The word "food" evokes Italy in the minds of three out of four people around the planet. A good reputational advantage for our companies in the agrifood chain, when they decide to take full advantage of their potential on international markets (today exports just 15% of companies and cross-border sales are 40 billion euro compared to an Italian sounding that it is worth more than double). But it is not on the "made in Italy" label that they can rely on, because less than one in three consumers looks at the original brand to decide on the purchase, while wanting to know (65% of the answers) origin of the raw materials, process processing, traceability.
Foreign Trade, Istat: September black for Made in Italy
This is the most unexpected result that emerges from the survey - unprecedented by vastness: 80,000 international consumers in 27 countries surveyed - conducted by EY this year and anticipated in Parma at the first conference entirely dedicated to foodtech organized by the consulting giant together with ducal university. The "Future Consumer" research Now "is not born focused on the boot but on the global approach to food and it is however to the Belpaese that transmits a new message that overturns the commercial role of the tricolor flag. «The Italian brand is a strong competitive advantage. Among the world food districts, Italy and France play head to head, but we are given a plus in terms of tradition and lifestyle - explains Marco Grieco, EY's consumer product and retail advisory leader. As if to say that world consumers give us credit at the start, because Italians, but not enough. It is not on the label then that they look when they have to buy, also because in Europe there are too many labels and brands of origin. Those looking for quality (and made in Italy can only play at the high end of the market) want to understand the actual origin of raw materials, who and how they work and know the entire supply chain. The brand asset is not enough ".
Gastronomic ambassadors for made in Italy
It becomes therefore crucial to know how to tell each foody in the right way their product using the right tools to conquer it. And here comes the academic response - in the Emilia food valley we are working to create a major international food university on the same basis as what we have already done in motoring with Muner, the Motorvehicle University of Emilia-Romagna - on the other hand the analysis of the 15 worldwide consumer archetypes signed by EY, through a quali-quantitative work conducted in 5 international cities (Berlin, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, Bombay) involving more than 3 thousand local consumers, 62 research centers and almost 50 companies . Among the 15 profiles, four are distinctive. 1) Berlin, "Home anywhere": the type of predominantly European consumers who, for the 67%, seek as their first driver in choosing food the fact of "always feeling at home, in the family" even when they travel and therefore the capillary distribution plays a key role ; 2) Los Angeles, "Data Influence": is the profile of American consumers, for 71% of cases well disposed to transfer personal information in exchange for real value re-assigned, as personalized discounts, offering exclusive products (and this means that Italian companies must target the offer and work with advanced analytics tools); 3) Shanghai, "Quantified consumer": is the stereotype of the Chinese consumer, the one with the greatest potential for Italian food, for 90% buyers who give a numerical judgment on the social to the consumed product, they talk about it in detail on the network and are potential local ambassadors brands (for Italian companies it means taking care of social credit scores, social engineering ...); 4) London, "Time first", the profile of the Anglo-Saxon foodies that in 72% of the interviews consider "time" as the most precious good, even when it comes to buying food and this involves multi-channel sales in domestic deliveries within a few hours with a fast, effective, fun and safe one-stop shop.
Here is the food of the future: 9 out of 10 resist the excellence of Made in Italy
"The food is transformed from need to experience, even cultural, with a very elastic demand for income and not sensitive to price in search of quality and distinctiveness and this is a huge chance for the made in Italy and for all those tools, such as the blockchain, which allow to give certainty and transparency to the real value of the exchange by eliminating information asymmetries. However, there are still too few Italian companies that have understood how to create greater added value for the consumer and how to communicate and certify it in a credible way ", underlines Marco Menabue, EY's Food Industry leader. The survey conducted by EY among Italian food companies above 50 million turnover (or just over 1% of companies in the supply chain, given that Nomisma teaches that just 1.7% of agrifood companies have more than 50 employees , equivalent to an average turnover of around 20 million euros!) revealed that only 42% of the interviewees studied the behavior of international consumers and 48% had tools to certify the supply chains (even if 85% it does so in order to obtain a label of origin and not in the correct conviction that serves to better describe the production process to whoever buys it). The only widespread technology (present in 75% of medium-large companies) is the CRM to know and target customers, another 35% have introduced IoT systems but just 42% of entrepreneurs are ready to question their model operating to be more effective and efficient on the markets.
In short, there is a clear disconnect between Italian companies anchored in old schemes and global consumers very "ahead": 80% answer "yes" to the direct question "would you buy Italian?"), But 88% of Asian consumers it does not look at the geographical origin on the label, 72% of Americans do the same, only in Europe the percentage drops to 52%, together with the community regulations and those on geographical origin. And of the 80 thousand consumers interviewed by EY only 32% are aware of the "made in" brand; while 65% say they are actively interested in understanding what is behind what they buy and eat, with spasmodic attention to overseas tracing, sustainability in Old Europe, information in America and direct and indirect marketing in Asia. As if to say: space to Italian sounding if done and communicated well and carefully, the name "Italy" works with food, but that really comes from the Stivale counts less, because the intrinsic quality of the product is worth more.
