Do we give up so much that no one buys real oil or do we change strategy because so many can buy it? A hilarious, funny, ironic and unconventional analysis by Maurizio Pescari
Sometimes, in the continuous search for the 'main road', the one useful for designing a real future for quality extra virgin olive oil, I stop before a question: but who buys good oil?
Alberto Grimelli's analysis last week ( read here ) has shown the real terms of the purchase in hand and that it is not a question of 'portfolio', but of 'head' and I add, of 'habit '. But then, if those who don't have the money don't buy because they can't and those who have the money don't buy because they don't know, or don't want, this blessed real oil, who buys it? Who are these scoundrels who go to the oil mill and decide to spend 10 euros for a liter of real oil or, for the same price, get a half-liter bottle from an oil shop or delicatessen?
I'll give it to you Africa
A little story comes to mind that a marketing master told me and that I want to share here:
An Italian footwear company, eager to develop its market, decided to send two of its salespeople to an African country (not the advanced one of today, but the poor one, which we still imagine...). After a few days one of the salesmen calls the company and disheartenedly says: "I'm going home, no one wears shoes here, there's no point wasting time". The following day, the other salesman calls the company, but the tone is different: "Everybody come here, no one has shoes...".
You may say, but what does oil have to do with it? It definitely has something to do with it! Beyond the clear demonstration that it is the seller's 'head' that makes the difference and not the product, putting real oil instead of shoes helps to clarify things a little.
Data, not words
If it is true that the Italian oil market is 3% of quality extra virgin olive oil and that oils with Designation of Origin occupy 2.7% of that 3% (... nothing), that 97% that buy oil for less than five euros per liter (70% of which is on promotion in supermarkets), it is not difficult to compare them to those in Africa who don't have shoes. What do we do then? Do we give up because no one buys real oil, or do we change strategy because so many can buy it?
Let's do the math, a family that dedicates time and money to its diet should consume a bottle of good oil a week. 52 weeks, 52 bottles. But who are the people who pay attention to nutrition, to the point of paying for the quality they bring to the table?
Who buys the oil?
While respecting the exceptions, don't you think that we, journalists in the sector, buy the real oil? I too, thanks to the generosity of the producers, always have a well-stocked pantry. Or the 'amateur' bloggers, those so to speak who call and say: "If you send me six bottles I'll write you an article...". Or the experts? Those who teach, who distribute knowledge and flavors? Or nutritional doctors? Or the thousands of members of the many gastronomic associations that populate the Bel Paese, those of the academies, the brotherhoods, the tasters of this or that? The teachers of..., the students of..., those I ate from...; in short, all that plethora of generalist experts on whose table there is always pasta from "X", meat from "Y", wine from "Z". How can you expect a sommelier to buy wine in a wine shop? Have you ever seen it? All logically, with the necessary exceptions...
I do it but I don't buy it
And then, don't you think that the producers buy the good oil? Have you ever seen an oil producer buy another's oil? No. The other is a competitor, not a misfortune companion... They, the producers, in the vast majority of cases, know - unfortunately - only their own oil and remain locked in it. Only the most advanced companies, producers with no ties to the past, grow because they have understood that to grow they need to understand what others are doing.
Well, if all of these purchased 50 bottles of oil a year, the problem would be solved. But no, the problem exists and fortunately there are Italian consumers (2.7%) and foreign ones who have a different approach to quality and the price of quality.
A strange country
What a strange country we have. Even those who tell or write to others to buy it don't buy real oil... Such a strange world where - just to throw it into politics - only those who are in the opposition know how to do the right things..., who as opposition however cannot do them, but that they won't do them even when they are the 'majority' and have the opposition to indicate them...
You think: “Did this guy drink…?”. No, I haven't drunk for twenty days and I put the best oils on rice, salad and tomatoes. Is this why?
Welcome back and good work…
