Homewares in Italy

PROSPECTS

Busy lifestyles and unstable economy influence demand for homewares

Despite the kitchen remaining an important area within most Italian homes, a lack of time amongst busy urban consumers in addition to an unstable economy, has had a negative impact on demand for homewares, particularly dining, as many consumers use products that they already own rather than purchasing new beverageware or cutlery. Alternatively, many consumers are choosing to purchase low-cost replacements from mixed retailers to make savings.

Affluent young homeowners set to drive major trends within homewares

Major trends within homewares will be driven by younger affluent homeowners such as millennials and Generation Z who are enthusiastic about creating their own living environments and are more willing to make an investment in this area. Their purchasing criteria tends to be influenced by the overall quality of the product, its country of manufacture and environmental issues including sustainability of materials.

Grocery retailers remain major distribution channel for affordable homewares to price-sensitive consumers

The distribution of homewares in Italy is mainly shared between homewares and home furnishing stores, comprising a high number of independent outlets which tend to be located in city centres and offer greater proximity to local consumers, and modern grocery retailers such as hypermarkets and supermarkets, which have expanded their non-grocery product ranges to bolster sales. However, value share from these channels is being increasingly lost to e-commerce which offers consumers a wide range of producers and prices; nevertheless, lower-priced homewares available in hypermarkets and homewares and home furnishing stores will remain relevant, particularly to price-sensitive Italians who want to update their dining and kitchenware on a budget, placing pressure on higher-end brand manufacturers which will have to reconsider their distribution strategies to avoid their products becoming undervalued.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Ikea Italia Retail retains leadership of highly fragmented competitive landscape, recording more positive performance in food storage

Ikea Italia Retail Srl retained its leadership of a highly fragmented competitive landscape with its contemporary designs and accessible prices for its homewares, present in dining, cookware and kitchenware in addition to benefitting from a strong outlet network where consumers are attracted to its room installations that attractively display its wide product range. However, while the retailer experienced marginal declining sales due to the weak performance by much of dining, it recorded positive growth within food storage in line with the latter’s overall performance.

Bormioli Rocco continues to benefit from affordable positioning

Glassware supplier Bormioli Rocco retained its leadership of food storage in Italy in 2019. Since its purchase by Bormioli Luigi SpA, it became clear that the main intention was to maintain the lower-priced positioning of Bormioli Rocco and its greater affordability compared to the brand Bormioli Luigi, as the latter is more export-oriented and focused on premium beverageware.

Lagostina likely to benefit from partnership with Conad

Lagostina launched a new line of cookware in partnership with major Italian grocery retailer Conad in 2019 called Ingenio Natura. The range includes 100% recycled stainless steel pans, addressing consumer demand for greater sustainability, and casserole dishes with detachable handles which offer greater versatility as they can be placed in the oven in addition to on top of the stove.

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