Percentage growth of ground roasted coffee e-commerce market in Italy 2018-2020

The growth in e-commerce market of ground roasted coffee in Italy peaked in July 2018, when it registered +208 percent compared to the previous year. In the following months, the sector continued to grow, even though at a slower pace. In March 2020, the lockdown enforced due to the coronavirus emergency seemed to have encouraged the online sales of ground roasted coffee, which increased by 137 percent. When looking at the value of the e-commerce market for roasted coffee it can be observed that this sector was worth 19.5 million euros in 2018. The constant growth registered during 2019 brought the value at 29.3 million. Moreover, thanks to the steep increase registered in March 2020, the e-commerce market for ground roasted coffee in Italy reached 11.4 million euros during the first quarter of 2020, suggesting a significant increase for the whole year if this trend continues.

Where do Italians buy their coffee?

The e-commerce market for grounded coffee is made up of a number of different online platforms. Apparently, the most popular among Italian customers was Amazon, used by 22 percent of the respondents. When analyzing the popularity of online marketplaces among different age groups, Amazon still came out on top. 35-to-44 year-olds resulted to be the fondest of buying coffee online. More than half of the respondents in this age group reported to have purchased coffee online in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Leading coffee companies

Excluding Amazon, the most popular online source for buying coffee proved to be websites or apps directly managed by coffee brands and/or producers. Which were the leading Italian coffee companies in 2018 ? Among those companies active also in the production/distribution of pods and capsules, Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. came out on top as the most profitable one, with revenues surpassing one and a half billion euros. The second on the list, Nestlé Italiana S.p.A., was trailing behind at around one billion in revenues.