Italian vending industry reports 31% losses in 2020

The 2020 results of the Italian vending industry (Ipsos study for CONFIDA) were presented during the industry’s 2021 General Assembly held on 10 November at the Confcommercio offices in Rome.

The sector closed the year with sales of €1.6 billion (including the vending market and the OCS and coffee capsules and pods market), 31% down compared to 2019 and corresponding to a total of 4.4 billion drinks sold in Italy.

This sharp decline was caused by the closure of schools, offices and public services due to the pandemic.

The sector saw a recovery (+9.21%) in January to August 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 driven by sales of coffee (+12.13%) and water (+10.88%), but is still well short of pre-Covid levels (down 15.17% on the same period in 2019).

During the meeting, CONFIDA Chairman Massimo Trapletti called for government intervention and launched four proposals to overcome the crisis and return to growth in the sector: ecological transition, digital transition, amendment of the Minimum Environmental Criteria and licensing reform.

Italy has the largest automatic food vending network in Europe with more than 802,000 installed vending machines, followed by France (626,000), Germany (611,000) and the UK (408,000). There are more than 3,000 vending companies in Italy employing a total workforce of over 30,000 people. Added to these are the companies that operate throughout the supply chain, including food producers and manufacturers of vending machine accessories and technology.