According to the Findomestic Observatory of September, created by the consumer credit company of the BNP Paribas group in collaboration with Eumetra, many Italians in the next three months are thinking of buying a new property, and, to counter the expensive energy, to make their homes more efficient with photovoltaics, heat pumps and low consumption appliances.

 

Positive forecasts for the home sector

The "home" sector is driving the almost double-digit rise in purchase intentions (+ 9.8%) of Italians; at the end of August, the Italians who expressed their intention to buy new homes increased by 40.2% compared to July, approaching the maximum levels reached last June.

Interest in improving one's home is also growing, making it more efficient against expensive energy: photovoltaics (+ 32.6%, at the highest levels of the last 12 months), heat pumps (+ 17.4%), large and small household appliances (+ 10.4% and + 9.7% respectively), fixtures (+ 9.2%) and condensing or biomass boilers (+ 4.1%).

Italians also want to make the home environment more comfortable by purchasing new furniture (+ 12.6% of purchase intentions) or by purchasing a new TV, a segment that is confirmed at high levels thanks to the switch-off effect with an increase of 12%. Only the thermal insulation works are in contrast: -3.9%.

"The survey we conducted in the last days of August - comments Claudio Bardazzi, Findomestic Observatory Manager - highlights how, despite the difficulties of the context, Italians do not give up on planning important purchases for the autumn. The biggest fears remain the rise in prices (50%) and the risk of recession for the country (43%), but we record a significant increase in the fear that the energy supply will not be guaranteed in the next autumn (for 26% it is one of the main anxieties against 18% in July) ".

 

New impetus for mobility and technology

The data from the Findomestic Observatory show in the last month a positive return in the intentions to purchase new cars (+ 10.5% in general, + 49% for electrified), used cars (+ 2.8%) and motor vehicles which recorded an increase of 16.3%. The desire for e-bikes is also growing again (+ 9.5%) while electric scooters yield 10.5%.

Very positive end of summer also for the technology sector with the highest levels of propensity to buy in the last year for telephony (+ 8.3%, 35% of the sample plan to buy a new phone in the next 3 months), PC and accessories (+ 9.5% and 30.2%) and tablets / e-books (+ 16.4%, 22.5% of the sample).

 

Ecommerce again exceeds in-store sales

After the exploit in July in which 61% of the sample declared that they generally prefer to buy in stores rather than online (39%), in August the Findomestic Observatory recorded a new trend reversal with a prevalence of online (57 %) compared to the physical point of sale (43%).

Going into the specifics of the different product categories there are, however, purchases for which Italians can not do without the physical store: 89% goes to the dealer to buy cars and motorcycles, 85% do the daily shopping in the store and 83% buy furniture in store.

On the other hand, the markets for technological goods are more digitized: if to buy large appliances the preference is still towards the shop (70% against 30%), for the small ones the sample is divided exactly in half, as well as for IT products. For telephones and accessories, there is even a slight advantage of the online over the store (53% versus 47%).

According to the Findomestic survey, today the consumer is looking for offers both in the shop and on the web but, if from the physical point of sale he expects quality and assistance from the staff immediately afterwards, from the online he expects fast and flexible services and delivery, a site easy to use, wide choice and effective privacy management.