Airbnb model: the platform economy is growing, Italy is a land of conquest for foreigners

MILAN – Platforms increasingly dominate our lives. Just think of digital giants such as AirBnb, Amazon, Uber, Spotify, Meta or Google. A presence, that of large international companies, that is increasingly cumbersome on the market. A market dominated by the United States and China and in which Italy risks becoming only a carrier of consumers.

The research of the Platform Thinking Hub Observatory of the Polytechnic University of Milan, presented today, reveals the economics of these platforms.

However, let's start from the definition: what is meant by platform? Well, it is that business model that "creates value by connecting two or more interdependent groups of users, between which network effects exist". Let's think about Airbnb, which connects those looking for accommodation with those who have an interest in putting it on the market: the satisfaction of one increases that of the other. But also those models "such as search engines or social media supported by advertising: users use the service for free, but their attention, their behavior and data become a resource for advertisers".

From the Observatory's data it emerges that "Italy follows the American and Chinese markets at a distance, but also other comparable European markets".

The Observatory photographed the state of the platform economy by selecting 10 relevant platforms in 8 different economic fields (commerce, travel, mobility, finance, work, media, industry and healthcare) in 6 countries - United States, China, France, Germany, Spain and Italy - listing 279 platforms globally. What emerges is that Italy has the lowest share of "domestic" platforms: among the 80 identified in the Italian market, just 21 are founded on the peninsula, 26.3% of the total. While the share rises to 30.4% in Spain, 33.8% in Germany, 42.5% in France, reaching 88.8% in the United States and 91.7% in China.

In Italy, in fact, there are only 21 out of 80 domestic platforms. Of these, 7, equal to 33.3%, are "incumbent-built", i.e. developed by organizations that had already started a business. Among the 21 Italian domestic platforms we find names ranging from Telepass to Bancomat, from Everli to Satispay, from Serenis to Unobravo.

The distribution across sectors is very different. In work and professional services and in health, care and well-being, 5 of the 10 platforms selected in each sector were born in Italy. In mobility they are 4 out of 10; in finance and industry 3 out of 10; in travel one in 10. In commerce and media, however, none of the ten platforms selected were born in Italy.