As every year, the Mediobanca Study Area has published a survey on the domestic wine sector, conducted on 251 Italian corporations with 2020 sales of more than 20 million euros and aggregate revenues of 9.3 billion euros, accounting for 85.3% of the sector’s domestic turnover.
Overcoming the international crisis brought by the pandemic (although many countries are still affected by anti-Covid measures) finds a very complex scenario ahead. Rising raw material costs, supply difficulties and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, in fact, brings a generalized price increase that, by curbing consumption, also weighs on overall confidence and business costs.
Despite this uncertainty, the study indicates that producers’ expectations are for 4.8% growth by 2022, which could reach 5.6% for the export component alone. Sparkling wines (+5.7% revenues, +7.5% exports) are the main drivers, but also still wines: +4.6% and +5.3% across borders.
The most confident companies are those targeting direct sales and European markets, while more skeptical about the future are those exposed to the off trade channel (GDO and Retail), due to the risk of inflation. In fact, e-commerce, 90% of which is intercepted by specialized platforms, showed a positive change of 132.8% in 2020 over 2019. Obviously, this figure cannot be taken too much into account, since it was certainly affected by the anti-Covid measures that led us to stay at home and not be able to buy in the physical store. 2021, according to other observers, confirms a stabilization of the Internet in shopping habits with a still significant growth of about +40-50%.
In any case, in Italy, excluding online sales that pass through corporate and large-scale retail sites, more than 90% of the wine e-commerce of the main producers is intercepted by specialized online platforms. The ranking of the main players in this case is led by Tannico, which recorded revenues of 37.1 million euros in 2020, up 83% on 2019. Triple-digit increases also for Vino.com (+218.7%), which, exceeding 30 million euros, holds the second position, and for Bernabei (+160.4%) at 25.9 million. Above 10 million also Callmewine’s sales (12.4 million), up 93.3%. XtraWine, doubling its turnover compared to 2019, exceeds 7 million euros while Winelivery approaches the same amount after a growth of 491.6%.
Two main trends also emerge from the study: the premiumization of consumption and the increased focus on sustainability, which explain the double-digit increases in iconic (+33.2%) and high-end (+20.2%) wines. Contained, but still present, are the growths in staples (+8.7%), which, in any case, account for half of total sales.
The full report can be downloaded for free on the Area Studi Mediobanca website by clicking on this link:
https://www.areastudimediobanca.com/it/product/27937