Clerk.io attended Netcomm Forum in Milan, on May 17th and 18th 2023- the largest event in Italy dedicated to E-commerce and digital transformation. A big thank you to everyone who dropped by our stall to chat with us.
Event Recap:
We also hold a presentation with our partners at Webgriffe. Our Customer Success Manager, Christian Lapio, joined Cristian Galletti from Webgriffe onstage to talk about “conversion rate optimization for B2B digital commerce”, and almost 200 people attended.
More than 30,000 visitors, 25,000 of which were in person, attended Netcomm Forum in 2023. In its 18th edition, the event registered for the first time, the presence of several members of Ecommerce Europe, who represent the digital commerce associations in the main European countries.
From these two days of knowledge-sharing and debate, an "eCommerce Manifesto" was finalized by Netcomm about the 10 key factors on which to act for the development of digital commerce inside and outside national borders.
Netcomm's 10 key factors:
1. The economic value of the sector.
Overall, digital retail is now worth 71 billion euros and is the main growth driver of the Italian economy. It contributed 40.6% to the growth in total turnover of economic activities in the five-year period 2016-2020, involving over 723 thousand companies. The eCommerce penetration index, i.e. the share of online purchases in the total Retail space, is equal to 12%, remaining stable compared to 2022, and the number of online buyers stood at 33 million in the first quarter of 2023.
2. The competences.
To support policies aimed at investing in competences, supporting the growth of digital skills of companies, but also of entrepreneurs, managers, workers, young graduates and high school graduates is vital. It is a question of identifying specific training initiatives for the digital sector, in order to facilitate inter-sector mobility within companies. But also create centers of excellence and business support by strengthening existing projects to facilitate the digital transition of small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, today’s digital retail is a sector that employs around 378,000 workers just within Italy alone.
3. Proximity commerce.
Proximity commerce must be supported, which allows the integration between the large e-commerce players and small shopkeepers, who can reach customers residing in neighboring areas. It is appropriate to facilitate the realities that have undertaken or intend to undertake this process of change, through incentives aimed at the adoption of technological solutions to operate, as well as funding to support training and refresher courses, so that the change process is structural and definitive.
4. Made in Italy.
Digitally enhance the artistic, cultural, artisanal, landscape heritage, the national food and wine and productive excellences, promoting international tourism and its added value for the territory, thanks also to the collaboration with online travel agencies (OTAs).
5. Local digital malls.
Facilitate and encourage the creation of "small local digital malls", by pooling craft and trade businesses with the creation of local supply poles, capable of serving both local demand and the export of excellence at an international level.
6. Digital districts.
Reinterpreting the model of industrial districts, which has allowed Italy to grow in recent years, promoting the creation of digital districts, which no longer have the unifying catalyst in proximity alone, but where the glue must be the complementarity of products and services.
7. The marketplace.
Encourage initiatives to address the Made in Italy offer of Italian companies on international marketplaces (over 400), supporting financing for new digital export figures and promoting integration with international marketplaces.
8. Logistics and inter-modality.
Encourage the creation of new logistics and inter-modality models that are sustainable from an environmental, economic and social point of view which can guarantee full consistency with urban centers also in terms of service efficiency.
9. Digital payments.
Support the development of digital payments, also through awareness campaigns and training on the key characteristics of the various payment services in order to create new consumer awareness.
10. The technologies.
Facilitate investments in Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Blockchain, Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies, to increasingly improve consumer knowledge and offer them a truly omnichannel and personalized customer journey, to enrich the customer experience as much as possible, creating a welcoming and engaging environment.
“The participation and the influx that we have encountered during the two days that have just passed are proof of the interest that the public and sector experts show in the entire e-commerce sector”, said Clerk’s Team. “The two days were fast paced, consisting of sharing ideas and skills, alongside reflections in the name of innovation and change. We cannot wait to attend the next edition”.
