Italy

It was a very merry Christmas for the Italian ecommerce sector. The online retail turnover during the holiday season achieved a new record. Netcomm, the consortium of Italian ecommerce, previously predicted online purchases would be worth 2.5 billion euros during this period, but instead it reach 3 billion euros, which is an annual increase of 28 percent.

Online furniture store Home24 will launch a shop in Italy. This marks the seventh shop in Europe and is already the third one this year. Together with this expansion news, Home24 also presented its half-year figures for the first half of 2014. Things look well for the online furniture shop.

Italian online fashion retailer Yoox said it may encounter problems trying to meet analyst expectations for an 18% increase in full-year revenues after its sales grew by 'only' 15% during the first nine months. The Italian ecommerce company posted sales of 366 million euros during the first three quarters of this years.

When you think about products that are made in Italy, at first you will probably think of brands like Gucci, Ferrari, Versace and Prada. But there's much, much more. That's why a new ecommerce site has launched. Storytalia wants to promote quality goods from selected brands, so its visitors get to know "the unexpected made in Italy".

Shinola has opened its ecommerce website for visitors from Europe. Now people from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom can order the Detroit-built watches, bicycles, journals, leather goods and shoe polish online. The expansion is a response to the growing international demand for the brand.

UPS has announced the expansion of UPS My Choice and the UPS Access Point network to 15 additional countries, including 12 in Europe. With these two services, online shoppers and global retailers have new personalized solutions to manage residential package deliveries.

Every country has its own habits, rules and traditions. In Italy this is no different. When you have an ecommerce company in this Southern European country or when you want to start one, there are some things you should know. About Italian consumers, their habits, their preferred payment methods and their ideal delivery solutions. We have these tips!

Just Eat has shown some pretty big growth during the first half six months of this year. Its revenue grew by almost sixty percent compared to the same period last year, while its profit went up almost 600% in the past six months. But not all is positive for the UK-headquartered company, as revenue in Belgium and the Netherlands declined.

The self-appointed ‘biggest online music store in The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg’ is planning to spread throughout more countries in Europe. Earlier this year Bax-shop already launched online stores in France (Bax-shop.fr) and Germany (Bax-shop.de). Sweden, Italy, UK and Spain are on the list for next year.

Redesigning the site have proved to be effective for Yoox Group, as it saw an 18% increase in conversions and a 3% lower bounce rate than the old site just weeks after launch. And to top it all off, the Italian online retailer that also operates ecommerce sites for other brands, reported 15% revenue growth in the first half of this year.

Allyouneed.com is expanding its services in Europe. The German online grocery retailer already delivered foods and drinks in Austria, but is now ready for the next step. Allyouneed.com will deliver to customers in France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

Staples has drastically improved the ecommerce experience on their key websites in Europe, including Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. This got combined with a refreshed look and feel of the online storefronts. With the update, omni-channel shopping must be easier for Staples' customers.

Facebook is a very popular social network amongst European online retailers. Except for the United Kingdom, where online retailers are more active on Twitter. But Twitter is however still less popular in the UK than in other countries like Germany or Spain. These two countries have the most social media savvy online retailers, as 90% of them are on Facebook and 80% are on Twitter.

Since 2010, the ecommerce industry in Italy is experiencing a double-digit growth every year. This year it will probably grow by 17%, so the ecommerce industry in Italy will be worth 13.2 billion euros. Another thing that's growing very hard is mobile commerce. In two years it grew from 164 million to 1.2 billion euros.

Amazon has expanded its distribution centre in Italy. In Castel San Giovanni, placed in the province of Piacenza, one of Europe's most innovative distribution centers arises. It's 70,000 square meters big and by opening this new distribution center there will be about 1,000 new jobs.