Interesting to note that:
1) a discount store (Eurospin!) wins for anchovies, followed by brands and private labels alternating in the ranking: Esselunga, Zarotti, Capri, Conad, Callippo ... and lastly Rizzoli,
2) for tuna, the big brands dominate: As do Mar, Rio Mare, Angelo Parodi, Consorcio. While Carrefour Italia's private label is only fifth.
According to ISTAT data, consumer prices rose by 2.7% compared to the same month last year - almost double the 1.7% recorded in March. A sharp rise, driven by 2 items that weigh directly on Italians' daily lives: energy and fresh food. The year-on-year acceleration is from 0.8% to 3.1% on goods, the pressure on services slows down (from 2.8% to 2.4%). The trend rate of change in the prices of food, household and personal care goods rises (from 2.2% to 2.3%), as does that of high-frequency goods (from 3.1% to 4.2%)...
Italian consumers confirm that dogs and cats are increasingly considered members of the family and that the best choices are being made for them. The request to the government for concessions on tax and VAT
The food sector alone for the two preferred species is worth EUR 4.2 billion and accounts for 79% of the total expenditure incurred by families for their animals. The remaining 21%, or about EUR 1.1 billion, concerns care, understood as accessories and products for hygiene and health (not drugs).
This also includes food for small animals, which on the whole, however, make up the majority of those considered as 'pets' by the trade association and also include 25.3 million fish, 4.1 million birds, 2.7 million reptiles and amphibians and 1.4 million small mammals...
a process of increasing social inclusion is underway for dogs and cats, ranging from laws protecting them from abuse and mistreatment to their increasing acceptance in facilities open to the public, starting with restaurants, bars and hotels. It could not be otherwise, considering that they are present in 54.5 per cent of families but with a percentage that rises to 66.7 per cent among families with children and remains above 60 per cent in those with children over 20 years of age...
The US, the world's second largest consumer with an annual volume of 380,000 to 400,000 tonnes, is facing a perfect storm in its main imported vegetable oil.
The trigger is not a single one, but the convergence of three critical factors. First, the logistical disruption in the Red Sea, a major global trade corridor, is increasing and slowing down the transport of olive oil to North America. Second, rising oil prices - with contributions exceeding $100 per barrel in 2026 - are structurally increasing production, packaging and distribution costs. And thirdly, US trade policy is adding further pressure with tariffs of up to 15 per cent on European products, the main suppliers to the US market..
This phenomenon is not minor. As analyst Phil Lempert has pointed out, the conflict in the Middle East acts as an 'invisible tax' on food, affecting the entire food chain across the board. And in this scenario, olive oil - imported, premium and highly dependent on international logistics - becomes one of the most vulnerable.
However, the impact is not homogeneous. While the lower value-added categories (virgin and lampante in industrial blends) are the first to suffer demand adjustments, high-end extra virgin maintains, for now, a certain resilience. The reason is structural: their consumption in the US meets not only price criteria, but also health, origin and gastronomic positioning..
Lidl, which has always been committed to encouraging the consumption of fruit and vegetables, announces the opening of a pop-up fruit and vegetable bar in the sporting heart of Rome and an adjoining gazebo called 'Carotavendolo', at Largo Maresciallo Diaz 20. From Tuesday 12 to Thursday 14 May, the Ponte Milvio area becomes a space dedicated to cheer and freshness, where the excellence of the brand's vegetable assortment is at the centre of a unique awareness-raising initiative.
After the slip on pasta - read Lidl pasta, EU Court: the tricolour on labels can mislead consumers - an interesting marketing initiative, to be imitated, even if Lidl's fruit and vegetables have some obvious limits.
Alibaba reported a 3 per cent increase in revenue for the quarter ending 31 March, which fell short of expectations due to a slowdown in the company's international e-commerce business (Total revenue stood at 243.38 billion yuan for the quarter, or €30.6 billion)
Cloud Intelligence revenues increased by 38%, with artificial intelligence products now accounting for 30% of external cloud revenues. Earlier this year, the company separated its artificial intelligence business from its cloud computing division.
Alibaba said adjusted EBITDA fell 84 per cent due to spending on technology and fast-track commerce, which involves deliveries within 60 minutes. Reuters
There has long been an e-commerce and delivery war going on in China, which, like in the US, has the same customers.
It is a division of the Walmart Group, which had a turnover of $92.6 billion in 2024 ... "Sam's" is named after its founder, Sam Walton.
E-commerce is growing by 23% (and for Walmart it weighs $150 billion) and as we see from this excerpt, the giant now delivers (ready-to-eat) food, competing with DoorDash, UberEats etc.: ...almost two-thirds of Sam's e-commerce business is now handled directly by shops, which, as [Greg ] Pulsifer (senior VP of Sam's) acknowledges, is "the textbook definition of an omnichannel company".
About 70 per cent of the retailer's members also sign up online... Last month, Sam's Club launched its Express delivery service, which promises delivery of orders within an hour...
Another noteworthy innovation in e-commerce is Sam's Club's entry into the pizza delivery business, which began exactly one year ago. "I think the interesting thing is that the history of pizza started with roast chicken," Pulsifer reflects. "Roast chicken was one of the most popular products for in-store pick-up and we wanted to find a way to make it available for home delivery as well, which was a challenging problem to solve." Sam's Club now delivers more than 22,000 pizzas per week and uses artificial intelligence to predict the busiest days for deliveries to anticipate customer demand...
Progressive Grocer
The European Union has decided to ban imports of meat and other animal products from Brazil as of 3 September due to the use of antimicrobials to stimulate animal growth on farms. The decision was taken on Tuesday by a committee composed of experts from EU member states.
According to a new study published by The People Platform , a Stagwell company, millennial consumers between the ages of 35 and 44 are the most likely to use digital coupons and the most frequent adopters of self-checkout technology, thus representing a more valuable audience for food media networks than consumers in other age groups...
These networks are common practice in the US (Walmart even has a TV), in Italy Selex recently announced this type of initiative at the ecommerce food conference.
(Selex was Esselunga 's partner in the ESD Italia purchasing centre, which I had founded with accountant Riccardo Francioni).
Amazon Pharmacy announced Thursday the introduction of same-day delivery and kiosk pick-up for Novo Nordisk's Ozempic pill, the only FDA-approved GLP-1-based oral drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
The company will make the Ozempic pill available through its same-day delivery service at nearly 3,000 locations, with plans to expand to nearly 4,500 by the end of the year. Prescription drug delivery will also be available with next-day delivery within two to three days in areas where other home delivery services take five to ten days to deliver.
Amazon will also make the Ozempic pill available via kiosks operated by licensed pharmacists within certain One Medical locations within minutes of the end of the doctor's visit, the company said...
[RELATED: Amazon launches GLP-1 slimming programme... According to Amazon, with the new GLP-1 Management Programme, patients benefit from a fully integrated care pathway: pre-visit screening, structured consultations, regular follow-up visits with integrated monitoring, standardised documentation and evidence-based treatment algorithms with built-in safety protocols... ]
Below: private label Amazon Pharmacy product. Source: Progressive Grocer
Vinted generated a turnover of EUR 1.1 billion and a net profit of EUR 62 million last year(the difference between transacted and turnover is explained by the fact that Vinted is a marketplace, which receives commissions from third parties)..
Founded in 2008 as a platform for exchanging clothes between individuals, Vinted has expanded into new categories such as books, toys and video games, while focusing on developing its own shipping and payment services..
Vinted, widely used in Europe, is still trying to establish itself in the US market.
According to the Financial Times, Vinted is worth €8 billion on the stock exchange today. On this topic you can read this in-depth article.
