Padua, 4 June. (Adnkronos) – “Sonepar Italia in 2023 recorded a turnover of 340 million euros in online sales, with an incidence of 22% compared to the total turnover, which is a significantly growing number compared to the previous year, both in terms of concerns volumes, but also regarding impact: +2 points regarding incidence and +20% regarding turnover, extremely positive data. The interesting thing is that in a more difficult market contingency than compared to previous years, online sales are still recording a significant increase of around 7-8%, with an incidence that is increasing even more”. With these declarations, Elisabetta Petrossi, Vice President Marketing of Sonepar Italia, spoke on the occasion of the annual ‘Passion for Performance’ convention, organized by the Sonepar Group with its main companies in Italy – Sacchi and Sonepar Italia with Elettroveneta – at the Congress Center of Padua. The meeting aimed to take stock of market trends and share strategies and good practices with suppliers and customers.
“We must not limit ourselves to looking at the data in its rawness, because if on the one hand it is true that the numbers define the turnover, it is equally true that visits to the platform by customers are now normal: the customer in an omnichannel approach , in fact, enters the platform, gets the information he needs and puts his order into action either directly on the platform or through different channels, such as the point of sale, rather than the telephone with his sales representative – continues Petrossi – he therefore becomes , online is strategic, as on the one hand there are actual sales, on the other 70% of customers go online to get the information they need”.
The Vice President of Marketing of Sonepar Italia then talks about the Italian cultural situation regarding the use of e-commerce: “Italy, in terms of use, is now familiar with e-commerce: we all buy and are customers of shops online. It is a purchasing method, the online one, adopted by everyone. In our sector, which is certainly quite traditional, the adoption of the online tool for purchases has developed over time and has reached interesting levels in the last 3-4 years, with the inclusion and development of Sonepar’s Spark omnichannel platform. it was the leap in quality in terms of performance offered to the customer, therefore of functions that bring value to the customer, but also performance in terms of results, therefore of turnover rather than impact. I would say, therefore, that our customers, especially those of the new generations, are becoming increasingly digital and use tools more easily, more frequently and, sometimes, even with preference”.
Finally, Petrossi concludes by illustrating the characteristics of the Marketplace available in a few months: “For us the Marketplace is a strategic project, which we will officially launch in October 2024. At the moment we offer, through our Spark platform, around 750 different items from different manufacturers which are sold by Sonepar as a distributor. We are, therefore, the sellers of products that we purchase from our suppliers and that we offer to our customers. The marketplace broadens this perimeter, allowing our suppliers to enter the Spark platform, in order to offer products that do not sell through Sonepar, therefore you will not find the same product proposed by the supplier and proposed by Sonepar, but they will sell others products that they want to include in the range and will offer our customers an expanded product range and this can only be positive for everyone – he explains – for the customer, because he has a wider range, a higher offer and a greater quantity of products more numerous to choose from; for Sonepar because in this way it sees an advantage being offered to its customer because the latter will not only find the products it normally sells, but will also find products that other suppliers want to convey through the platform and it is also an advantage for the supplier, who will be able insert into the Marketplace products that he does not normally sell to Sonepar, but which he would like to sell at a price chosen by him and which he will place directly on the platform”.
: “In 2023 340 million turnover in online sales”){kind=link}