The digital South that surprises: small businesses lead in exports on eBay

There is an Italy that is growing far from the industrial districts and technological poles: it is that of the small and micro enterprises that find in digital a bridge to the world. The new report 'Small Business Activity in Italy' by eBay photographs a reality that overturns the traditional economic maps: the first six Italian regions for digital density are all in the South - Campania, Abruzzo, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily.

Digital density, an indicator developed by the global marketplace with 134 million active buyers in 190 marketplaces and 2.4 billion listings, measures online entrepreneurial activity relative to population. "It combines two factors," Samantha Wellington, senior vice president and chief legal officer of eBay, explained to Il Sole 24 Ore, : the number of registered sellers and the total value of their sales (in dollars or euros) per 100,000 inhabitants. The idea is to create a picture of entrepreneurial vitality in specific areas.

The most emblematic data concerns Campania, which despite being among the last in Europe for 'digital readiness' according to Eurostat's NUTS2 study, is first in Italy and close to the top in Europe for activity on eBay. A paradox that is only apparent: 'We observe even in Italy,' Wellington comments, 'that when small businesses have access to digital platforms like eBay, which open up the whole world to them, even rural or less developed areas often manage to achieve better results than those that are already economically strong. It is a process of democratisation of digital access.

In the Italian manufacturing world, small and micro enterprises remain a minority - only 4% of national exports - but on eBay they show an outsized capacity for expansion. 95% export (compared to 4.2% of the overall average), reaching an average of 15 international markets, and more than half (51%) sell in at least ten countries. More than a quarter ship to four or more continents.

A result that is also reflected in employment: the activities of Italian companies on eBay support about 35 thousand jobs, direct and indirect, in an ecosystem that goes well beyond the single platform. "If I were the Italian government," observes eBay's senior vice president, "I would look at this data and ask myself how to invest in these areas, how to strengthen digital culture and the digital economy to help historically disadvantaged territories grow.