The pandemic blew up the online wine market. According to a joint study by Mediobanca, Sace and Ipsos, last year the e-commerce of Italian alcohol soared: +74,9% sales on proprietary web portals, +435% for specialized online platforms, + 747% generalist marketplaces. Not only that: in 2020 digital investments of the major wine producers increased by 55,8%, against a 14,3% drop in total investments (advertising expenditure -13,4%).
And again: before the lockdown, 71% of Italians had never made an online purchase from a winery's website, while today the share has dropped by seven points, to 64%. Furthermore, the percentage of people who before Covid had never used the e-commerce site or the online offer of a wine shop was 74%, against 69% today.
The spectacular numbers of online sales fit into a economic context obviously negative. The Italian wine market closed 2020 with a drop in turnover equal to 4,1%, a synthesis of a more disappointing trend on the domestic market (-6,3%) than on the foreign one (-1,9%). The Ebit margin reported a slight contraction, falling to 5,8% compared to 6,2% in 2019, while the incidence of the net result on turnover remained almost stable, going from 4,2% to 4,1% .
2021 will instead be the year of the rebound. The major wine producers expect sales growth of around 3,5%, which should reach 4,6% for the export component alone. The best growth potential is recorded on the markets of China (+6,3% annually), Canada e Japan (+5,9%), but they will still remain in the first two places for absolute value of imports United States (+ 2%) and Germany (+ 3,1%).
Overall, Italy's exports of wines and other spirits are worthwhile 30% of food and beverage sales abroad and in 2020 they reached quota 7,8 billion euros.
