balance brings a substantial “shift” towards large-scale retail trade and online purchases, which grew respectively by 9% and 102% compared to the same period last year. Obviously, in the light of the different (and distant) volumes handled by these two channels in the national panorama of wine consumption, the “weight” of these growths must be put rightly into context: despite this doubling, the ratio in sales between e-commerce and large-scale distribution is still 1 to 16.
Despite these differences, the development of the on-line channel in wine sales is clear. According to an estimate by Nomisma Wine Monitor – Nielsen, in the first half of this year the online sales of wine by mass consumption retailers increased by 147%.
Notably, focusing the attention on the eight weeks of the lockdown, the preference of Italians was mainly directed towards still and sparkling wines (+ 12.5% in values compared to the same period in 2019) and, within still ones towards reds (+ 14.9%). On the contrary, purchases of sparkling wines (including Champagne) fell – again to values - by 19%, also thanks to an Easter celebrated mostly at home.
In the following eight weeks, the sales trend was positive for both categories, but with sparkling wines on top of their game: while sales of still and sparkling wines grew by another 13.9%, those of sparkling wines and Champagne increased of + 27.5%, with Dry Charmat (Tank Method) leading the recovery (+ 32.4%).
Source: Nomisma Wine Monitor
