The share of the population aged six years and older using internet in Italy reached over 70 percent in 2019. As a result, this led to an increase in the number of e-commerce users, which are expected to reach roughly 40 million by 2024. The pandemic encouraged the increase in e-commerce usage even further. Italian online shoppers spent the most online in the 2020, when the peak in average spend per visit was registered. However, Italy lags behind compared to its European neighbors. In the United Kingdom, for example, the share of individuals aged between 16 and 75 years old shopping online reached 87 percent in 2019, compared to 38 percent in Italy. Online expenditure in Italy is also lower. In 2020, annual per capita online spending amounted to 674 euros, compared to 1,020 euros in the UK.
Desktop computers are no longer the preferred devices for online shopping in Italy. Mobile devices have caught up fast, as online purchases via smartphone increased by 58 percent in recent years. Moreover, mobile e-commerce accounted for 51 percent of the total online purchases in Italy in 2020.
When shopping online, Italians prefer paying by credit card. This preference has been consolidating recently, alongside an increase in popularity of digital wallets such as PayPal, Google Pay and Amazon Pay. Despite the wider offer of digital wallet services provided in recent years, PayPal, which was one of the earliest players in this segment, dominates the online payments market in Italy, with a share of 65 percent.
