In this latest episode of PYMNTS’ five-part series on digital engagement in the European Union, the spotlight is on Italy, one of the EU-5 countries (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain) studied as part of the study “Benchmarking The Report on digital transformation in the world.

Read the report: Global Digital Transformation Benchmarking

Based on the ConnectedEconomy™ (CE) Index, a benchmarking tool used in the report to measure the progress of digital transformation around the world, Italy achieved the second lowest progress among the EU -5 with a CE index score of 24.6, behind Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.

See part 1: Benchmarking EU digital engagement: Spain

See part 2: Benchmarking EU digital engagement: the Netherlands

See part 3: Benchmarking EU digital engagement: Germany

Although Italy scored higher than France in the CE index, it was the least well-connected of all European countries included in the report, with 76.1% of Italians having regular internet access and 70 % reporting owning a smartphone.

Globally, only Brazil – one of the 11 countries included in the study – has lower internet coverage than Italy, but the latter’s smartphone ownership remains the lowest among the 11 countries. studied.

Of the remaining population, 31.7% reported a low level of digital engagement, 29.7% a medium level, and 14.7% a high level.

Compared to its European counterparts, Italy’s commitment distribution is most similar to that found in Germany. The main difference between the two countries is that only 10.2% of German respondents to the survey said they had no internet access, compared to 23.9% in Italy, while a much higher share of the population (43.5%) reported a low level of engagement.

When it comes to the generational distribution of CE Index scores, Italy follows the pattern of all other European countries, with digital engagement starting highest among Gen Z and then declining with each older generation.

Gen Z (18-25) scored a CE Index of 36, Millennials (26-41) scored 34, Bridge Millennials (34-43) scored 30, and Gen X (42-57 years) scored 24. As in the Netherlands, Germany and France, a drop in levels of engagement can be observed among Italians in the 58+ age bracket, which has a CE index of 17 .

By comparison, Singapore, Spain and Brazil are the only countries to score above 20 in this age group.

When it comes to online shopping, as is the case in all countries except the Netherlands and Germany, Italians show a preference for card payments, which account for 45.5% of all online transactions.

In second place, mobile-based payment methods occupy a share of 42.1%, which shows that Italy is only behind Germany in terms of preference for this online payment method. Finally, bank transfers accounted for 11.1%, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) accounted for 1.0% of all online payments.

When it comes to in-store purchases, 31.7% of people in the country use cash for transactions. Although this figure is relatively high, it is not much higher than what is seen in Spain and Japan and is lower than the 37.9% of German in-store cash transactions.

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