(Tiper Stock Exchange) – The value network of e-commerce and digital retail in Italy is worth 71 billion euros and ranks first among the 99 Italian economic activities by incidence on the total turnover of the private sector, now coming to account for 40.6% of the growth in turnover of the total Italian economic activities in the private sector in the five-year period 2016-2020. This is what emerges from a study conducted by Netcomm in collaboration with The European House – Ambrosetti.
It is estimated that in 2021 the growth of the activities of this supply chain will be +4.4% compared to 2020, reaching almost 71 billion euros of total turnover at national level (it was almost 68 billion euros in 2020, with a 20% increase compared to the pre-pandemic year).
The value network of e-commerce and digital retail is divided into two macro-aggregates: le online sales (which in addition to marketplaces and retailers wholly or partially active on the online channel also includes advertising platforms, integrated services for web presence and customer care activities) and services to support e-commerce activitiesincluding logistics, packaging and payment systems.
“In the light of the results of this study, we can only decree once and for all the end of the conception of e-commerce as a simple trend – he commented Robert SmoothPresident of Netcomm – The digital commerce value network is much more: we are talking about one concrete and tangible supply chain which makes our economy grow more than all the other 98 economic activities taken into consideration and which concerns 723,000 companies”.
The study also shows that the economic multiplier of the e-commerce and digital retail chain is equal to 2.48: this means that for every 100 euros invested in the extended e-commerce and digital retail chain in Italy, a further 148 are generated in the rest of the economy . The multiplier in is also positive in terms of impact employment terms: for every 100 work units generated directly by e-commerce and digital retail activities, a further 141 work units are activated.
“The survey conducted among Italian companies indicates that e-commerce is recognized as a priority channel for growth of the business, with growing investments that will be directed towards digital marketing and digital exports – he said Lorenzo Tavazzihead of the Scenarios and Intelligence Area of The European House – Ambrosetti – In addition to being a great opportunity for the internationalization of Made in Italy productions, the sector also represents an opportunity for the creation of value for Italy”.
TO geographical levelthe companies that work in this supply chain are evenly distributed throughout Italy, but more than half of the turnover comes from Northwest (51.1%, with an important contribution offered by Lombardy). Among the sub-sectors, the driving role exercised by the logisticswhich experienced a recovery phase during the pandemic, whose growth (CAGR) stands at +13.7% on average per year in terms of turnover.
As for the future investments, for the companies involved in the survey, the main areas in which investments will have to be made are those connected to the world of online sales. In the first place the investment in digital marketing, first entry for both the B2B channel (38.5% of the panel) and the B2C channel (23.9% of the panel). Investments for the improvement of the environment follow in second place user experience, in particular the e-commerce site (23.1% of the B2B panel, 22.9% for the B2C). In third place is the increase in presence on marketplace for B2B (15.4%), while for B2C companies the increase of team dedicated to the e-commerce channel (22.2%).
(Photo: Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash)