This 2024 will be the year when artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning will consecrate their role as drivers for innovation and growth, also in the eCommerce field…and it could not be otherwise. This is the picture that emerges from the latest report “Ecommerce Italy 2024” recently presented by Casaleggio Associati. But what is the context in which we are moving?
- eCommerce in Italy: between growth and new opportunities
- Artificial intelligence and Big Data: innovation at 360 degrees
- Retail Media: the future of advertising?
- Between personalization and data enhancement: why Blendee?
eCommerce in Italy: between growth and new opportunities
According to the most recent published data, there are more than 51 million Internet users in Italy, 83 percent of whom are also active on social channels, which prove to be particularly popular with Internet users in our country.
Mobile device usage is growing in 2023, compared to 2022, with more than 81 million connections and a penetration of 138.7 percent. More connections, but also more time spent on mobile devices reaching 50.8 percent of total time spent online.
But what are the main activities carried out online? Still referring to the data in the Casaleggio Associati report, 44.9% of users say they use the web to search for products and brands. Searching for information, but not only that: the data on users who choose to buy online also become significant, as many as 442 thousand more than in 2022.
The number of users choosing to buy online is growing, and in parallel so is the turnover of the entire industry, whose estimated annual growth is around 27 percent, with a value of 80.55 billion euros.
Protagonists of this positive trend are marketplaces (+55%), followed by players in the world of travel and tourism (+42%) and petcare (+37%). Slight setback, also due to the increase in inflation, on the other hand for the electronics sector (-3.5%) and, jewelry, whose decrease is mainly measured in terms of items sold.
After the boom related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the eCommerce industry continues its growth in a more structured way and is preparing to seize all the new opportunities related to the digital evolution.
Artificial intelligence and Big Data: innovation at 360 degrees
Among the various ecommerce trends identified as driving eCommerce growth in Casaleggio Associati’s report, we chose to focus more on what concerns the use of artificial intelligence and big data.
As has already happened in many other industries, the use of artificial intelligence algorithms to support data-driven strategies and business models is positively impacting the eCommerce world as well and affecting different players across the board, from logistics and supply chain management to communication activities and marketing campaigns.
But let’s take a closer look at this phenomenon.
The data released in the report shows that companies (part of the surveyed sample) that have already chosen to adopt AI-based solutions have done so in support of activities such as content creation (think GPT Chat deployment), data analysis, advertising campaign automation and customer care service. Only 10 percent say they use AI-based solutions for customer journey personalization.
Strategies and activities related to the use of models and solutions based on big data and artificial intelligence in the coming years will certainly have a considerable impact not only on consumer behavior but on everything that brands and marchers can deploy to enhance and improve the shopping experience.
In this regard, a significant figure comes from the overseas market where, according to Coresight Research’s report, “Immersive Experiences in Retail: Driving Sales Through Enhanced Shopper Engagement“, in 2023, more than 71 percent of brands have chosen to use AI for personalizing the online and in-store shopping experience.
Retail Media: the future of advertising?
Another interesting ecommerce trend that emerges from the Casaleggio Associati report concerns the world of advertising and in particular the phenomenon of retail media. With a growing increase in investment and a market share in Europe that as of today stands at around 9 percent, retail media represents an advertising model that is absolutely not to be overlooked and that potentially affects many ecommerce players.
The term “retail media” refers, in fact, to a model that involves collaboration between actual retailers (think, for example, of eCommerce retailers of large-scale retail chains) and advertisers and brands that, usually sell through such retail.
In the era of the deprecation of third-party cookies, as we can well understand, this is a very interesting advertising model that offers visibility to the brand within the APP or shop of the retailer itself, but above all it allows the latter to reach through its own campaigns highly profiled and performing audiences thanks precisely to the first-party data of the retailer itself.
If we shift our gaze overseas, retail media is already well established: as early as 2022 Amazon had generated more than $37 billion through the sale of advertising space globally.
Amazon aside, many other chains such as Walmart and Target have realized the value of their customers’ data and the importance of turning it into a strategic asset, activating data collaboration and data monetization strategies for targeted and measurable business analysis and advertising campaigns, always with full respect for their customers’ privacy.
In Italy, retail media still seems to be a missed opportunity and there are still few realities that have realized its potential.
Between personalization and data enhancement: why Blendee?
Personalization of customer experience, retail media: the marketing and advertising world is increasingly focusing on the centrality of data as a strategic resource, and while, still in many respects brands and companies lack awareness and a clear vision, the tech world is moving to support data-driven strategies and business models.
Blendee is definitely a forerunner in the Italian landscape in this aspect: the first end-to-end solution able to enable theorchestration of a user’s entire customer journey, from the first purchase on paid channels to online and offline retention activities, it not only offers engines and APPs for a complete customization of a user’s browsing and purchasing experience, but also enables the deployment of data collaboration and data monetization to harness the full value and potential of data.
