The return of consumers in stores

Following the complicated pandemic years, Italian customers rediscover the pleasure of shopping in physical stores.

In Italy, consumers confirm the desire to return to stores. Two studies illustrate this, analyzing first the January 2023 sales period, then shopping center performance for all of 2022. Positive data that bode well for the future.

January sales: a double-digit growth

The beginning of 2023 confirms the desire of Italians to get back to shopping in stores. After a bright Black Friday and Christmas, accounting for an increase of +7 % in consumption for November-December 2022, the first two weeks of the sales period remain on a positive trend. This is what the Fashion Retail Panel Club data by Sita Ricerca claim; a report on approximately 2,000 clothing stores that monitors traffic and sell-out in Italy.

The panel shows a +27% increase in traffic during the first week of sales (January 2-8); trend confirmed also for the second week (January 9-15), with an improvement reaching even up to +34% and even greater peaks for Shopping Centers and Factory Outlets. On the same line, we find the Fashion Consumer Panel, watchdog for the fashion consumption of Italians, also by Sita Ricerca. The analysis shows overall, during the first two weeks of January, a 25% growth in the average number of transactions per family.

Shopping centers approaching the pre-pandemic

Concentrating now on the shopping center segment, the latter closed the year 2022 with positive numbers, leading us to believe that the pandemic decreases in sales will be exceeded. The picture of the situation arrives from the Osservatorio del Consiglio Nazionale dei Centri Commerciali (Observatory of the National Council of Shopping Centers): in the year just ended, their revenues recorded a 13.7% growth compared to 2021.

Making a comparison instead with 2019, the pre-pandemic year, the gap is almost bridged: 2022 closed, in fact, with only a -3% decrease. A statement from the association explains: “the result highlights a solid recovery for the entire sector, in light of the fact that the first quarter of 2022 continued to be strongly influenced by the impact of the Omicron variant [COVID]”. Lastly, the Observatory sheds light on how, considering only the period from April to December 2022 (basically free from the effects associated with the pandemic), equal results with 2019 have almost been achieved (-0.6%).

Focus on physical Retail in Custom Magazine

In this magazine, we follow the return to normalcy from the post-pandemic from the earliest phases. From the earliest signs of “real” sales recovery to the most recent changes in physical Retail, the recovery of “in store” fashion has always been at the center of our focus. An interest that has become a reality since Bizeta’s founding, materializing into innovative solutions for the entire Fashion & Luxury sector, and beyond.