Although the Italian wine market is facing a progressive aging of the consumer population, it is in fact the Boomer segment that’s driving volume consumption in the market. Average spend in all sales channels is being driven by Millennials, who are also growing increasingly involved with the wine category. Millennials, along with LDA Gen Z, tend to enjoy wine more occasionally than those aged above 55 years.
While still wine volumes are expected to continue on a relatively flat trajectory, sparkling wines (such as “spumante” and “frizzante”) are the bright spot in the Italian wine market. Prosecco continues to be the market leader and has the highest purchase conversion rate and purchase incidence of all denominations.
Despite this, the level of involvement of Italian wine drinkers has increased and, even among Millennials, a greater number of consumers are interested in wine as a passion or for personal benefit than before. This contrasts with the habits of LDA Gen Z regular wine drinkers, who still struggle to integrate wine into their lifestyle and interests.
In terms of consumer sentiment, regular wine consumers in Italy are happy and feel confident in managing their finances. For now, they aren’t replacing the products they buy. Nonetheless, they go out less and spend less. However, compared to 2020, the amount normally spent by Italian wine consumers has increased significantly on all occasions, both in the off-trade (including on-line sales) and in the on-trade. This is partly due to premiumisation, but also to the impact of rising inflation.
Opportunities
- Consumers’ confidence with wine increases
- Premiumisation of the market in all channels
- Growth in the popularity of sparkling wines
- The Boomer segment, who are driving volume consumption
Threats
- Drop in consumption of still wine
- Inflation pressure
- The youngest LDA generations have a more occasional consumption frequency
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