RETAIL SALES ARE ONLY THRIVING ONLINE

Nowadays you have to be online to count. Confirmation has arrived in macro-economic terms with the latest Istat (Italian National Statistical Institute) data which shows that from January to July 2018 only three Italian-retail channels are prospering: mass-market retailing, foodstuffs … and e-commerce which has grown by 12.7 percent. Confirmation comes from business strategies themselves: estimates of online revenues are not only showing up on financial statements or in announcements made by managers, but are also starting to aspire to greater heights. And this change seems poised to happen on the double and by double. Encouragement comes from the assessments of the main analysts. According to McKinsey and Goldman Sachs, e-commerce is set to grow constantly, actually to double, by 2020. There are many cases in point, but one fitting example is that of Prada which, upon publication of its annual data, announced that it intended to increase online sales from 4-5% to 15% by 2020. There can be no doubt that multi-brand platforms figure prominently in this process. According to Goldman Sachs, between 2019 and 2025, luxury-brand shares will benefit from a total amount of 23 billion in proceeds generated by online multi-brand platforms, leading to an increase of 10 billion in Ebit.