Ecommerce in Italy has doubled in four years

Ecommerce in Italy has experience a sustained period of growth and is increasingly an important part of the Italian economy. And that could be a spur for merchants to rexamine whether it’s a potentially profitable international marketplace. Obviously, eBay and Amazon operate marketplaces in Italy that are relatively easy to plug into.

The Italian online retail industry in now valued at €24 billion and totals 6% of the total retail industry there, according to Confcommercio. And the report notes that retailers need to best understand how they can effectively integrate their online and offline operations to prosper.

Online and offline commerce must be integrated. We need the same rules for everyone so they can compete on equal terms, the same rules and the same taxes.
– Carlo Sangalli, president of Confcommercio

The key sectors online in Italy are tourism (31%) and information technology and consumer electronics (22%) are the most popular with online shoppers. And they’re followed by books, music and films (11%). And, perhaps surprisingly, clothing only has a 5% share of online.

As Chris noted last week when he examined the European ecommerce industry and penetration rates by country, Italy obviously isn’t the biggest market but these new numbers show strong growth and a promising future. Italy certainly has a great deal of room for online growth: online share still remains relatively small in terms of total GDP compared to other EU nations.

Obviously Italy, alongside specifically southern European nations, has experienced a troubled economic outlook over the last decade. It is reported that 63k bricks and mortars shops have closed down there since 2008.

And it is perhaps a useful reminder that just because Amazon has a dedicated national marketplace, it doesn’t mean that it is potentially the most promising national EU marketplace to adopt in the first instance. Sweden and the Netherlands, where English is more widely spoken, may be the better prospects.