The data released by Istat on retail trade In May they report that “Consumption is still weak” and that in the face of the difficulties for companies operating on small surfaces there is a risk of increasing commercial desertification.
This was stated by the Confcommercio Study Office in a note. “Today’s data – underlines the Association – does not change, in substance, a situation that on the consumption side remains stagnant with the movements, up or downwards, of the last few months led essentially by the food sector: thus the Confcommercio Study Office on today’s Istat data on the retail sales of May. “In this context – continues the note – the articulated trends of the individual goods and the different distribution formats are confirmed. For sectors such as clothing, footwear and furniture, for some time in difficulty, the trend remains negative and the hopes of a recovery continue to be entrusted to the sales season. Transversally, similar concerns apply to proximity companies: without a robust recovery in the spending of families, the risk of commercial desertification in Italian cities is acute.
“The novelty of the last few months – concludes the Study Office – is represented by the difficulties of electronic commerce which in this first part of 2025 appears in downsizing. The fact remains that in the last decade, in the face of stationary sales or almost in real terms, online trade has tripled its sales volumes ».