Italian pet holders go online more often

Pet care is the category that experienced the highest growth of all categories in Italian online trade between the end of February and middle of April. Sales of pet products increased in this period by 154 per cent, followed by grocery products (+130 per cent), home care products (+126 per cent) and personal care products (+93 per cent). This is the result of a survey of 280 brands from different business sectors, undertaken by the company Netcomm. The Italian newsletter operator Pet B2B wrote about the study in its issue of 11 May.
Netcomm points out that the long lockdown period in Italy during the coronavirus pandemic was the main reason for this dramatic change in consumer habits in Italy. The company expects that the growing trend among shoppers towards buying goods online will continue in the next few months.
Since the start of this year, the number of Italians shopping online has increased by two million, as compared with 700 000 the same period in 2019, according to Netcomm. Click & collect has experienced the highest growth with an increase of 349 per cent. A tool that has just launched in Italy, but might have good prospects in the in the forthcoming months, is Proximity Commerce, which ensures cooperation between big e-commerce companies and small bricks-and-mortar retailers.