Italy

Value sales of watches in Western Europe declined in 2019, dragged down by a weak performance by the basic and mid segments, as consumers move to smartwatches and/or hybrid ones. A positive showing by high-end watches across countries in 2019 and ...

Luxury timepieces continued to see healthy current value growth in 2019. However, the increase was slightly lower compared with 2018, as domestic demand was negatively impacted by greater political and economic uncertainty in Italy. Luxury timepieces...

Although luxury portable consumer electronics saw a far better performance in 2019 than was seen in 2018, there was still a small current value decline. This was due to the double-digit decline seen by luxury mobile phones. Despite the increasing ...

Super premium beauty and personal care continued to record current value growth in 2019, despite lower consumer confidence due to greater economic and political uncertainty. It showed it could be resilient during less favourable economic times. ...

The rise of experiential luxury, which is also driving growth in luxury hotels, continued to positively impact luxury foodservice in 2019. This trend saw consumers’ focus shift from “owning” to “being”, and led them to invest more in unique and ...

Luxury writing instruments and stationery saw little sales movement in 2019, due to lower consumer confidence. Moreover, category development continued to be curbed by the growing penetration of electronic devices, such as smartphones. These tend to ...

Luxury hotels maintained a stable current value growth rate in 2019. International tourism flows increased in recent years in Italy, as travellers played it safe and avoided terror-hit destinations such as France. However, beyond this temporary ...

After several years of strong growth in the early review period, luxury cars saw a decline in 2018, which continued in 2019. Sales were negatively affected by decreasing consumer confidence, linked to greater political and economic uncertainty. This ...

Designer apparel and footwear (ready-to-wear) saw similar current value growth in 2019 to the previous two years. Although Italians were still responsible for the majority of value sales, the share of international retail expenditure increased. In ...

The rise of experiential luxury continued to hamper the development of personal luxury in Italy at the end of the review period. Personal luxury saw only slow current value growth in 2019, as consumers continued to focus more on experiential luxury ...

Luxury eyewear is no longer seen just as a medical device, but as an important personal accessory in Italy. However, luxury eyewear saw a third year of current value decline in 2019. Sales were negatively impacted by lower consumer confidence in ...

Luxury goods in Italy recorded stronger current value growth in 2019 than that seen in 2018, with increases seen in most categories. Personal luxury, which accounted for just over half of overall retail value sales, showed slower growth due to the ...

Luxury jewellery saw slightly slower current value growth in 2019 than in the two previous years. Its performance was negatively impacted by the decreasing confidence of domestic consumers due to greater economic uncertainty. However, expenditure by ...

Luxury leather goods was the best performing personal luxury category in current value terms in 2019. However, growth was no stronger than in 2018, due to the decreasing confidence of domestic consumers, linked to economic and political uncertainty. ...

Fine wines/champagne and spirits continued to see current value growth in 2019. Value sales benefited from consumers opting for better-quality alcoholic drinks in Italy. Other fine wine was the biggest category in terms of value sales. The main ...

Italian consumers feel the kitchen is one of the most polluted areas in their homes due to the presence of cooking odours, mould and humidity. Smaller living spaces have been accelerating this perception, which helps to maintain demand for cooker ...

Personal care appliances are undergoing a major reorganisation in retail, with brands and retailers working at streamlining their offer by eliminating marginal products. In addition, the bad performance of some oral care products (battery toothbrush ...

Consumer appliances in Italy continued to suffer from the sluggish economic conditions, resulting in only modest retail volume growth in 2019. With the economy in general as well as the housing market relatively slow, major appliances in particular ...

Robotic vacuum cleaners are increasingly being launched in Italy, with all major brands entering the fray. However, robotic vacuum cleaners face two main hurdles: high prices and Wi-Fi connection, which is still limited in some areas of Italy. By ...

Microwaves are not seen as a priority purchase by Italian consumers. Although they appreciate the product and its functionalities, it is still hard for the Italian culture to embrace this appliance, which therefore still has a lower penetration rate ...