Verona, rich offer and many promotions with prepacks for less than 1 €

The survey was conducted on 04/06/2024 in the area of Verona (Italy) on 19 shops owned by 19 retailers belonging to 13 retailing groups.

The supply of berries is rich for all products, with few stockouts and many baskets available. For blueberries, the main origins are Spain, Morocco, and also Italy. The same applies to raspberries (mainly Morocco and Italy), while blackberries are almost exclusively Italian.

The quality is fair; the product looks good, not exceptional but generally acceptable. Prices are low, with many promotions, even under one euro per basket for blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

These are some of the findings from the Berry Observatory, which yesterday, June 4th, made a stop in the urban area of Verona.

In the city of Verona, 19 sales points of 19 brands belonging to 13 organized large-scale retail groups were visited. In particular, the sales points of the brands: A&O, Aldi, Conad, Despar, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospin, Famila, Galassia, iN’s, Interspar, Lidl, MD, Migross, Naturasì, Pam, Prix, Rossetto, Spazio Conad were visited. At the time of the visit, Despar did not have berries in assortment.

Assortment and Range

In the sales points visited, there were from a minimum of one to a maximum of six references, with an average of 2.9 per sales point. Specifically, 58% raspberries; 95% blueberries; 63% blackberries; 11% had red currants and 26% had mixed berries.

Regarding the range, 26% of the sales points with berries in assortment have a single reference on sale. 37% have two or three references on sale; the remaining 37% have four or more references on sale.

Quality

Quality refers to the health of the product, measured in terms of: absence of significant defects; healthy product but in non-ideal conditions (not fresh, tired, shriveled, dull, without bloom); presence of damaged berries and juice; presence of rotten and moldy berries.

The groups with the best quality were: Aldi, Conad, Esselunga, Eurospin, MD, Migross, Naturasì, Prix.

Sales Prices

Raspberries (13 records): min. €7.92/kg – max. €27.92/kg – average €16.91/kg
Blueberries (30 records): min. €7.92/kg – max. €23.90/kg – average €14.02/kg
Blackberries (13 records): min. €12.64/kg – max. €28.72/kg – average €16.52/kg
Red currants (2 records): min. €23.92/kg – max. €27.92/kg – average €25.92/kg
Mixed berries (9 records): min. €19.67/kg – max. €21.93/kg – average €20.45/kg
Total (67 records): min. €7.92/kg – max. €28.72/kg – average €16.29/kg.

Brands

In the sales points visited, 21 berry brands were present. The brand with the highest average prices in the category was Conad Piccoli Frutti. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Moderna srl, followed by Cuna De Platero.

Packaging

50% of the blueberry references detected are sold in packages with a net weight of 125 grams.

The full berry range of the following retailers has been surveyed: A&O, Aldi, Conad, Despar, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospin, Famila, Galassia, iN's, Interspar, Lidl, MD, Migross, Naturasì, Pam, Prix, Rossetto, Spazio Conad.

Retailers listed by descending average price (€/kg) of the berry category

Online retail prices

Click here to access the weekly updated online price lists for berries.

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