Amazon is considering launching a food delivery service in Italy, according to reports in local dailies Milano Finanza and Corriere della Sera.
The Italian e-commerce sector is worth an estimated €15 billion (estimated by the Milan Polytechnic), with food and wine segments having one of the highest growth potential, registering a 30% growth rate.
However, according to sources from the Italian food retail sector, Amazon must first solve the issue of fixed prices, offering products with the same price nationwide, as prices in the food retail sector vary throughout Italy.
The delivery costs would be covered by the retailers themselves and Amazon is, allegedly, close to signing agreements with two provincial and one national food retailer.
The e-commerce giant would enter a still embryonic and fragmented market segment, as the contribution of grocery shopping to total e-commerce sales is only around 1%.
Active players in the online channel include Esselunga (with 10,000 fresh and packaged products); Coop (with a non-food offer); Carrefour (120 pick-up points); Eataly (in partnership with Amazon in the US; Auchan (pick-up of products without getting out of the car) and start-up Supermercato 24 (offering home delivery of most brand products in 58 provinces).
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic
