"Markets are conversations." So reads the first of the 95 theses collected in the Cluetrain Manifesto, published online in March 1999 by Levine, Locke, Searls and Weinberger. The Manifesto is an invitation to reflection and action addressed to all the players in the new interconnected context.
The potential
Cluetrain is a fictional term thought by the authors to indicate the «train of clues or new ideas». On the other hand, the potential for interaction with customers that digital markets offer companies today is not the result of the imagination. The digitization of social and economic processes therefore represents one of the main variables that companies have to deal with in governing relations with the market. The so-called digital world is spreading into the analog world until it becomes confused with it.
Growth
From a survey by the Politecnico di Milano in Italy in 2021, when restrictions were eased, online sales reached almost 40 billion euros (+21% compared to 2020). Product e-commerce continued its run up to a value of 30.5 billion euros, marking a +18% compared to the previous year. Online purchases of services, after the 52% loss suffered in 2020, have experienced a modest recovery, generating a value of 8.9 billion euros, still far from the pre-pandemic value.
The sectors
The sectors that drove "product" sales in 2021 were Agri-food (+38%), Clothing (+23%), Beauty (19%), Furniture (+18%) and the 'IT and consumer electronics (+10%). In the services sector, Tourism and Transport recorded a growth of 54% together with a timid 3% in the Insurance sector. In 2022, from January to September, online purchases in Italy grew by 20% compared to 2021 and are worth over 48 billion euros. Polimi research shows that the online services market is returning to pre-Covid-19 levels, with a 59% growth over the previous year and a value of almost 15 billion euros. That of products also grew to reach 33.2 billion euro.
Leading role
The numbers show that digital commerce is assuming a driving role for the growth of the economy, although according to the findings of Crif (Centrale Rischi di Intermediazione Finanziaria) Italian companies that use e-commerce as a sales channel are just 70 thousand .
