Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/29/2014 -- During 2013 grocery retailers Coop and Carrefour launched online retail channels, with a number of references concentrated in the non-food area. At the same time, retailers worked to revamp their store offer by creating shop-in-shops within stores fully dedicated to coloured homewares, which are extremely eye-catching, and are sold loose so that customers can pick only the pieces they need.

In order to differentiate the two channels, Coop's online offer is more upscale, whilst the store offer is more affordable, and aims to compete with discount stores, which are increasingly preferred by consumers thanks to their low price points.

Competitive Landscape

Ikea led homewares in Italy with a 13% value share in 2013. Ikea enjoys strong traffic in homewares despite the tough economic environment, thanks to the fact that consumers can find a wide variety of and inexpensive products that they can mix and match according to their personal taste and spending capacity. Ikea allocates large space to beverageware and dinnerware, as well as cutlery and all types of kitchen utensils.

View Full Report Details and Table of Contents

Industry Prospects

Going forward, ecommerce and online sales are expected to play a significantly more important role within homewares, especially when it comes to branded products. By contrast, entry level price points are expected to be increasingly found in bricks and mortar stores, including discounters.