Confcommercio: 100,000 fewer shops in a decade
Less and less bookstores (-31,5%) e furniture stores (-30.5%). Increasingly pharmacy (+12,6%), computer shops (+10,8%) e hotels (+43.3%). Change the face of the cities where in the last 10 years, calculates a study of Confcommerce, the commercial density has increased from 9 to 7.3 shops for every thousand inhabitants, with a global loss of more than 99,000 commercial activities. Managers also change: Italians close, and foreigners open more and more businesses. In fact, it goes up there foreign presence in the trade, both in terms of number of companies (+44 thousand) and in terms of employees (+107 thousand) and Italian activities and employees decreased (respectively -138 thousand and -148 thousand). These are the main results of the analysis by the Confcommercio Research Office “Business demography in Italian cities”.
From the physical store to omnichannel
The modification and reduction of the levels of service offered by traditional shops borders on the risk of commercial desertification of cities where, in the last 10 years, the commercial density has dropped from 9 to 7.3 shops per thousand inhabitants (a drop of almost 20%). To avoid the more serious effects of this phenomenon, for the proximity trade there is no other way than to focus on efficiency and productivity also through greater innovation and a redefinition of the offer. And it remains fundamental omnichanneli.e. the use also of the online channel which has experienced exponential growth in recent years, with sales going from 16.6 billion in 2015 to 48.1 billion in 2022. This is an element that has contributed most to commercial desertification but which still remains an opportunity for trade traditional “physique”.
The boom in hotels does not compensate for the decline in shops
According to Confcommercio, however, the growth of accommodation and catering business (+6.6% in a decade) does not compensate for the reductions of trade, but significantly modifies the characteristics of supply in cities and in the economy in general. Overall, the double pandemic and energy crisis seem to have emphasized the trends of reduction in commercial density already present before these shocks. The extent of the phenomenon can only cause concern. As far as catering is concerned, the data indicate some form of migration from the traditional bar to the bar with administration, to counter the pandemic crisis also through modifications of the activity code. However, a process of rationalization of the offer also in the bar sector should not be excluded, especially in the Centre-North: the reduction in the number of bars in this macro-area is not offset by the growth in the number of restaurants.
Telephony growing, clothing in sharp decline
The trend in the number of shops in the historic centers of the 120 cities considered by the research for large product sectors is striking. A first group is made up of essential sectors in terms of service and basic consumption, and goes by food (-7.6%) to telephony (+10.8%). In these cases, the reductions in the number of stores are either small or even growing. The tobacconists (-2.8%) play a role of fiscal and administrative support, as well as offer services that are not directly linked to the sale of goods (so much so that the term “tobacconists” is no longer appropriate). The second group consists of the sectors in sharp decline, which were once the face of cities and are now alien to them: come on mobile (-30,5%) ai fuels (-38.5%) up to clothing (-21.8%) , this offer has moved away from city centers and has been largely supplanted by large areas of aggregation outside the cities.
In the historic centres, tourism wins
According to the Confcommercio report, in the center of the cities the tourist offer rises with the hotels up 43.3% eh restaurants by 4% in a decade. The role of tourism is, even among experts, underestimated, precisely in its ability to generate added value also through the activation of other productive sectors. Also, the growth of food services it represents the reflection of more complex socio-economic phenomena, such as the progressive replacement for home-cooked meals with meals purchased through delivery at administration activities with takeaway. The quantification of this substitution process is uncertain, but its dimension is unquestionably relevant and growing.
More and more foreign entrepreneurs
As regards the companies registered as a whole, the Confcommercio analysis indicates that the reduction of the Italian ones is offset, to an almost completely compensating extent, by the growth of companies managed by foreign owners. In trade, the loss in the number of Italian companies is only partially recovered through the growth of foreign activities, which today amount to 14.4% of the total. It is important to underline the role of trade, especially retail, in offering employment opportunities for foreigners, the main gateway for their integration into Italian society. Similar results are obtained for total employment, the ten-year growth of which is almost entirely due to foreign citizens. Even more evident is the phenomenon in the field of commerce and hotels and public establishments.