Towards a year that promises to have growth in the order of decimals: 0.2% for GDP and 0.3% for consumption. «Italy in 2026 will be a country with insignificant growth, close to zero, with consumers with a spending capacity compressed by obligatory expenses» remarks Ernesto Dalle Rive, president of Ancc-Coop which includes 72 consumer cooperatives with 2024 revenues of 16.4 billion, over 57 thousand employees in more than 2,200 supermarkets chosen by 9 million customers every week.
Furthermore, large-scale distribution is leaving behind a difficult 2025 marked by a decline in sales volumes and suffering margins. The most direct way is to reduce costs and seek new revenues such as, for example, in the services area. Solutions are being studied to support turnover.
«As Coop we are making a reflection that we would like to share with the large-scale distribution system: the closure of supermarkets on Sundays to reach a shared drop point which could include 6 days of store opening» says Dalle Rive. It was the “Save Italy” decree of the Monti government that introduced shops opening on Sundays and holidays. «The main companies in the Coop system now look favorably on closing on Sundays and we want to see if it is possible to open discussion tables with Federdistribuzione and the Association of Modern Distribution (Adm), if we can arrive at a shared vision».
The decision would allow us to contain the cost of labour, on Sundays the increase is at least 30% of the salary, and recover productivity and efficiency which, according to the Coop research office, could be worth between 2.3 and 2.6 billion for the entire Italian large-scale retail trade system. Resources that could be used to increase promotions «and provide an answer to our employees who do not want to have the commitment of working on Sundays – adds Dalle Rive -. Our investigations show that a part of the purchases would move to the other days of the week”. According to Coop, approximately one in three Italians does not go shopping on Sundays.
As mentioned, 2026 promises to be a difficult year for consumption due to international geopolitical tensions, with a mix of concern and uncertainty affecting at least six out of ten Italians, according to what emerges from two surveys by the Coop Research Office carried out in December: one in collaboration with Nomisma on a representative sample of the Italian population and the other among the opinion leaders of the Coop Report community.
