It’s less and less until Mother’s Day, which will be celebrated in Italy on Sunday, May 14, and you know, a nice gift for your mom can never be missed. Yes, but how to choose the right one?
No problem, we’ve got GEL Proximity to give you some useful tips, not only on what women love to buy online, but also on how to make sure that your shopping is as sustainable as possible for everyone’s delight, mom included. Let’s get started.
The eShoppers in Europe
As reported by the research “The lives of women and men in Europe – a statistical portrait” conducted by Eurostat, in the European Union 83% of women aged 16-74 use the Internet and are therefore potential eShoppers. Of these, 68% have already made at least one online purchase (2019 figure, the year of the Eurostat survey) and the figure is set to increase if we consider that according to recent Casaleggio Associati research, by 2026 eCommerce will reach $8 trillion in value globally. More and more people, women and men, will therefore choose this mode of shopping in the near future.
Women and social media
A further figure of particular interest then comes from the analysis of social media use: again according to Eurostat, 65 percent of women in Europe use the Internet to participate in social, a percentage slightly higher than that of men (61 percent) and one that gives us an insight into the potential role played by social commerce in the coming years (in 2022, turnover from social media reached 13 percent). In fact, one of the main trends in recent years is the direct integration of shopping functionality into the display of content on social media, thus enabling faster customer conversion. An element directly related to the shift of audiences from desktop to mobile, which according to Casaleggio Associati data now accounts for an average of 59.79% of global traffic.
But what products do women like to buy online?
A larger percentage of women than men buy clothes on the Internet (69% women, 57% men – Eurostat 2022 data) and books (74% women vs. 67% men – idealo.it 2017 data), while only 16% of eShoppers buy consumer electronics or movies (Eurostat, 2022), products that as we have recounted here are instead those most purchased by men with a percentage of 32% for electronic equipment and 28% for movies.
As for the fashion world, according to eWorldTrade, jackets and blazers seem to be among the best-selling and trendiest products for online shoppers in 2023. They are followed by shapewear products, already popular and “viral” on social networks; jeans; handbags, sportswear and finally hats and caps.
Online fashion boom
As also anticipated by Casaleggio Associati research, the Fashion category is indeed confirmed to be among the most purchased consumer goods online in the world during 2022, while in 2020 the global share of online sales had already reached 23% (Statista data). Moreover, according to the “Year in Review” research conducted for the first time in Italy in 2022 by Stileo, the aggregator for fashion eCommerce part of the GLAMI Group, more than 63 percent of the platform’s online eShop partners recorded revenue growth last year, so much so that 56 percent of the fashion eCommerce eCommerce stores that took part in the survey said they perceived 2022 as a positive year from the point of view of the results achieved on the business profile.
Green is trending
But that’s not all. Leading the ranking of the eCommerce companies that will grow the fastest during 2023 according to the eCommerce Ranking is in fact the category “sustainable fashion”: already in 2021 the Second Hand Market generated an economic value of 24 billion euros in Italy for a total of almost 23 million consumers, and for the coming years the growth of the sector is estimated between 15 and 20 percent per year. In this context, eCommerce plays a predominant role: in fact, online sales of second-hand products account for almost 50 percent of the total for a total value of 11.8 billion euros in 2021.
Women beat men in attention to sustainability
But how does this data match up with the online consumption choices of Italian women? The answer comes directly from research conducted by Procter & Gamble Italy in collaboration with the Piepoli Institute: according to the survey results, in fact, 43% of Italians are changing their daily consumption habits to adopt more responsible and sustainable behaviors. In particular, it is women who would be leading the change: in fact, 46% of female respondents said they have changed their habits with this in mind, while 52% of female respondents explicitly state that they make more sustainable choices to preserve the environment, thus being more responsible than men on this front.
eCommerce and sustainability: a possible pairing
Fortunately, eCommerce and sustainability can go together, as long as one makes conscious choices, such as encouraging the use of alternative and greener delivery methods for one’s online orders. How? Thanks to Lockers and Pickup Points, it is indeed possible to reduce the impact of Home Delivery, always guaranteeing 100 percent of deliveries and therefore significant savings not only from the point of view of polluting emissions, but also from the economic point of view.
Did you miss our article dedicated to the advantages of Out Of Home delivery services versus Home Delivery? You can find it here.
GEL Proximity allows online stores to be integrated with tens of thousands of Pickup Points and Lockers already in operation throughout the country and internationally. If you are an eCommerce manager and want to offer your customers the opportunity to buy the perfect Mother’s Day gift online and deliver it sustainably, contact us now!
