This is the title of the latest event curated by the B2c Observatory & School of Management of Milan’s Politecnico and Netcomm. Event of which Milkman was a research sponsor.
Focusing on the logistical side of the conference a good deal of data has been offered. I’ll summarize them in the hope they might be interesting for non-Italian operators too. Numbers mainly come from Valentina Pontiggia’s (Director, B2c Observatory) and Carmen Cureo’s (Strategic Marketing Director, DPD) speeches.
Overall value of eCommerce purchases in Italy is up 15% from 2017, touching €27.19 mln. A little less than the 16% growth registered between 2016 and 2017.
Products keep winning over Services, growing by 25% against a paltry 6%. eCommerce penetration is still limited at 6.5%. Informatics, electronics and apparel dominate by far over the other sectors.
“Logistics is a critical area and a strong competitive differentiator against your competition”.
eCommerce flows are focused on the North of the Country, where 57% of the total is spent. Of course, big metropolitan areas are the main catalysts for online purchases.
Home delivery is by far Italy’s preferred service, with 86%, followed by a slim 8% of in-store pick-ups.
Only 16% if Italy’s top retailer do same-day delivery. 36% can deliver on a specified day. 48% still haven’t implemented any added-value service to meet the growing needs of online shoppers: “standard” delivery dominates, even if it’s clearly an endangered species.
Among the “hot” trends we find: real-time tracking, simplified returns, adoption of pick-up points, ultra-fast and on demand deliveries.
DPD – How is eCommerce Evolving in Europe?
The research brought by DPD and built upon interviews made in July of 2017 show a Nation firmly in the hands of heavy shoppers, with a wide gap between them and casual shoppers. An Italian heavy shopper buys an average of 30 items per year, against the 47 bought by a Briton. More than the 21 and 23 bought by French and Germans, both Nations were the divide is much less pronounced.
Italy is first in Europe for mobile eCommerce percentage, with 48% and first for Site loyalty.
Among the services that would push shoppers to buy more willingly on a site we find: next-day deliveries, real-time info on tracking and the ability to re-schedule deliveries. In the fourth place: notifications and one-hour time slots. Fifth: diversity of offered options. Sixth: same-day deliveries. All features that Milkman proudly offers since its debut.
79% of Italians would choose a retailer who offers a choice of day and time of delivery over one who doesn’t.
Get acquainted with our Blog or subscribe for the newsletter
