It is a positive scenario that emerges from the observations of the Italian Berry Retail Monitor today, May 30, 2024, in Trieste. The stores are stocked and well-assorted with blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. There are some stockouts, but nothing significant.
The prices are competitive, not low, but not too high either, especially for blueberries and raspberries, while blackberries, though competitive, have higher prices than average. The origins are Italy, Spain, and Morocco, with some blackberries coming from Portugal but in small quantities. Currants are quite absent, exclusively from Chile but found in very few stores.
The general quality is good, the batches are fresh from this week, indicating good shelf rotation.
Store Visits
Specifically, 17 stores from 17 different brands belonging to 13 organized retail groups (GDO) were visited. The brands are: Aldi, Cadoro, Conad, Coop, Crai, Despar, Dpiù, Eurospar, Eurospin, Famila, IN's, Ipercoop, Lidl, Maxì, MD, Naturasì, Pam.
Assortment
In the stores visited, there were a minimum of one to a maximum of six references, with an average of 3.3 references per store. 94% had raspberries in their assortment; 100% had blueberries; 71% had blackberries; 12% had red currants, while 6% had Tris in their assortment.
Range of Products
6% of the stores with berries in their assortment had a single SKU for sale. 41% had two or three SKUs for sale; the remaining 53% had four or more SKUs for sale.
Quality
Quality is defined as the health of the product, measured in terms of: absence of significant defects; healthy product but in non-ideal conditions (not fresh, tired, withered, dull, without bloom); presence of damaged fruits and juice; presence of spoiled fruits and mold.
The groups with the best quality were Aldi, Conad, Coop, Crai, Despar Italia, Eurospin, Lidl, Selex.
Prices
Raspberries (16 observations): min. 13.52 €/kg – max. 42.80 €/kg – average 21.07 €/kg
Blueberries (23 observations): min. 7.98 €/kg – max. 28.80 €/kg – average 15.21 €/kg
Blackberries (13 observations): min. 14.95 €/kg – max. 31.92 €/kg – average 19.47 €/kg
Red currants (3 observations): min. 27.84 €/kg – max. 28.72 €/kg – average 28.13 €/kg
Tris (1 observation): 19.93 €/kg
Overall (56 observations): min. 7.98 €/kg – max. 42.80 €/kg – average 18.65 €/kg.
Brands
In the stores visited, there were berries from a total of 20 brands. The brand with the highest average prices in the category was Agrologicabio. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Onubafruit, followed by Lovita.
Packaging
39% of the blueberry references are sold in packages with a net weight of 125 grams.
Retailers listed by descending average price (€/kg) of the berry category
| Retailer | Two-pack | Raspberries | Blueberries | Mix | Blackberries | Red currants | Three-pack | Total |
| Naturasì | 42,80 | 21,00 | 31,84 | 31,88 | ||||
| Crai | 31,92 | 28,80 | 31,92 | 30,88 | ||||
| Cadoro | 23,92 | 17,52 | 20,72 | |||||
| Pam | 19,95 | 18,32 | 21,41 | 15,12 | 28,72 | 20,70 | ||
| Eurospar | 27,92 | 13,30 | 20,61 | |||||
| Conad | 22,32 | 17,31 | 19,95 | 19,12 | 19,68 | |||
| Ipercoop | 19,90 | 10,96 | 19,90 | 27,84 | 19,65 | |||
| Aldi | 13,97 | 19,92 | 16,95 | |||||
| Famila | 15,92 | 12,72 | 18,32 | 19,93 | 16,72 | |||
| Coop | 19,90 | 19,90 | 10,96 | 14,95 | 16,43 | |||
| Maxì | 15,92 | 15,94 | 15,92 | 15,93 | ||||
| Lidl | 19,92 | 11,34 | 15,92 | 15,73 | ||||
| Eurospin | 15,92 | 11,95 | 15,92 | 14,60 | ||||
| MD | 14,32 | 11,92 | 15,92 | 14,05 | ||||
| Dpiù | 14,00 | 14,00 | 14,00 | |||||
| Despar | 13,30 | 13,30 | ||||||
| IN's | 13,52 | 11,56 | 12,54 |
Online retail prices
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