Geopolitical crises are holding consumption hostage and Italian families are discovering the value of “non-consumption” which will characterize the coming months. This is a theme emerging from the digital preview of the «Coop Report 2026 – Consumption and lifestyles of Italians today and tomorrow» presented yesterday morning, before the ECB’s announcement to raise the cost of money by 25 basis points. «I think the increase was expected and I do not expect a significant impact on the prices of packaged consumer goods – explains Albino Russo, general director of Ancc Coop -. There could be a limited impact on durable goods related to purchases with consumer credit».
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The Report presents a stark picture. «2026 delivers us a country turned inward, stagnant for twenty years, unable to grow, as the main economic indicators show. The Coop research office estimates GDP growth that this year will not exceed 0.8% and 0.9 in 2027» continues Russo who emphasizes how in Italy all the levers contributing to economic growth are either stalled or declining: productivity, demographics, business size, and education. In Italy, consumption remains stalled and one must not resign to stagnation, but Spain and Germany manage to do better while in France, after the ECB’s intervention on rates, Insee has significantly revised its growth forecasts downward to 0.4% in 2026.
Gaining ground is “non-consumption” where consuming less and fighting waste are increasingly a value, as noted by 65% of respondents. Many decide to reduce consumption and over 25% do so by personal choice while reuse and elimination of the superfluous are growing. Furthermore, Italians earn less than 20 years ago and less than other Europeans, the Report notes. For this reason, Italy holds the not exactly enviable record of being one of the most unequal countries in Europe where the Gini index, which quantifies the level of inequality in income or wealth distribution, rises by 2.5 percentage points in five years and where 67% of people have experienced at least one condition of hardship.
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To try to counter this drift, work intensity has increased with an average of 35 more hours worked per year between 2019 and 2025 and many Italians are employed even on holidays
«The Report presents a country at a standstill, marked by an increasingly strong social polarization with a middle class in great difficulty – comments Domenico Brisigotti, president of Coop Italia –. Those who, like us, operate in the market must pay particular attention to a demand that continues to be weak. A possible, but not desirable, resurgence of inflation, perhaps fueled by energy pressure, could trigger a downward spiral in purchases both quantitatively and qualitatively that we would no longer be able to absorb». People work more, but end up earning less and it becomes impossible to recover the loss of purchasing power caused by inflation in the last 5 years. Out-of-home consumption decreases, as stated by 62% of Italians, while 66% denounce the weight of economic difficulty that imposes these difficult sacrifices with a good 38% declaring that ready-made supermarket food is in fact a valid alternative to restaurants.
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