E-COMMERCE: GROWTH OF ONLINE SALES ONCE AGAIN AT DOUBLE DIGIT LEVELS THIS YEAR. ITALIAN COMPANIES MUST BECOME INCREASINGLY INTERNATIONAL

Casaleggio Associati’s report on the e-commerce sector in Italy is released in Milan and focuses specifically on the value of Italian e-commerce companies and online reputation

Milan, 16 April 2019 – Italians are becoming increasingly enamoured with online purchasing and this trend appears to be totally immune to the financial crisis given that, in 2018, 62% of this Country’s population, amounting to some 38 million people, made online purchases and forecasts indicate that the number of e-shoppers is set to rise to 41 million by 2023. Translated into Euros, this means a turnover of 41.5 billion for the entire B2C e-commerce market in 2018, or in other words, the consumer. This figure represents an 18% increase on the previous year.
Casaleggio Associati’s report entitled E-commerce in Italy 2019, released in Milan today, provides a snapshot of online commerce and its current state of health.

“The investigation leaves no room whatsoever for doubt – comments Davide Casaleggio. Online sales are growing at double-digit rates and an ever-increasing number of companies are choosing to invest in the Web due to the impressive growth prospects, especially as regards the mobile channel. Let’s consider the number of businesses currently recorded in the Register of Companies as online retail traders: we’re talking about 20,100 companies, 11.7% more than in 2017. Impressive numbers that send out a very clear message as regards investment strategies and which channels to focus on: in Italy, 85% of the Web population uses their smartphones to make purchases, a higher average than in other European Countries”.

Amongst the fastest growing sectors, the Leisure sector is top of the list with 41.3% turnover from e-commerce, followed by the Tourism sector (28%). Shopping Malls continue to grow and are now in third place with 14,5% of the total turnover and the Consumer Electronics sector, which continues to grow at +23%, represents 3.3% of total turnover. Also on the up are the Health sector (+23%), partly thanks to the proliferation of online pharmacies, and the Fashion sector (+18%). All of the growth forecast figures for 2019 are in positive territory: +40% for Shopping Malls, +29% for Home and Furnishings and +27% for Foodstuffs, just to name a few.
The evolution as presented by Casaleggio Associati is particularly detailed and also looks at purchasing trends: 80% of online consumers state that a customised shopping experience increases the likelihood of them purchasing items from one company rather than another, while 87% agree that the social media influences their purchasing behaviour and 53% pay for purchases by means of a digital wallet.
On the other hand, the social media also remains the preferred avenue for corporate investment which, according to 55% of the companies surveyed, is set to increase in 2019. Heading up the list of preferred social media channels is Facebook, deemed to be the most effective by 71% of the companies surveyed, followed by Instagram (53%) and YouTube (27%).
Customised advertising, share of relation, brand reputation and corporate values: these are the key words when it comes down to achieving success in a market that is increasingly digital, social and competitive, with an keen eye on not only the Italian business scenario, but also on the foreign scenario. The issue of internationalisation is particularly relevant: while the number of Italian companies investing abroad has declined by 5% when compared to 2017, 56% of those companies in fact sell their goods abroad. On the other hand, while it may well be true that the Asia-Pacific market leads the field with sales of 1.892 billion Dollars in 2018, it is also true that China remains the second largest destination market for global exports and the eighth-largest for Italian exports.

“So – concludes Davide Casaleggio – while Italy remains one of the markets with the greatest potential, in recent years the most attractive sectors have been all but dominated by foreign companies. Experiences such as that of Amazon in the electronics sector, Booking and Expedia in the Tourism sector and Zalando in the Retail Clothing sector have shown that selling online entails being able to exploit huge economies of scale that enable investment in services and acquisitions. What makes all the difference is funding, which can make a huge contribution towards ensuring that Italian e-commerce companies are able to expand internationally”.

Once again, as in the case of previous editions, this event has involved a number of high-profile partners, including Nexi, FonARCom and CIFA.
Sponsors include Flixbus, WebPerformance, Octoplus, Deliveroo, Binoocle Institute and, media partner Ninja.it
The next event is scheduled to be held in Rome on 8 May 2019. Registrations are already open and bookings can be made on the website at casaleggio.it/e-commerce

The full report can be downloaded using the following link: https://www.casaleggio.it/focus/rapporto-e-commerce-in-italia-2019