LA SFIDA DELL'E-COMMERCE: INVESTIRE CON I GIUSTI PARTNER PER CRESCERE

CONNECTING THE DOTS: THE EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF SHOPPING, E-COMMERCE AND GLOBALIZATION

Online shopping is a rapidly evolving world. The debate was already underway before 2020, but the pandemic from COVID19 gave an unexpected acceleration to the world of eCommerce, and to the Italian one in particular.

In 2020, during the lockdown, 3 million new customers approached online purchases and in 2021, during the first quarter, the increase in eCommerce in Italy recorded a + 78%, "the fourth country with the highest percentage increase after Canada, the Netherlands and the UK".

This revolution had a significant impact, especially on small and medium-sized Italian companies, which were not ready and, for a moment, they feared to suffer the changes and lose the role of market’s protagonists.

But let us step back: thinking about online and offline, is fundamental to avoid simplifications and keep in mind an important element: online sales are not devouring offline ones. On the contrary, a survey of independent stores tells us that selling online also leads to an increase in sales in physical stores, giving a boost to the affluence in stores.

Rather, we are witnessing the stratification of different situations: the emergence of new delivery methods, including the Out of Home and Click and collect, the trends of social trade and sustainable retail, the topic of returns, today launch new challenges to retailers, large and small.

So how to answer? Davide Casaleggio, president of Casaleggio Associati, provides an interesting reply by presenting the report "ecommerce Italia 2023: without innovation, there is no growth", realized thanks to the contribution of many companies and that will take care of the current situation of online shopping in our country: "In 2022, the boost effect of lockdown on eCommerce ended and operators faced a new obstacle: inflation. From the analysis it has emerged that who has grown last year has innovated the service or directly the model of business. Conversely, those who have stayed still in investments have lost market share."

INVEST OR NOT TO INVEST? AND HOW?

Maybe it’s time to introduce another concept: Digital customer experience, a rather large container capable of embracing everything related to the online buyer’s experience and that can influence brand loyalty and propensity to buy, today and in the future.

In other words, we could define it as the set of digital elements that impact the actions that every consumer performs from the moment he or she is interested in a product/service until he or she decides to need it, completing the purchase.

In practice, what influences the Digital customer experience? Undoubtedly many elements, including a timely control of the product catalogue, package management, its traceability.

And here is the answer to our question "where to invest to grow?": invest in the Digital customer experience, which means optimizing all those hidden processes that the buyer does not immediately realize but that are essential for his experience to be fluid, easy, smoothly.

Now perhaps it is easier to understand why not all small and medium-sized Italian companies were ready, in 2020, to make the leap in the world of eCommerce.

WITH THE RIGHT PARTNER EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

All of the above demonstrate why it is so important to choose a partner able to simplify the process for those small and medium-sized company whose keyword is optimization.

Sendcloud is the end-to-end shipping platform for e-commerce businesses. The platform enables retailers, marketplaces, and fulfilment companies to scale their shipping operations and deliver exceptional shipping experiences by connecting to several couriers such as InPost who specializes in out of home and customer experience.

Connecting to InPost via Sendcloud is quick and easy. Create shipping labels and automate process management in just a few clicks. Additionally when shipping with InPost Italia through its integration there are many advantages

• Domestic Shipping in Italy is fast and intuitive, with just a few clicks
• convenience: a network of more then 5000 InPost Points available throughout Italy at your disposal.
• fast and punctual, the estimated delivery time is 2 working days
• clear and timely tracking information

The future is already here, and choosing the best partner team can allow every Brand not to be caught unprepared by the news and changes.