Food is going well online: 9 million Italians buy food on the Internet

Technology is part of our daily lives, simplifying communication, work, entertainment, and even the way we eat and shop. In the last 12 months, in fact, according to Netcomm Focus Food & Tuttofood data, a third of Italian e-shoppers have bought food and beverages online, and 72% of orders with one-day delivery in the food sector are represented by home meals. In total, there are “only” 9 million Italians who buy food online, compared to 19 million in the United Kingdom, 18 million in Germany, 13.5 million in France and 10 million in Spain, which added to the numbers around the world reach 1.5 billion e-shoppers worldwide, for a total value of 58 billion euros, 14.9 billion of which in Europe, and 1.6 billion euros only in Italy.
The numbers, therefore, speak: in Italy, the food sector is the most dynamic sector in the digital commerce market, which has recorded the highest growth, equal to +42%, compared to the various sectors, compared to the increase in total e-commerce in 2019, equal to +15% compared to 2018. However, despite its dynamism, the online Food & Grocery still has a marginal incidence in Italy, equal to 5% of the total Italian e-commerce business to consumer, which is worth 31.6 billion euros. And most of the “success” of online food is due to the decisive development of Food Delivery, which also exploded thanks to the growth of coverage in medium-large towns. In recent years, players have invested to activate the service in new cities and to increase the available supply: today, in fact, 93% of Italian cities with a population of more than 50,000 inhabitants are covered by home delivery services (it was only 74% in 2017) and one inhabitant in two (47%) can order ready meals online (in 2017 the Food Delivery service was only accessible to a third of the Italian population).