- Contents
- *Overview
- What you need to know
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Areas covered in this Report
What you need to know
The Italian online retailing sector is growing rapidly – we estimate by around one fifth in 2019 – but it has a lot of catching up to do, due to below average levels of internet access and a culture of shopping in smaller, local stores which tend not to trade online. However, the COVID-19 outbreak seems to have accelerated adoption of online shopping, so the challenge now is for retailers to retain their custom and give them a reason to continue shopping online.
Our research for this report shows that the market is dominated by Amazon, which has achieved 94% penetration of Italian internet users and it is hard to see this changing in the medium- to long-term. In the short term, we feel it will have been one of the prime beneficiaries of the COVID lockdown, due to its focus on non-foods, given the closure of non-essential stores.
Free delivery, low prices and a broad product range are what Italian consumers attach most importance to when shopping online, all features where Amazon ticks the box. For store-based retailers to compete more effectively with Amazon, they will need to differentiate their offer more clearly with superior levels of service and by leveraging their specialism, which Amazon as a generalist finds it hard to do.
Key issues covered in this Report
The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour and the online retail market
How the market will fare in the post-COVID-19 slowdown
What people buy online
The performance of the major online retailers in 2019
Online shopping behaviours and what consumers look for in online retailers.
Areas covered in this Report
This report is designed to give an overview of the Italian online retail market. This includes a look at the market including forecasts for future developments, in-depth consumer analysis using our own data and a section on the key players in the market including our company profiles.
For our consumer research this year we asked questions on the following topics:
Which products consumers have bought online in the last 12 months
Frequency of shopping online
The retailers used for online shopping in the last 12 months.
Attitudes to different features of shopping online.
