What you need to know
Boosted by a strong pick-up in consumer spending on electricals in 2015 the Italian electricals retail market is showing the first real signs of recovery after a period of contraction. Electrical goods deflation, which has crippled retailers’ margins in recent years, is easing as consumers show an increased willingness to buy electricals after pulling back on the category during the recession. Collectively the specialist electricals retailers remain the dominant sales channel, but online non-specialist Amazon is now the single most popular retailer used for electrical goods purchasing. Consumers’ satisfaction with quality and price of electrical goods is tempered by dissatisfaction with customer service and product demonstration.
Areas covered in this report
This report covers the electrical goods market in Italy, with a focus on electrical specialists including high street and out-of-town operators. The report does not cover in detail non-specialists, such as department stores and hypermarkets, although these are covered briefly in the Channels of Distribution section and also in our consumer research.
The report combines analysis of the market in Italy, including market sizes, specialists’ sales and forecasts, along with our in-depth consumer data, which analyses shoppers’ behaviour.
For the purpose of this report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
Consumer spending: The total amount spent by Italian households (including sales tax) on:
Appliances
Audio-visual, photo and information devices and accessories
Phones and other devices used to communicate
Retail sales: total sales of all types of goods and services (excluding sales tax) via stores and directly to the consumer by specialist retailers of electrical items. It includes online sales of these retailers where the majority of sales are in bricks and mortar outlets.
The Channels of Distribution section provides Mintel estimates of the proportions of spending on electrical items via other channels, including the grocers, mixed goods retailers and non-store retailers.
