Italy leads "teleshopping" growth

Warc, 5 March 2013

BERLIN: Italy offers the greatest potential for growth in the European "teleshopping" market, a category being reshaped by the rise of tablets and smartphones, a study has claimed.

The Future of TV Shopping, was commissioned by the European Retailing Association from strategic consultancy Goldmedia, and looked at live shopping, auction television, direct response TV and travel shopping across the four leading markets of France, Germany, Italy and the UK.

It found that in these countries, teleshopping generated sales of €3.8bn in 2011 and forecast this total would rise to €5.3bn by 2017.

Italy offers the greatest growth potential, with Goldmedia suggesting the market there could increase 115%, from an admittedly low base of €420m, to reach €905m in 2017.

The next fastest growing market is Germany, which is also the biggest. It is predicted to grow 43% between 2011 and 2017, by when it will be worth €2.4bn.

The UK is the second largest market, worth €1.4bn in 2011 and expected to expand 19% to €1.7bn over the following six years.

The study also revealed that the UK offers the widest range of suppliers, with 31 providers employing some 5,500 people.

That number was almost half the total number of 68 vendors found across all four markets.

France is the smallest market and the one showing least potential. Turnover there was just €230m in 2011 and future growth is expected to be slight, largely because of regulatory reasons.

While TV is still the main teleshopping medium, its dominance is likely to diminish in the future.

In 2011, 68% of revenues came via this channel but by 2017, sales are forecast to fall to 50%, as the internet, social media, smartphones and tablets all become more important.

Data sourced from Goldmedia; additional content by Warc staff