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The metaverse can be helpful in different phases of the customer shopping experience. In 2022, ** percent of professionals from Italian enterprises stated their companies are interested in using the metaverse to display virtual content customers can interact with. Only ** percent of respondents said their companies had planned or achieved this feature. Enhanced customer service was also one of Italy's most promising areas for metaverse use, with ** percent of interest. The trend aligns with the results of previous surveys indicating a strong focus of Italian e-commerce companies on social media — the main platforms enabling the metaverse.

Social media drives traffic

In Italy, social media accounts for *** percent of web traffic to e-commerce sites, being a relevant traffic source in mobile e-commerce. For instance, established fashion marketplace Zalando owes most of its social media-driven traffic to Facebook and YouTube, with Instagram being a minor social referral channel as of 2022.

No social commerce without TikTok

Although Facebook pushes e-commerce traffic due to its significant Italian user base, it is unlikely to be the platform disrupting shopping behavior the most. In 2021, TikTok users seemed the most eager to shop on social media, rather than to move to online stores, with ** percent of them interested in social commerce, against a mere ** percent of Facebook or Twitter users having the same opinion.