MILAN – With a turnover of 3.5 billion euro for 11.1 billion consumed items, the market of the automatic distribution of food and drink and portioned coffee (capsules and pods) in Italy has closed 2017 with a +3.5% growth compared to 2016.
The so-called “vending” sector will be the focus of the twentieth edition of Venditalia, the most important European event for the sector that will be held at fieramilanocity from 6 to 9 June.
The event – organised every two years by Venditalia Servizi and promoted by Confida, the Italian Association of Automatic Distribution – will see the participation of 247 exhibitors from 20 countries representing all segments of the sector: vending machine manufacturers, producers of consumer goods and management companies, distributed over 13 thousand square metres.
Automatic and Portioned
The market data, outlined in the new sector study carried out by Confida in collaboration with Accenture, distinguish between the automatic and the so-called “portioned” sectors, i.e. the segment of machines working with capsules and pods. In the last year, the automatic sector grew by +1.87% for a value of 1.8 billion euro and a total of 5 billion consumed items.
The portioned sector in 2017 showed a turnover of 1.7 billion euro with a +5.1% increase generated by 6.1 billion consumed items. Capsules for households are the driving force behind the portioned sector, with an 11.3% increase.
Cold Drinks and Coffee at the Top
The growth of the automatic market in 2017 (+1.87%) is mainly due to the growth in consumption of cold drinks (+5.01%), which represent 19.7% of total distribution. In particular, there was an increase in the consumption of water (+ 5.80%) that, with over 760 million bottles of water supplied, is the second best-selling product of vending machines after coffee.
Last year, coffee consumption from vending machines was over 2.7 billion, with a 0.59% increase. A “plus” sign was also shown by snacks – which amount to 15,5% of total consumption, up 0.58% under the boost of chocolate (+3.19%) and biscuits (+4.55%).
Vending machines, a record in Italy
Also the number of machines showed a slight increase: +0.65% in 2017. There are more than 810 thousand vending machines installed throughout the country, which make Italy the first country in Europe by number of vending machines (followed by France with 590 thousand vending machines and Germany with 550 thousand). Distributors are mainly located in the industry (35%), followed by private offices (15%), commerce (13%), schools and universities (13%), hospitals (11%), public offices (6%) and places of transit (4%) and leisure (3%).
Venditalia, 22% of new exhibitors
Of the 247 exhibitors at Venditalia, 57 come from abroad and 68 (28% of the total) participate for the first time.
Numbers that identify the dynamism of the sector and the natural vocation for innovation of the event, an international showcase for the main innovations of the sector, which reflect the trends and demands of the market: from the technological evolution with increasingly smarter vending machines thanks to the adoption of IoT technologies, to eco-sustainability that is expressed through low-consumption machines, green logistics, low emission vans, organic and locally sourced foods and fair trade.
During the main international event of automatic distribution it will be possible to know the potential of the new smart automatic vending machines thanks to the use of internet connection. For instance, not only it will be possible to choose the products via a smartphone, but also pay for them the same way and take them from the first available vending machine.
Venditalia is not only an exceptional showcase for exhibitors and a privileged observatory for all operators in the vending sector, in which Italy is an international leader, but a true hub of Automatic Distribution within which to develop relationships and business, discover novelties and market trends, and explore in depth technical and technological topics.
The new edition of the fair is also accompanied by the new “Venditalia Milano” logo that expresses the strong international vocation of the event in the Italian economic capital that anticipates the new Italian trends. In addition to the exhibition area, Venditalia hosts conferences, debates, international talk shows and meetings on the most current topics of the sector.
The president of Confida, Massimo Trapletti: “Keyword: Innovation”
“Innovation is the keyword of the event – comments Massimo Trapletti, newly elected President of Confida, on his first official occasion – All the operators of the sector projected towards cutting-edge research know they can count on the worldwide echo of Venditalia to help outline the vending sector of the future. The sector employs over 30,000 people in Italy and constitutes an authentic excellence of the ‘Made in Italy’, both because the most important machine manufacturers are Italian and for the professionalism of the management companies operating in our country that hold the widest automatic food distribution chain in Europe“.
The president of Venditalia, Ernesto Piloni:
“Venditalia is the most important European event of the automatic distribution, both for exhibition space and number of visitors – explains the President of Venditalia Ernesto Piloni – The event, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year, allows exhibitors from all over the world to preview the most innovative vending solutions and the main products distributed.
With its 247 exhibitors, on more than 13,000 square metres of exhibition space, the 2018 edition of Venditalia will be able to show how much this sector is evolving: thanks to cutting-edge technology and a rigorously Italian know-how exported all over the world, our country is a European leader in the production of vending machines.
Today, the sector is experiencing a real “digital revolution”: the new vending machines are connected to the Internet, they are fitted with touch screens for a more effective communication with the consumer and, through the use of an App, offer different types of payment systems avoiding the use of cash. It will be possible to experience all of this and more from 6 to 9 June at Venditalia“.
