Jan 2017

“MARCA 2017” ready to open at Bolognafiere “Private lables and the challenge of new purchasing processes” - the focus of the opening convention

“MARCA 2017” ready to open at Bolognafiere “Private lables and the challenge of new purchasing processes” - the focus of the opening convention

The opening day of “Marca 2017”, the two days dedicated to the world of Private Labels, organized by BolognaFiere in collaboration with ADM, will take place until tomorrow 19th January at the Bologna Exhibition Centre.


“Today we have opened an edition of Marca that confirms the positive trend highlighted by the event in recent years,” explains Franco Boni, President of BolognaFiere, “with further significant growth in participation and the exhibition space, underlining the dynamism of a sector in expansion in which the entrepreneurial fabric of our country can find abundant business opportunities. The support that the event offers, also in terms of promoting ‘made in Italy’ products on an international level, has encouraged us to seek out, together with our partners, the very latest instruments for the business community in question”.


During the opening convention, organized by ADM on the theme “Private Labels and the challenge of new purchasing processes,” interesting research by GfK was presented concerning consumers’ new purchasing processes.


According to the GfK research illustrated at the convention Marca 2017, “in a climate of widespread insecurity, Modern Distribution in Grocery Retail communicates the pleasure and wellbeing derived from doing the shopping for all segments of the population, from those with fewer economic or educational resources to the most expert and well-off. This is because customers of the grocery retail sector recognise that the sector is capable of intercepting and satisfying their requirements and expectations with commercial brands and own brands and with prices that are suitable for all budgets. In this context private brands and distributor brands are becoming an important reference point and take on the values and the reputation of the distribution group. They are becoming perceived as brands to all intents and purposes with specific positive features: excellent value for money, wide variety even in the more innovative and premium segments, while they also play a positive role in the growth of the country. Through the direct contact with the producer-distributor, the distribution group transmits the brand philosophy, raising its profile amongst all segments of purchasing decision-makers. The product also offers further growth potential: 78% of Italians claim they are likely to purchase own brand products” comment Giuseppe Minoia and Gianluca Nardone of GfK.


Also eagerly awaited was the speech by Guido Cristini, Professor of Marketing at the University of Parma, on “The Premium Segment: the high quality turning point for private labels”.


For private labels 2016 appears to have been a significant year in which we have seen an increase (+0.3%) in the market share that is now estimated at around 18.6%. Among the reasons for the success are the important developments of premium segments. These refer to products that due to their quality, variety, sustainability and ethical value are not inferior to more established products on the market. The sector of premium private label products grew by 15% over the last year and represents an increasingly important choice and one recognised by the final consumers.


“The success that the private labels achieved in 2016 is the result of extraordinary planning and development activities that the distribution groups have been able to achieve, in particular in the field of Premium products, where the consumers’ choice is determined by quality, innovation, sustainability and variety. In this sense the premium private labels represent a significant opportunity for small production companies that can introduce to the general public their quality, excellence and sustainability that otherwise would be confined to micro territories and the traditional distribution channels for artisanal products,” adds Guido Cristini.


Giovanni Fantasia, CEO of Nelsen Italia and Bruno Aceto CEO of GS1 Italy were invited to reflect on “The Immagino project and new visions of consumption”.


Bruno Aceto introduced the project focusing on current trends. “Consumers are seeking reference points and the retail points and brands provide informative tools that are absolutely central for constructing a relationship of value with them: “informing customers well” is today one of the key missions for business. Nevertheless, still lacking is a real measurement of the relationship between the information sought and the market results. The Observatory Immagino Nielsen GS1 Italy was established to fill this void”.


“Thanks to the strategic agreement between Nielsen and GS1 Italy, for the first time it is possible to measure the consumption trends that reveal how Italians’ purchasing behaviour is changing,” explains Giovanni Fantasia, CEO of Nielsen Italia. “By crosschecking the Immagino data containing the features of individual products with sales data about the consumption of families and the use of media surveyed by Nielsen, it is possible to trace and outline how Italians’ diets have changed, identifying the main consumers for each segment of the market and identifying the media diet that enables companies to optimize their media investments and reach their own target demographics in a more effective way,” concluded Fantasia.


“The opening convention and the entire event Marca 2017 has underlined Marca’s role as an unmissable event for the business world involved in production and distribution relating to private labels. An event that invites reflection on the factors behind the success that has led private labels to assume the role of genuine brands and win over consumers,” explains Giorgio Santambrogio, President of ADM. “An evolution that can be summed up in the development from ‘private labels’ into ‘distributor brands’: a difference not only of semantics but a genuine change of position. If initially private labels were perceived only in terms of lower prices, now they identify a world of values, variety and innovation that has won over new spaces and a leading role in the mass consumption landscape,” concluded Giorgio Santambrogio in his speech “We are the industry of trade”.

back to previous page