Black Friday 2025 has come to an end, once again delivering figures that confirm the central role of eCommerce in Italians’ purchasing habits.
According to Netcomm, the week of online discounts and promotions that traditionally kicks off the Christmas shopping season generated around €22 billion in online spending, marking a +7% increase compared to 2024. These numbers come alongside equally significant growth in logistics volumes: 41.5 million parcels handled in just ten days, up +9% year over year.
These figures describe a healthy market, but above all a logistics system required to sustain increasingly intense rhythms and pressures. But the question we want to ask ourselves—and you—today is: what have we really learned from Black Friday 2025? What does this event tell us about what works, what can be improved and, above all, how far we have—or have not—succeeded in making one of the most complex periods of the year more sustainable for the entire supply chain?
Black Friday is nothing new, and neither is the topic of eCommerce sustainability. But is something truly changing? And in what direction are we moving?
In this article, we will look beyond the surface of record numbers and percentages to understand the lessons the market should carry forward into 2026.
The real news is not sales growth, but how logistics responds
Black Friday, as it has become customary, represents a massive stress test for the logistics sector. A proving ground for understanding where logistics holds up and where it still shows structural weaknesses.
Deliveries are increasingly concentrated in shorter time windows, demand is becoming less predictable, and the one-to-one distribution model (one parcel, one trip) is exposing all its limits in terms of costs, efficiency and environmental impact.
We are not saying anything new—and that’s precisely the point. For several years now, the word sustainability has accompanied every discussion about Black Friday. Companies promote green commitments, cities intensify checks on circulating vehicles, courier services invest in electric fleets and new delivery solutions. But has something really changed?
The truth sits somewhere in the grey area: yes, things are moving. And yet, not enough.
What has improved: denser networks and the first concrete steps toward Out-of-Home
There has indeed been progress—and it’s not marginal. In 2025, Italy saw a significant acceleration in the expansion of Locker networks and Pickup Points. Even operators traditionally focused on home delivery are now reconfiguring their strategies.
An example is the recent announcement by GLS, which signed an agreement with Multi Italy to install Lockers in various shopping centers across the country, thus expanding its Out-of-Home delivery capacity.
This is not an isolated or marginal case but a structural signal. The supply chain is finally understanding that to ease pressure on cities, reduce miles driven and ensure punctuality during peak periods, alternatives to home delivery are essential. A level of awareness that, until just a few years ago, was far less widespread.
What has not improved: cities remain under pressure and home delivery still dominates
Despite progress, the dominant model remains home delivery. And this means concentrating tens of millions of delivery attempts precisely during the days when urban mobility is most complicated. The cost of all this? High.
In an analysis published by The Watcher Post, Massimo Marciani, president of the Freight Leaders Council, summed it up effectively: “the discount is paid by the environment.”
Every delivery generates traffic and emissions, and when numbers explode—as they do during Black Friday—the impact on cities becomes unmanageable through good intentions or sustainability messaging alone. Systemic changes are required.
The 2025 lesson: sustainability doesn’t progress on its own—it must be designed
The key takeaway from Black Friday 2025 is that sustainability is not an automatic byproduct of technological innovation or market growth, but a project—an intentional choice that must be planned across the entire logistics chain.
We know that the last mile is the most expensive, complex and polluting component of the entire eCommerce chain. With growing peak pressure, couriers must add shifts, vehicles and delivery attempts, all of which amplify environmental impact. The traditional model no longer scales—it can’t keep up—and it cannot be made sustainable simply by “doing better” what has always been done. A paradigm shift is needed.
How? Let’s start with a fact: logistics operators and retailers who faced Black Friday 2025 with hybrid or Out-of-Home–oriented delivery models achieved more stable and predictable performance. This is not a detail—it’s a competitive advantage.
What can still be improved
Many green strategies require years, significant investments or radical business transformations. Out-of-Home delivery, on the other hand, is a solution that is already available—and already working.
It doesn’t require consumers to drastically change their habits; it simply offers them a more efficient and often more convenient alternative.
Delivering to Lockers and Pickup Points allows volumes to be consolidated, drastically reducing kilometers traveled per parcel. This means fewer vehicles on the streets, fewer failed delivery attempts and less congestion during peak hours.
Operators have understood this, which is why the PUDO network is expanding quickly. But the real difference lies in the ability to integrate these points and make them accessible in a uniform, standardized way.
Why orchestration technology is essential
This is where platforms like GEL Proximity come into play—not managing a single network, but connecting more than 500,000 Pickup Points and Lockers through a single integration.
For eCommerce businesses, couriers and logistics providers, this means adopting Out-of-Home delivery immediately, without technical complexity and without having to negotiate individually with dozens of different networks.
This is what the Italian logistics sector needs today to take the next step.
What Black Friday 2025 really leaves us with
More than a record, the 2025 edition teaches us that sustainability is no longer a promise but an operational responsibility. It is not something that happens from the top down or that can be solved with last-minute decisions. It requires day-to-day planning and design within the logistics chain.
In other words: eCommerce cannot be sustainable without sustainable logistics. And sustainable logistics today cannot exist without Out-of-Home delivery.
Want to make your logistics more efficient, sustainable and scalable ahead of 2026?
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