Italian E-Commerce Growth: How Amazon is Helping Italian SMEs Go Global
E-commerce is an important resource for the growth of Italy’s economy, with data showing that in the five years from 2016 to 2020, the entire e-commerce and digital retail network in Italy accounted for 40.6% of the growth in total revenue of private Italian economic activities, and generated more than €70 billion in revenue. Amazon has signed seven Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with different Italian regions to support the digitization and internationalization of local SMEs, as well as launching initiatives such as Accelera with Amazon, the Made in Italy showcase and the Amazon Incubator pilot project. Amazon has also signed an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture Policies to protect Italian agribusiness on Amazon, and is committed to helping Italian SMEs selling on Amazon reach €1.2 billion in exports per year by 2025.
Amazon has taken numerous initiatives to support the growth and internationalization of Italian SMEs, such as providing free training programs, creating a Made in Italy showcase available on 10 Amazon stores, and launching the Amazon Incubator pilot project to guide businesses in their internationalization process. The company has also invested in protecting the brands which sell on Amazon, with proactive controls such as Brand Registry, Transparency and IP Accelerator, and employing more than 12,000 people to protect customers, sellers and brands from counterfeiting, fraud and other forms of abuse.
In order for e-commerce to continue to work as a growth multiplier for the Italian economy, Amazon suggests continuing along the path of public-private collaboration by directing legislative interventions towards digital literacy, economic incentives for e-commerce businesses’ launch and growth, tax, customs, and bureaucratic simplification, support brand registration and intellectual property protection, and legislative and regulatory harmonization between Italy and the EU.
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