Italians prefer carts over clicks for groceries

By Massimiliano Di Giorgio

ROME, Oct 17 (Reuters Life!) - Italians might be able to order a pizza online or send a text message for a sandwich delivery, but when it comes to buying groceries over the Internet they are not so keen on the technology.

Online shopping is taking off in Europe, with Britain having the most avid spenders on the Internet.

Last month, British biggest supermarket chain Tesco said online sales rose 20 percent in the first half of the year to 902 million pounds ($1.59 billion).

The enthusiasm shown by the British for using a mouse rather than a cart to do their groceries is not shared by their Italian peers, however.

A study published last year by Milan's Politecnico university forecast the entire online grocery sector in Italy would reach a mere 60 million euros ($81.97 million) by the end of 2007, with an annual growth of 15 percent.

That increase was mainly due to a rise in the average amount spent per consumer -- to 135 euros from 117 euros -- and not an increase in the number of consumers, the study said.

What's more, online grocery shopping represented about one percent of B2C, or business-to-consumer trade, online in Italy.

When it came to total turnover from e-commerce, Italy's numbers accounted for one-fifth of those registered in Britain last year: a little more than 5 billion euros against 26 billion euros, according to the university.

"I do not believe it is possible today to individualise a winning model for grocery e-commerce," Maria Vernuccio of Rome's La Sapienza University said. "I do not see an explosion in turnover in the medium term."

Shoppers interviewed by Reuters said they liked buying their groceries in person to check the quality of the produce and compare prices. They said they shopped at the supermarket but also bought fresh, seasonal produce at traditional markets still found in many neighbourhoods.

Daniela Gambino, a 39-year-old writer from Palermo in Sicily, says she shops at the supermarket and discount stores but also at the old-fashioned markets in Rome.

"Online shopping? No, never. I like shopping in person, it's more fun and supermarkets are entertaining. I like to compare prices, look at the nutritional charts and check the sell-by dates," she told Reuters as she did her shopping.

"For fish and some types of fruit and vegetable I do my shopping only at the market, since I am from Palermo," she said.

Few Italian supermarket chains actually offer online shopping and those that do only have it in a limited number of regions, if not cities.

Although Esselunga says it is the leader in Internet shopping with an 80 percent market share, its claim covers only the north of the country in regions like Lombardy, Emilia, Veneto and Tuscany.

Its competitor, Coop, experimented with the service in several cities in 1997 before deciding to focus only on Rome.

"We have no plans to either increase or to decrease it. We will keep it as it is and will see what happens on the market," a spokeswoman said.

Some supermarket chains complain about the cost of the service because not enough shoppers used it to enable the chains to benefit from economies of scale. (Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian)