Italy
A Boost Of Cashless Payment After The Pandemic
Population
Italy had an estimated population of 60,461,826 as of the middle of 2020, according to UN data. Based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest UN data, Italy had a population of 60,412,403 as of January 6, 2021, with 69.5% living in urban areas, mainly in Rome, Milan and Naples. The median age of the population is 47.3 years. Italy's online population grew to 47.7 million in 2019 from 37.1 million in 2018, according to the PPRO WECE Report.
E-commerce
The high levels of internet and smartphone penetration make Italy a well-established market for e-commerce. According to JPMorgan, the e-commerce industry has been buffeted by a struggling economy and high unemployment rates over the past decade. The average annual revenue per paying user increased to $1,510 by the end of 2020 from $1,377.54 in 2019, according to the PPRO WECE Report. Emarketer reported that retail e-commerce sales in Italy rose to €31.6 billion ($35.4 billion) in 2020 from €21.2 billion ($25.73 billion) in 2019. Most cross-border e-commerce purchases by Italians are of products from China, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Payment preferences
About 41% of Italian shoppers prefer to pay by card, followed by e-wallets, bank transfers, cash, and other payment methods. For cashless payments, the big players are Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, American Express and Klarna, while new players include CartaSi and PagoBancomat. According to JPMorgan, e-commerce payments in Italy are dominated by debit or credit cards, while digital wallets such as PayPal are becoming more popular.
Economy
The high levels of internet and smartphone penetration make Italy a well-established market for e-commerce. According to JPMorgan, the e-commerce industry has been buffeted by a struggling economy and high unemployment rates over the past decade. The average annual revenue per paying user increased to $1,510 by the end of 2020 from $1,377.54 in 2019, according to the PPRO WECE Report. Emarketer reported that retail e-commerce sales in Italy rose to €31.6 billion ($35.4 billion) in 2020 from €21.2 billion ($25.73 billion) in 2019. Most cross-border e-commerce purchases by Italians are of products from China, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Internet & mobile phone trends
According to Statista, 80% of the population aged 18-54 have internet access, while only 20% of those aged 65 years and older go online regularly. According to Datareportal, the country had 49.48 million internet users in January 2020, having increased by about 1.2 million (+2.2 percent) from 2019, bringing the internet penetration rate to 82%. Smartphone penetration meanwhile rose to 76% by the end of 2019 from 66% in 2018, according to the PPRO WECE Report.
Banking
According to data compiled by learnbonds.com, 47.74 million Italians had bank accounts in 2019, with a banking rate of 60.36% based on the country's current population. Meanwhile, only 42% of the population had debit or credit cards.