Amazon, which had struggled to gain a foothold in Italy, benefited from a shift to online shopping during pandemic lockdown as 75% of Italians shopped online
New York Times
Context & Ripple Effects
Amazon entered the pandemic as a laggard in Italy, unable to win Italian shoppers on its own. Lockdown changed that overnight: with 75% of Italians shopping online, the company got the customer acquisition it had failed to engineer for years. The move came at the peak of the pandemic e-commerce rally, when analysts were betting earnings would confirm a permanently shifted consumer.
What makes this worth revisiting is the arc since: by spring 2022, US data showed e-commerce's share of retail reverting almost fully to pre-pandemic levels as in-store sales recovered. The Italian story is now a test case for which lockdown-forced habits actually stuck.
First-order effects
Amazon converts a market where it had struggled into one where three-quarters of consumers have used e-commerce during lockdown, giving it a customer base it never earned organically.
Second-order effects
Italian retail incumbents face customers who learned to buy online from Amazon rather than from them, forcing local merchants and chains to build their own digital channels late and under pressure.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds as it did in the US — where e-commerce share fell back once stores reopened — the durable gain for Amazon in markets like Italy will be smaller than the lockdown spike suggested, with the real prize being the logistics footprint built to serve it.
The trend: The pandemic gave global e-commerce platforms forced adoption in resistant markets, and the 2022 US reversion is defining how much of that adoption proves permanent.
Countries that had traditionally resisted Amazon are now also falling into its grasp after retail stores shut down for months because of the coronavirus. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Some of the most hated companies in the world are also the ones which are secretly loved. Imagine how difficult the pandemic would have been without the likes of Amazon, Apple, Facebook or Google. $AMZN https://www.nytimes.com/...
.@Amazon has turned out to be one of the biggest winners during the Covid-19 pandemic in its most established markets — the US, Germany and Britain. Here's how 🔥 #Amazon #Coronavirus #Covid19 #Covid_19 https://www.moneycontrol.com/ ...
Fascinating read about the rise of #Amazon in Italy during lockdown. The digital divide imo is what has been holding back Amazon the most - low trust in tech and limited tech skills by older consumers who often have more disposable income. https://twitter.com/...
Netcomm, an Italian retail consortium, called it a “10-year evolutionary leap,” with more than two million Italians trying e-commerce for the first time between January and May. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Maybe I'm overly romanticizing Italian life, and maybe @nytimes is exaggerating the extent of the shift, but it strikes me as so sad if @amazon is replacing Italy's small shops with trucks, couriers, and lockers. @silviavannutell @DFisman https://www.nytimes.com/...
Countries that had traditionally resisted Amazon are now also falling into its grasp after retail stores shut down for months because of the coronavirus. https://www.nytimes.com/...
No business has benefitted more from the pandemic than Amazon. What's happened in Italy helps explain why. In markets where Amazon was struggling to get a foothold, lockdowns provided a spark. W/ @EmmaBubola & photography from @giannicipriano https://www.nytimes.com/...
Italy has held off a second wave of Covid better than most in Europe. It has not held off Amazon. Great piece from @satariano & @EmmaBubola on how the virus helped Jeff Bezos crack an elusive market. https://www.nytimes.com/...
How the pandemic opened Italy for domination by Amazon. Terrific reporting from my colleagues @satariano @EmmaBubola (who managed to use this as opportunity to visit the Amalfi coast) https://www.nytimes.com/...