B2C E-Commerce: Comparing the International and Italian Markets

One group of countries where e-commerce is undoubtedly more mature (South Korea, Japan, UK and USA) shows penetration rates of between 13% and 17% of total retail purchases, roughly four times more than Italy, and growth rates of between 10% and 15% compared with 2014, marginally lower than Italy. By contrast, emerging markets (Brazil, India and Russia), display e-commerce penetration rates ranging from 0.5% in India to 2% in Russia. The content of the typical online basket can indicate a sector’s maturity. Our analysis shows that in almost all major international markets, goods outweigh services in total e-commerce sales, whereas in Italy and Spain, services still figure strongly. The report analyses the major international markets, dividing them into two main groups: on one hand, the major European markets (UK, France, Germany and Spain), USA, and major Far Eastern markets (China, South Korea and Japan); on the other, the emerging markets (Brazil, Russia and India). For each of these markets, the report provides the total value of purchases, B2C e-commerce penetration rate, typical basket, supply-side characteristics and principal trends, and compares these with the Italian market.