Global Expansion Guide · Italy
Market expansion guide:Italy.
The euro area’s third-largest economy, where online spending grows more than ten times faster than GDP. Italy pairs world-class brands in fashion, luxury and travel with e-commerce adoption that still trails its neighbours. Explore it on your terms: pick a section, dig into the data, decide where to focus.
Italy at a glance
Mature market,untapped headroom
A market of 58.9 million people where e-commerce grows more than ten times faster than the wider economy, with adoption still well below its northern European neighbours.
The report
Explore Italyin six chapters.
The euro area’s third-largest economy, where e-commerce grows more than ten times faster than GDP.
Read chapter →USD 115.2bn in 2025 rising to USD 136.3bn by 2028, with cross-border the fastest-moving share.
Read chapter →Brand-conscious but increasingly price-sensitive shoppers, comparing prices and paying in installments.
Read chapter →Card-led at 77.5%, with a uniquely strong prepaid segment, BANCOMAT Pay, Satispay and BNPL rising fastest.
Read chapter →1st in the world for trading across borders, but a high tax burden and a complex domestic rulebook.
Read chapter →Score your readiness against how Italy actually operates, then talk to the Nuvei team.
Read chapter →01 · Why Italy
An economy that growsfastest when it’s online.
Italy’s headline economy is slow-moving: GDP grew 0.7% in 2024 and an estimated 0.5% in 2025, and unemployment sits around 6%. Online, the picture is different. E-commerce is expanding at 5.8% a year and adding USD 21.1bn of new value by 2028, powered by world-class brands in fashion, luxury, food and travel and by adoption that is still catching up with Northern Europe.
Why Italy
Scale, spending powerand room to grow
Several structural factors provide a foundation for sustained e-commerce expansion in Italy.
“The market continues to benefit from Italy’s structural strengths in sectors such as Fashion & Luxury and Tourism & Travel/Hospitality. While GDP growth indeed remains limited, Italy is home to strong brands and industries that are particularly well suited to the digital world.”
Italy’s digital foundations
Well connected,not yet fully shopping.
Italy is close to fully connected, but only 56.2% of people buy online — below Spain (68.9%) and Germany (77.9%), and far below Brazil (90%) or Chile (88%). For merchants, that gap is the opportunity.
Growth momentum
Ten times fasterthan the economy.
While GDP growth is measured in fractions of a percent, Italian e-commerce is compounding at 5.8% a year. Cross-border commerce grows faster still, at 9.4% — more than twice the domestic rate of 4.1%.
The adoption gap
Older shoppers,smaller towns, new demand.
Italy has the oldest population of the EU’s large economies, with a median age of 49.1. Online shopping was once a younger habit; today the average online shopper is 48 — the same as the population at large. Around 35 million Italians now shop online, up 119% since 2014, with growth coming from older, more affluent consumers and from medium and smaller towns rather than the big cities.