The health emergency that in recent years has affected Italy, together with the whole world, has had important repercussions on the way of buying, especially on electronic commerce.
The limitations on personal freedom, on all the lockdowns of 2020, have in fact prompted many people to buy on the Internet: even the skeptics, therefore, had to carry out their shopping online for the first time.
Although e-commerce was showing almost constant growth rates, the health emergency has further pushed online purchases, making these trends even more pronounced.
Although today the emergency seems to be overcome, at least in its most critical phase, and we can therefore go without problems to physical stores, many people have chosen to remain faithful to e-commerce, having experienced firsthand how much this is. formula knows how to be practical and convenient.
The most popular e-commerce sectors in 2020
But what were the e-commerce sectors that turned out to be the most popular in Italy in 2020, or in the most critical year from a pandemic point of view? To answer this question was Nomismaa strategic and business consulting company that has dedicated many studies to the changes that the health emergency has brought in consumer behavior.
1 – Information technology and electronics
Well, during 2020, Italians have mainly purchased articles of computer science and electronics: according to Nomisma, in fact, as many as 48% of Italians have purchased products of this type on the web.
This category, of course, is really huge from a product point of view: for example, it includes the purchase of notebooks, inevitable products in “tech” e-commerce such as ByTecno, as well as the purchase of smartphones, computer peripherals, small appliances, smart TVs and more.
2 – Clothing and footwear
The sector, on the other hand, ranks second in this special ranking clothing and footwear: Nomisma notes that 30% of Italians made purchases of this type during the year in question and this too, obviously, is an extremely broad and varied category.
3 – Medicines, parapharmaceuticals and supplements
In third place there is a category consisting of drugs, parapharmaceuticals and supplements: 24% of Italians would have made purchases of this type during 2020.
This category includes not only all medicines in the strict sense, but also the so-called parapharmaceuticals, therefore products typically supplied by pharmacies but in any case not definable as drugs (health items, sexual wellness products, sunscreens, skin care products and hair, etc.) and all food supplements, also products that do not properly fall into the category of drugs and therefore can also be purchased freely, without any need for a medical prescription.
4 – Home furnishings and accessories
Finally, in 2020, online purchases of home furnishings and accessories: in this case the percentage was, according to Nomisma, 20%.
This category not only embraces furniture, but also objects, design elements and anything else that can be useful to embellish a home on an aesthetic level.