Italian households: spending patterns are changing – technology and leisure are driving consumption, whilst food and fashion are losing ground

The shift in spending habits has led to a decline in the real share of household expenditure across certain segments over the years: compared with 1995, spending on household food has fallen (-3.5% over the last three decades), partly due to demographic trends and the rise in eating out.

Among the least dynamic sectors, Confcommercio’s analysis highlights – despite modest recoveries over the last two years – clothing and footwear (+6.2 per cent), a consequence of demand being more focused on items of lower intrinsic value than in the past (so-called ‘fast fashion’), and the furniture and homewares sector (+5.9%). In terms of demand for traditional goods, therefore, there is a trend towards ‘household caution, driven primarily by the uncertainty characterising the current economic climate’.

As regards domestic energy, the 37.4 per cent fall is attributable to ‘more mindful consumption patterns, but also to the growing use of energy-saving products and systems’, which have led to a significant reduction in the volumes purchased over the last decade.

As regards the travel and holidays, transport services and catering (meals and refreshments consumed outside the home) sectors, these have been at the top of consumers’ preferences in recent years, partly thanks to the support provided by demand from abroad, but the strong recovery recorded following the sudden halt caused by the pandemic has not yet made up for the losses accumulated in 2020: the consumption index (base 100 in 1995) for these three sectors remains, in fact, below 2019 levels.

When analysing expenditure at current prices – and thus also taking into account the effect of price changes over the years in question – on the actual proportion of the annual budget that an average household must bear, a gradual increase in the share of expenditure on household consumption becomes apparent. This remains the main item of expenditure for households, rising from 25.8 per cent in 1995 to 28.9 per cent in 2026.

 According to Confcom’s forecasts, real per capita expenditure – following the decline recorded between 2007 and 2019 – has begun to recover gradually in recent years, ‘aided by rising employment’ – with the number of people in employment consistently above the 24 million mark – taking into account the post-Covid rebound, which, from its low in January 2021, has seen the number of people employed in the production process rise by over 2.2 million, with an ‘impact on incomes’.

Despite the significant uncertainties caused by the conflict in the Middle East and fears of a sharp economic slowdown, the Italian economic outlook has proved more favourable than expected. The Confcommercio Research Department estimates GDP growth of 0.9%, consumer spending growth of 1.2% and average inflation of 2.7% for 2026, whilst forecasting that the second half of the year will be less buoyant than the first.