The online food and grocery market in Italy reached a value of €1.6 billion in 2019, achieving a growth rate of 39% year-on-year, a new study has found.
However, this segment remains marginal in comparison with the overall Italian B2C e-commerce market, which is valued at €31.5 billion and posted 15% growth last year.
The study, by the B2C eCommerce Observatory at Milan Polytechnic and Italian e-commerce consortium Netcomm, showed that food alone accounts for 89% or €1.4 billion of the online food and grocery market, while health and personal care products account for the remaining €170 million.
Greater Reach
An estimated 68.5% of Italians now shop online, compared to 64% two years ago, the study found.
Significantly, 93% of Italian cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants are now covered by home delivery services (compared to 74% in 2017).
Embracing Digital
The latest Italian grocery retailers to embrace the e-commerce channel are Flor do Cafè, Nonna Isa and Unicoop Tirreno.
Naples-based Flor do Cafè has teamed up with digital grocery solutions provider ReStore to launch a new digital platform shop.flordocafe.it, as well as a dedicated app.
With the new platform, Flor do Cafè is serving the Neapolitan districts of Fuorigrotta/Bagnoli, Mergellina, Chiaia and Posillipo with e-commerce services. The cost of delivery is free for all orders over €50.
Sardinia-based supermarket chain Nonna Isa has also teamed up with ReStore to develop its online services, and following the success of a Nonna Isa e-commerce platform, the two partners have now introduced an online shopping app for mobile devices.
Elsewhere, regional cooperative Unicoop Tirreno has launched the e-commerce service Coop Online. Currently, some 11,000 non-food SKU related to home, leisure and technology are available and the offer will be gradually expanded.
Coop's online products are purchased on the web and can be picked up at the point of sale or delivered to a customer's home.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
