Ecommerce Italy 2023

Ecommerce in Europe

Italy Ecommerce turnover in 2022 is estimated at EUR 75.89 billion, with an annual growth of 18.58%, even if for the first time in the history of Ecommerce most of the growth is due to price increase (+9.43% on average for the online sector with 15% peaks for Tourism). 2022 was a reality check year after two years of lockdown boost. Inflation and the economic crisis, largely derived from energy costs and the inflationary impact of the strong support measures during the pandemic, generated uneven growth within the various sectors, rewarding those who reacted and innovated their business models. In general, some sectors decreased their overall sales, but still managed to increase their turnover through higher prices. This was particularly true for physical product sectors such as Food, Home and Furniture, Consumer Electronics and Online Shopping Centres.

Revenues distribution in 2022

The impact of the lockdown has strongly affected the balance of power between sectors that are constantly changing. Leisure, which has been the most important sector for years, continues to be so and accounts for exactly half (50.07%) of the turnover. The positive impact is due in particular to the growth of online gaming, as well as purchases related to hobbies and sport. However, the sector is limited by the illegal market, which accounts for the same volume as the legal market. In this regard, there are over 10,000 sites that have been blacked out by the Monopolies Agency on which customers nevertheless continue to go via VPN because they can offer better odds without paying tax.

Online shopping centers remain in second place in the distribution of revenues, 19%, compared to 22% in the previous year. This is one of the sectors that felt the crisis the most and had zero growth over the previous year when it still benefited from the long tail of the lockdown.

Tourism is the sector with the highest growth, after two years it has managed to exceed the turnover of 2019 and has finally emerged from its supply crisis. Growth was 47% in 2022, one third of which was due to price increases. However, it has not yet managed to regain second place in the turnover breakdown, remaining at 13.26% of the total Ecommerce turnover. Tourism has also regained speed thanks to new targets such as rural areas and remoteworking tourism with long stays in low season to combine work and leisure.

Food, after gaining +63% in 2020, and +37% in 2021 is seeing a downturn in the sector with customers partly returning to buying in-store. In 2022 it grew by +5.5% which, however, pays for a price increase of 9.5% and thus a negative growth in real terms.
Insurance sector follows, which remained stable in terms of share (4.11% of the total) with an annual growth rate of 23% thanks to new embedded insurance services.

Consumer Electronics grew by 7% with 3.3% of total sales; followed by Fashion: stable at 2% of the total, but continuing its growth with +15.9% in 2022, half of which is due to price increase. As for Publishing, online sales grew by 10% and the sector dropped to 1.66% share.

Health and Beauty / Home and Furnishing close the ranking. These two sectors still weigh very little on the total, 1%. The former has had the highest growth (after Tourism) by 25%, decreasing from 38% of the previous year, while the latter has had a setback with growth (8%) below the price increase level (10%).

The year 2023 will see a continuation of the post-lockdown trend with strong growth by manufacturers at the expense of retailers. In fact, the highest growth in almost all consumer goods sectors is expected from manufacturers, which bodes for significant investments by these players.
One extra indicator of the fact that retailers will have to justify their role in the distribution chain even more. On average, an Italian Ecommerce site is expected to grow by 17.26% in terms of turnover by 2023. The largest growth is expected to be in the Leisure Time sector (+23%) after the reconfirmation of concessions for two years on online gaming, followed by Food and Fashion (+20%) and Health and Beauty (+19%). Home Office and Furnishings (+18%), Consumer Electronics (+12%), Online Shopping Centres (+10%) are expected to increase and finally, with more moderate growth, Publishing and Insurance (both +5%).

Among the main objectives of the digital strategy set by the companies surveyed for 2022 are: 72% to increase profit/turnover, which has risen sharply since last year (59%), 50% to acquire new customers, 45% to increase awareness (doubling last year’s 28%), 36% to retain current customers, 30% to gain market share over competitors, and 6% other objectives.
Turnover is still mainly derived from the website (40 per cent), however the percentage of other channels is rising significantly, in particular marketplaces (28 per cent) and social media (13 per cent). Mobile apps, especially for larger merchants, has also become an important asset and now accounts on average for 8% of turnover.