Italian consumers increasingly shop online

At the Forum Live event organised by Netcomm and TuttoFood, it emerged that the acceleration in e-commerce induced by the pandemic is continuing during the post-lockdown period as new purchasing habits become established. Food is one of the key segments, with 36% of e-shoppers continuing to do their supermarket shopping online (96.4% growth in FMCG sales).

E-commerce has fully lived up to its expectations and has continued to grow even after the lockdown period, winning over a large proportion of Italian consumers. These include even the most cautious target group who are normally reluctant to shop online. At the special edition of Netcomm Forum Live held on 7 October in collaboration with NetStyle and TUTTOFOOD Milano, it emerged that the frequency of purchases made by users increased by 79% during the post-lockdown period. Total business volumes over the last 12 months have shot up by 15.4%, including a 7% increase during the lockdown period when product demand grew by 10%. In this scenario, some e-commerce services saw a 10-fold increase in demand during the Covid lockdown period, resulting in logistics issues in 25% of cases, including a shortage of available products (26%) and inability to deliver goods (18% of cases).

Boom in e-grocery: online shopping becomes a habit

The food sector was one of the biggest drivers behind the growth and diffusion of e-commerce during the months of lockdown, as 17.2% of consumers made at least one online purchase and the market penetration of online food sales doubled. The report drawn up by IRI on behalf of Netcomm shows that while online sales in 2019 were skewed towards the personal care and petfood segments, 2020 saw a surge in online FMCG sales, with weekly growth rates remaining consistently above 50% and hitting peaks of 288% (the FMCG segment is still performing strongly with weekly growth of +96.4%).

During the post-lockdown period, online food shopping became a regular part of Italian consumer habits. 36% of users continued to shop online from supermarkets and customer satisfaction increased to 7.5 compared to 6.5 during the lockdown.

E-commerce accounted for more than 15% of total food sales during the lockdown period (compared to 8.3% in 2019) and subsequently fell to just under 13%. Home delivery remains the most popular option, followed by click & collect which was chosen by 18% of Italian consumers. Seen as quicker and more convenient than home deliveries, this solution has seen 349% growth with further expansion expected.

“The crisis has forced all food&grocery players to step up the pace of digital transformation,” said Roberto Liscia, Chairman of Netcomm. “All brands need to prepare to meet the new consumer needs and invest in digital exports and in developing relationships with new intermediaries. While neighbourhood shops will have to build up and strengthen their network of partners and digital operators in response to the new market demands, the major brands operating in the e-grocery segment will need to improve the services on offer and increase the loyalty of the new consumers they have acquired in recent months.”