E-commerce, Italians are a people of online sellers

According to an Ipsos research, Italians are e-commerce wizards with 135 euros obtained on average from the online sale of second-hand objects

The Italian economy is in crisis, this is certainly not news. Yet there is a sector that, despite not yet being at the levels of many other European countries, is growing strongly. We are talking about online commerce, which in recent years has increased by 20%. A market that is worth, according to some data, 20 billion euros.

Growth that is also demonstrated by a research carried out on an international basis by Ipsos on behalf of eBay, the most popular buying and selling platform among users. According to the data that emerged from the study, the Italians have no rivals as regards the online sale of used objects. Or rather, we are much better at raking in a few euros more than the citizens of Spain and France. In absolute terms, however, our European cousins beat us. Of the people surveyed, 57% of the French said they had used some site to place second-hand items, the percentage drops to 45% for the Spanish, while we Italians are stuck at 35%.

Good at earning more

Despite these low percentages, we are a people of good hope. Almost half of the interviewees intend to use online commerce in the future. However, the aspect that distinguishes us and that puts us in first place is the gain. According to the results of the eBay survey, we earn an average of 135 euros from selling used items. In second place are our Iberian colleagues with 124 euros. Closing the ranking are the French sellers, who normally manage to get only 110 euros. However low, these data are important as they provide a cross-section on the habits of Italian consumers, in the past not very inclined to buy and sell online, as shown by numerous researches.

The survey is important also for another data: the computer security. Asked what are the elements that guide them in the choice of the e-commerce site where to sell their items, Italians put in first place the security of payments, followed by the ease of use and the popularity of the site.

If Italian e-commerce grows, it is also thanks to the digital transformation initiated by small and medium-sized companies, which are investing more and more in hi-tech, as Italiaonline tells Italian entrepreneurs in the Digital Business Tour, a path that aims to illustrate to SMEs the opportunities offered by new technologies.