Report Ecommerce Italy 2023

2022 was the year of the reality check for retailers and manufacturers who had to go back to playing by the rules of the market without the boost (and in some cases the obstacle) of lockdown.
The real novelty was the inflation that Italian Ecommerce had not yet experienced in its entire life. On the one hand, it affected purchases due to increased prices, uncertainty caused by the energy crisis, the ongoing war and the soaring costs of transport from
Asia; on the other hand, it allowed sectors such as Consumer Electronics, Food and Home and Furnishing, which decreased
sales in absolute terms, to increase their year-end turnover anyway.
Operators have nevertheless taken the opportunity to reorganise production and make discounts less structural, and also expect double-digit growth of 17.26% on average for 2023.
Growth will travel through differentiated channels because on the one hand, operators who can still finance growth at a loss are fewer and fewer given the ECB’s rate increase, and on the other hand financially sustainable growth is often not enough to keep up with foreign operators entering Italy.
The transport crisis from China has made many operators think about moving production closer to Europe, but Asian manufacturers are already structured to compete directly with manufacturers and retailers who outsource production to them. In 2023 these giants will start selling directly to final customers via marketplaces such as Amazon, following the example of Shein, which has already surpassed multinationals such as Zara and H&M in terms of notoriety and in some cases turnover by focusing everything on the speed of production and daily renewal of the catalogue.
Competition will also come from Europe, as trail transport will be further liberalised.
To defend against these phenomena, Italian retailers will have to strengthen their relationship with the final customer.
The relationship with the final customer, however, could be intermediated directly by artificial intelligence objects that will most likely forever change Ecommerce as we have known it until now.