Record growth of e-commerce in Italy continues where, in the first six months of 2021, 5 out of 6 Italians make purchases on the web once a month, equal to 5% more digital buyers compared to 2020. According to the latest idealo survey that Adnkronos is able to anticipate, the Italian digital market is clearly “dominated by repeat buyers” who represent 61.1% of the sample, to which must be added the percentage of 23.9% which represents those who buy “at least once a week, or intensive buyers”. In addition, 15.0% of respondents said they shop online once every quarter or less, thus falling into the segment of sporadic digital shoppers.
One of the leading sectors of Italian e-commerce is electronics. According to what was found by the analysts of the platform, more than half of Italian digital consumers make a price comparison and buy an electronic product online and, based on the trend of purchase intentions (score from 0 to 100) registered on the Italian portal of idea it, in 2020 Electronics articles were the most sought after (score 100.0). They follow the Fashion & Accessories (44,9), Furniture & Garden (37.8), Sport & Outdoor (28.2), Health, Beauty & Grocery (27.9), Kids & Babies (17.3), Cars & Motorcycles (16.7), Toys & Gaming (15, 0), Food & Drinks (3.8) and Pet Products (1.5).
Going into more detail, the ten most searched online products in Italy in 2020 were: Smartphone (100.0), Sneakers (53.0), TVs (28.7), Smartwatches (23.2), Running Shoes (21.1), Notebooks (19.6), Game Consoles (15.8), Headphones (15.4), Tablets (15.4) and Refrigerators (14 , 1). In 2020, the products on which, by purchasing in the most convenient period, it was possible to save more in the space of a year were: Disinfectants (-49.7%), Tablets (-40.4%), Multifunction printers (- 32.2%), Notebook (-21.7%), TVs (-21.5%), Vacuum Cleaner (-21.3%), Smartwatch (-18.5%), Game Consoles (-16.8 %), Refrigerators (-16.4%) and Screwdrivers (-14.8%) 3.
2020 it was a very special year due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has upset, among many, also our digital and online shopping habits. Very interesting, for this reason, are the data relating to the growth of online interest for some categories on the Italian portal of idealo compared to 2019.
The macro categories with the increased online interest growth were: Furniture & Garden (+190,5%), Grocery & Health (+164,7%), Eat Drink (+ 159.2%), Products for animals (+ 116.5%), Electronics (+ 96.7%), Sport & Outdoor (+ 96.3%), Children & Babies (+ 91.5%), Toys & Gaming (+ 88.7%), Cars & Motorcycles (+ 83.6%), Health & Beauty (+ 80.8%) and Fashion & Accessories (+ 72.7%) 4.
Although in 2020 Italian digital consumers searched and compared mainly the prices of smartphones and products related to consumer electronics, the Covid-19 pandemic made ‘popular’ new products such as disinfectant gels.