While Italy is taking up the challenges of the national recovery and resilience plan that range from digitization to sustainability, on the latter the demands of consumers to the Gdp and the Retail sector in general are becoming increasingly clear. In fact, it emerges from a research by ShopFully, an Italian tech company that connects 30 million online consumers with 250 thousand physical stores, that 6 out of 10 Italians say they prefer stores that are actively committed to environmental sustainability for their purchases. The desire for a distribution that is even more compatible with the needs of the environment appears to be very strong for Italians, so much so that 74% of the respondents to the ShopFully survey declare that they are willing to face a greater expense for products that are the result of sustainable choices.

The main actions that the interviewees identify to make progress in the field of sustainability concern, for 68% of respondents, the reduction of waste at the point of sale through the adoption of sustainable packaging and reusable bags; while 48% identified a reduction in the use of paper as preferable, primarily for promotional flyers. Among the other actions that Italians consider important, the selection of products from a short / sustainable supply chain, for 42%, and the energy efficiency of the store, for 36%, stand out.

"Even large retailers are involved in the great process of digitization and sustainability that is involving the whole country, driven by the clear demands of consumers, who, as clearly emerges from our observatory, are increasingly attentive to these dynamics", comments Marco Durante, Vp Sales & Marketing Italia of ShopFully. "Digital and attention to the environment are concepts connected to each other for ShopFully, as technology allows to obtain better performances and at the same time reduce waste. The combination of these factors will be absolutely central in the post-pandemic world, as evidenced by the sharp increase in the demand from retailers that we support to go from paper to digital in communicating their offers. Providing our partners with the tech tools to become more digital and, at the same time, more sustainable, means giving stores the 'digital superpowers' they need to grow and remain competitive, supporting the overall growth of the economy and safeguarding the ground floors. of our cities, consisting mainly of shops".

As further confirmation of how Italians are increasingly in favor of a combination of digitization and sustainability, almost 9 out of 10 Italians declare themselves in favor of the decision of the chains that, during the pandemic, have reduced or even eliminated the use of the paper flyer.