The trend in consumption in May sees a slight improvement although the trend continues to remain in negative ground, -27% on May 2019. A rebound after an April 2021 closed with a deep red (-63%) compared to the same month of it was pre Covid. If, on the other hand, we consider the first five months of the year, the decline marks a sharp -49%. This is what the latest edition of the Confimprese-EY Permanent Observatory reveals which, among other things, highlights the state of profound suffering of consumption in the catering services sector. Catering and overall out-of-home consumption saw a -48% compared to May 2019 while clothing, footwear and accessories show an important recovery with -22% while the April 2021 figure saw a -63% on April 2019. Overall, the stability of purchases of non-food goods shines (-6%), a value almost perfectly aligned with that of the pre-Covid days. Among the sales channels, travel is confirmed as the worst with a decline of -64%. Shopping centers are struggling to recover and close the month at -33%, outlets a -13%, high streets at -26% and other locations at -19%. The geographical areas show quite similar trends in May 2021 on May 2019. The best is the Nielsen Sud area (Campania, Calabria, Sicily, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata) with -17%, a clear recovery compared to the month previous (-66%). The North-East recorded the worst trend -32%, followed by the Center (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Sardinia) -29% and the North-West (Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, Valle d’Aosta) -28%.
“In May – explains Mario Maiocchi, director of the Confimprese retail study center – we report a decline in turnover compared to the same period of 2019 or pre-pandemic of -27%, which unfortunately highlights a reversal of the trend that is unfortunately not sufficient to offset the turnover. progressive January-May of -49%. However, even in May, there are still strong criticalities for catering and travel and consequently the need for further government support to support consumption. The improvement recorded by the Southern area should be noted which, with a decline of 10 points, is the best in the country system and gives us hope for the summer period. For the moment, however, 2021 looks like another horrible year in line with 2020 ». The climate of volatility close to the maximum weighs heavily, depending on the ups & downs of the markets and the uncertainty that still persists in the world of consumption.
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“It is important to point out that in May there was a step forward compared to the beginning of the year, which we could interpret as a positive sign of the country’s restart and hope for the future – adds Paolo Lobetti Bodoni, Med business consulting leader of EY -. It is interesting to note that outlets, for example, recorded the best performance (-13%) and that they became preferred points of sale compared to shopping centers (-33%). On the other hand, observing the trends of the main cities, all with trends below the Italian average except for Palermo, it is clear that consumption has still moved towards smaller urban centers. The data on catering indicates a sector still suffering, but we hope, as happened last year, a recovery in the warmer months ».
The trend of the regions, compared with the same month of 2019, shows the same evidence found in the trend by geographical area, with the only exception of Umbria which shows the worst signals and closes at -35%. The regions of the North-East area still recorded persistent bad debts with Emilia-Romagna -35%, Friuli-Venezia Giulia -31%, Veneto -31%. Followed by Sardinia -33%, Tuscany -30%, Liguria and Lombardy -29%, Lazio -27%, Campania -25%, Marche and Piedmont -24%, Trentino-Alto Adige -23%, Abruzzo -21%. The southern regions that confirm a greater hold, albeit negative, are Sicily at -19% and Puglia at -12%, and in particular Calabria with only 2% negative. Among the regional capitals stands out the crisis of two cities of art completely devoid of international tourism: Florence (-55%) and Venice (-47%). Among the other cities are Genoa -46% and Bologna -45% tourist destination already in the pre-pandemic thanks to the stopover of some foreign airlines and which now suffers from the lack of arrivals from abroad. Bad also Milan -38%, Naples -36%, Turin -33%, Rome -31%. Despite the minus sign, Palermo -21% is saved, whose trend in partial recovery reflects the trend of the Sicily region.