We know that inflation is a major problem in all parts of the world and some parts are so badly hit that there is no option but to print more money in order to let people beat inflation but we know that it does more harm than good. As far as inflation is concerned, you would not expect someone like Amazon to conduct a research on the topic as it is not an e-commerce company’s task to conduct research on financial topics but it did so. In its study which is said to be an economic-statistical analysis with Ambrosetti, it notes that the e-commerce industry was able to reduce Italy’s inflation by as much as 5% in last 6 years.
According to a study published by Amazon, it noted that “online prices were far more stable, even during periods of high inflation, and amounted to roughly 40 billion euros in purchases over the last three years. Additionally, the study showed that in Italy, when prices rose by a single percentage point, e-commerce was able to counter this by effectively reducing inflationary pressure (by -0.02 points), while still accounting for an increase in consumption (+845 million euros). In general, if it were not for the effect of the widespread use of e-commerce, over the last six years, inflation would have been on average 5% higher. Additionally, e-commerce use amounted to about 1 billion euros more in discretionary spending for Italian households between 2020 and 2022”.
Giving more details about the study and from where the data was collected, Ambrosetti says that this data “included the very first database in Italy analysing how the prices of goods sold via e-commerce evolve over time, vis-à-vis the general price index of a typical basket of goods for Italian households, as determined by ISTAT (Italian National Institute of Statistics). The study depended on ISTAT data in defining the statistical model, siphoning out the data, and in a preliminary interpretation of results”. Amazon also notes that “Amazon customers worldwide buy over 18,000 Made in Italy products, giving greater international exposure and a boost to Italian businesses, with export sales from Italy up by over 50%” and says that their Made In Italy Days program is a major boost as well.
