Only a prolonged pandemic could have weakened demand for professional coffee machines, as worldwide out-of-home consumption of coffee had been on steady growth trend for the last 10 years in almost all the 16 regions covered by this global report. Lockdown measures and travel restrictions have severely impacted all customer segments, in particular hotels and restaurants, and the worldwide market declined in 2020 by ca. 20% in terms of new machines sold. Interconnection predicts that demand will resume soon and in the next 3 years the global market will grow by a yearly average of 5,6%.

Europe severely hit, but downfall experienced in all regions

In Europe all major markets (Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Nordics, Spain, and UK) lost combined 23,0% in quantity. Interconnection detected a slightly better performance in Germany and Nordics, while, at the same time, countries like Italy, Spain, and France suffered the most.

Outside Europe demand fell less on average, around 14%, but still high if compared with their performance of the last 5 years. For example, the Chinese market, which had been growing on an average around 30% in the last 3 years declined due to the COVID crisis, despite overperfoming with a fall of -3,3% in quantity. Other best performers have been East and South-East Asia, where coffee consumption is becoming more popular especially among younger generation.

Higher growth for collective/ event catering expected after the crisis

Rapid expansion of coffee houses has been observed especially in less mature markets where coffee consumption is clearly associated with a less traditional, more cosmopolitan lifestyle. A growing segment until the pandemic, collective and event catering lost more than 30% in 2020 because of home office and cancellation of indoor events. However, this segment will start regain market shares in the next 3 years.

Strong demand for touchless solutions and cloud computing

All product types have been negatively affected by the crisis, but fully automatic performed better than  semiautomatic and reached 49,8% quantity shares in 2020. Interconnection predicts that both groups will start to recover in the next 3 years and regain the lost ground with an average growth of 6,0% and 5,2% respectively. Average prices are on the rise and are expected to grow further mainly because of technological innovation, in particular, cloud computing, remote control and touchless solutions. Among the major global players, there are Cimbali, Evoca Group, Franke and WMF.

16/03/2021

Copyright: Interconnection, Publication free of charge for coverage regarding the study and InterConnection Consulting.