Confesercenti: 16.7 billion taken from the territories by eCommerce

Between 2019 and 2025, the reduction of physical points of sale and the increase in the market shares of large international eCommerce platforms have subtracted value from local economic circuits, "delocalising" approximately 16.7 billion euros of household spending. This is what emerges from the Confesercenti calculations on the dynamics of businesses and the effects of commercial desertification, which in six years has seen over 111 thousand businesses disappear from the retail trade.

According to the association, the retreat of the commercial network has not only reduced residents' access to goods and services, but has weakened territorial systems. The shift of purchases from local shops to international platforms is not in fact neutral for local economies: according to Confesercenti estimates, for every 100 euros spent in physical stores around 70 remain in the local economic circuit, through employment, business income, rent, professional services, maintenance and taxation. However, when the same expense moves to large international online marketplaces, around 70 euros leave the territory. Fewer purchases in the physical network therefore mean a greater share of consumption which no longer fuels the local economy.