ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Less shops, less wealth left on the territory. Between 2019 and 2025, the reduction of physical points of sale and the increase of market shares of eCommerce’s major international platforms have subtracted value to local economic circuits, “delocalizing” about 16.7 billion household spending. This is what emerges from the Confesercent elaborations on the dynamics of enterprises and the effects of commercial desertification, which in six years has seen disappear more than 111 thousand enterprises from retail trade. The retraction of the commercial network has not only reduced the access of residents to goods and services, but has weakened the territorial systems. The displacement of purchases from under-home shops to international platforms is in fact not neutral for local economies: according to Confesercent estimates, for every 100 euros spent in physical stores about 70 remain in the local economic circuit, through occupation, business income, rents, professional services, maintenance and taxation.
When the same expense moves on the big international online marketplaces, about 70 euros come out of the territory. Less purchases in the physical network therefore mean a greater share of consumption that no longer feeds the local economy. To suffer the greatest loss of wealth is the Centre, where the share of consumption from the circuit of the local economy between 2019 and 2025 is estimated at over 5.3 billion euros. They follow the South, with about 4 billion, the North-West with almost 3.2 billion, the North-East with about 2.6 billion and the Islands with over 1.6 billion. On the regional level, however, Lazio is the biggest impact, with about 3.2 billion household spending no longer held by the local economic circuit. Lombardy followed, with over 1.7 billion, and Campania, with about 1.6 billion. Veneto, with around 1,2 billion, Tuscany, also around 1.2 billion, and Sicily, with just over 1 billion euros. In Piedmont, the impact shows a billion.
However, the total 16.7 billion hijacked expenditure represents only the economically quantifiable component of desertification. The less availability of goods and services remain outside the account and the effects on urban, security, social cohesion and quality of life: difficult elements to translate into euro, but fundamental for communities. According to Confesercenti the commerce of proximity acts as a real territorial infrastructure. Around every activity there are widespread employment, incomes, active properties, professional services, maintenance, local taxes and a network of accessible goods and services, which are added to urban spaces, security and social cohesion. The progressive reduction of physical business activities, along with the change of purchasing habits, deeply alters this balance. E-commerce – says Confesercenti – is an opportunity, especially when it integrates with the network of shops and also allows small businesses to reach new markets. Different is the effect when purchases move on the big international marketplace platforms, because a significant share of the value of the sale moves away from the buyer’s residence.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
