In 2022, online purchases are worth 48.1 billion euros in Italy (+20% compared to 2021). The market trend is the result of two different dynamics. Product purchases continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace (+8%) than last year (+18%) and reach 33.2 billion euros. Service purchases, on the other hand, complete the recovery path (+59%) and reach 14.9 billion euros. Thanks to the growth of the Tourism and Transport sector (especially in the summer months), the losses generated during the health emergency are compensated. Beyond these changes in balance between online and offline, the space of "physical only" retail as well as "online only" is progressively reduced, to the advantage of models capable of combining the strengths of both alternatives. On the one hand, retailers rethink the store from an omnichannel perspective among digital kiosks in stores to enable the online purchase of items not available on the shelf, sales points performing as warehouses for the fulfillment of eCommerce orders and Click & Collect formulas at the warehouses originally dedicated only to eCommerce. On the other hand, dot com companies are increasingly approaching the offline world both through experimental projects, such as pop-up stores in shops or in strategic nodes in cities, and through more structured investments in the physical network (for example, flagship stores).
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