The quality landscape of berries "under the two towers" of Bologna appears positive, with a particular emphasis on blueberries, which are experiencing a fast turnover. Most of the production batches are very fresh, a sign of a dynamic supply chain.
Prices remain average, encouraging purchases and a constant product flow. The segmentation of packaging sizes is also interesting, especially for blueberries (ranging from 100 to 500 grams), blackberries, and raspberries (up to 200 grams).
These are some of the findings from the Berry Observatory's survey, which on June 18 made a stop in the urban area of Bologna.
Under the Two Towers and surrounding areas, 21 stores belonging to 21 banners and 13 retail groups of the organized large-scale retail trade (GDO) were visited. The product assortments were recorded for the following banners: Aldi, Alì, Carrefour, Carrefour Express, Carrefour Market, Conad City, Conad Superstore, Coop, Despar, Dpiù, Esselunga, Eurospar, Eurospin, IN's, inCoop, Ipercoop, Lidl, MD, Pam, Pam Local, Sigma.
Assortment and product range
The stores visited featured between one and nine SKUs, with an average of 4.3 SKUs per store. In detail: 95% raspberries; 95% blueberries; 76% blackberries; 24% redcurrants; 29% berry mixes.
As for the product range, 5% of stores offered only one SKU; 29% had 2 or 3 SKUs, and the remaining 66% had 4 or more SKUs available.
Quality
Quality is defined as the health of the product, measured by: absence of significant defects; healthy product but in suboptimal conditions (not fresh, tired, shriveled, dull, without bloom); presence of damaged berries and juice; presence of rotten berries and mold.
The banners with the best quality were Aldi, Alì Supermercati, Esselunga, MD, Sigma.
Retail prices
Raspberries (29 records): min. €14.36/kg - max. €27.04/kg - average €20.22/kg
Blueberries (40 records): min. €9.98/kg - max. €27.84/kg - average €17.43/kg
Blackberries (20 records): min. €13.52/kg - max. €26.32/kg - average €20.12/kg
Redcurrants (5 records): min. €15.84/kg - max. €29.44/kg - average €23.41/kg
Berry mix (9 records): min. €17.38/kg - max. €23.27/kg - average €22.13/kg
Overall total (103 records): min. €9.98/kg - max. €29.44/kg - average €19.44/kg.
Brands
A total of 25 berry brands were found across the stores visited. The brand with the highest average prices in the category was Almaverde Bio. The brand with the lowest average prices for blueberries was Trifoglio, followed by Mattivi.
Packaging
38% of the blueberry SKUs recorded were sold in packages with a net weight of 125 grams.
| Retailer | Two-pack | Raspberries | Blueberries | Blackberries | Red currants | Three-pack | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ipercoop | 21,40 | 22,48 | 25,60 | 23,16 | |||
| Carrefour Express | 22,00 | 25,00 | 22,00 | 23,00 | |||
| Despar | 24,95 | 19,92 | 18,32 | 26,32 | 23,27 | 22,56 | |
| Conad City | 21,44 | 21,44 | 21,44 | ||||
| MD | 21,40 | 21,40 | |||||
| Conad Superstore | 19,84 | 17,68 | 17,48 | 29,44 | 21,26 | 21,14 | |
| Carrefour | 19,90 | 21,20 | 18,19 | 25,20 | 19,84 | 21,20 | 20,92 |
| Eurospar | 19,92 | 13,41 | 26,32 | 23,27 | 20,73 | ||
| Carrefour Market | 19,04 | 22,24 | 19,84 | 20,37 | |||
| PAM | 17,14 | 17,69 | 19,92 | 26,32 | 20,27 | ||
| PAM Local | 21,60 | 16,30 | 21,60 | 19,83 | |||
| inCOOP | 21,90 | 17,52 | 19,71 | ||||
| COOP | 21,40 | 15,53 | 21,40 | 19,44 | |||
| Esselunga | 21,75 | 22,00 | 14,24 | 15,84 | 23,20 | 19,40 | |
| Alì | 23,92 | 17,96 | 15,92 | 19,27 | |||
| Eurospin | 23,92 | 9,98 | 14,32 | 23,27 | 17,87 | ||
| Sigma | 15,92 | 15,92 | 15,92 | ||||
| Lidl | 15,92 | 14,55 | 15,24 | ||||
| Dpiù | 15,60 | 13,52 | 14,56 | ||||
| Aldi | 13,14 | 15,92 | 14,53 | ||||
| IN's | 15,92 | 13,16 | 13,52 | 14,20 |
