The private label saves the purchasing power of families and represents an important driver of development for the agri-food chain. In 2022 it generated a turnover of 12.8 billion (+9.4% on 2021) and achieved a market share of 20.8%. These are the key numbers presented by Valerio De Molli, managing partner and CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti on the occasion of the presentation of the Position Paper «Italy of today and tomorrow: the social and economic role of modern distribution». A segment of food and non-food products that is expanding year after year and in the space of twenty years has seen its market share almost double while on Wednesday and Thursday private label producers will present their offer to buyers from all over the world at Marca by BolognaFiere 2023 the world.
«From the pandemic to the war, passing through the increase in energy and logistics costs, from the disruption of supply chains and the synthesis of all these difficulties, i.e. the inflationary crisis, are the causes of the current crisis. In this context, the large-scale distribution acted as a buffer against the increase in prices with savings of 77.4 euros per month for Italian families» explains Valerio De Molli. For his part, Marco Pedroni, president of the Adm (Modern Distribution Association) underlines the role played by the large-scale distribution brands in absorbing a part of the price increases of 2022 due to the increases in raw materials and energy. «The distribution companies have absorbed a very significant part of the price increase for a value of 3.9 billion euros, allowing for average savings per family of up to 77 euros per month – says Pedroni -. There has been a very dangerous growth of inequalities in Italy in the last two years, with an impoverishment of the middle class which adds to the growth of inflation and as a modern distribution we have tried to cushion these increases, reducing even more a profitability than for the sector is already very low. In 2023 world trends seem to show a slowdown from the point of view of energy and supply costs, but the industry is not reducing prices, with the inflationary trend that does not seem to want to decrease in the coming months”. To try to safeguard the purchasing power of families and the drop in sales volumes that has been recorded in recent months, large-scale retail companies have been asking the consumer goods industry for months, unsuccessfully so far, for a moratorium on increases.