Italy’s eCommerce in 2019 is still closing in on growth. Let’s see together how the sector has grown over the past year.
A turnover of 31.6 billion euros only for the B2C segment, +15% compared to 2018: online shopping is increasingly liked in Italy and not only during the holiday season or Black Friday. This is confirmed by data from the report “B2C eCommerce: the engine of growth and innovation in Retail“, by theB2C eCommerce Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic.
In Italy, the eCommerce sector seems to know no crisis, maintaining a very positive growth trend compared to the past.
The most active age group is undoubtedly those between 25 and 54, but surprisingly, the number of people over 65 who prefer the convenience of online shopping is also growing.
eCommerce 2019: what do Italians like to buy online?
From the hottest electronic device to the most exclusive piece of clothing: everything is now bought online. However, one identifies sectors that more than others historically drive the growth of the entire industry. This is undoubtedly the case with information technology and electronics as well as clothing. However, there are more and more emerging sectors ranging from furniture (+30 percent, 1.7 billion euros), food & grocery (+42 percent, 1.6 billion euros) and beauty (+27 percent, 568 million euros). Also always relevant are the figures involving the online purchase of toys (+18%, 602 million euros) and, of course, publishing (+8%, over 1 billion euros).
eCommerce in Italy: 2019 still shows a gap
Although the eCommerce sector in Italy is growing steadily, the gap with other countries is still quite significant. According to the report and various analyses from DESI, Italy is still stuck in 25th place out of 28 countries. Behind this lag, probably numerous reasons that we can trace, in part, also to our countrymen’s low ability to use digital tools. Poor skills but not only: in Italy, more than in many other European countries, the link with cash is still very strong and despite the great strides made in recent years to facilitate electronic payments, off-line purchasing is still perceived as safer.
eCommerce and Retail: the power of an omnichannel strategy
Affordable prices, wide assortment of products, effective promotions: if for some sectors eCommerce has marked a significant turning point, for others direct contact and the point-of-sale experience are still a determining factor. This is precisely the case in fashion where the in-store visit accounts for 18.4 percent of purchases.Large brands but also small and medium-sized companies are thus necessarily having to implement an omnichannel strategy that puts the consumer at the center.
It redesigns, de facto, the entire value chain and completely breaks down the barriers between online and offline.
If on eCommerce a 360-degree experience of the product is offered thanks to the contribution of new technologies and augmented reality, the point of sale becomes a place of discovery and relationship with the brand, so much so that people then choose to buy from the comfort of the APP or from mobile. In this context of economic but above all social change, companies are called upon to undergo a real transformation. Collecting and analyzing data, knowing their customers, anticipating their desires, become critical success factors that can only be brought into play through technological innovation, such as artificial intelligence. Success?
It is probably encapsulated behind a simple phrase “omnichannel customer experience“, strategies that put the customer at the center with an omnichannel approach.
