Global e-commerce giant Amazon has joined forces with the City of Florence to launch the Made in Italy marketplace.
The Italian artisan marketplace launched today on Amazon.it (Amazon.co.uk coming soon), with the Amazon.com option expected to follow shortly. With the opening of the online store, Tuscan and Italian craftspeople are effectively opening the doors of their botteghe (workshops) to a potential client base of 285 million online shoppers.
The Made in Italy Amazon marketplace currently offers 5,000 products handcrafted by 150 selected artisans. At present, five categories showcase clothing; shoes and bags; ceramics; jewellery and furniture.
Talking to The Florentine, Francois Nuyts, country manager of Amazon Italy and Spain, commented, ‘Made in Italy is one of the best-known and most sought-after brands in the world. Through the Amazon marketplace, Italian artisans will have the opportunity to present and sell their products outside their region and beyond national borders.’
The premise is sound. In the last 12 months, the number of Italian companies who exported their products with Amazon rose by more than 90 percent, generating export revenue in excess of 133 million euro.
At the official launch event in Florence’s Salone dei Cinquecento, mayor Dario Nardella was the first buyer on the Amazon.it online platform, symbolically purchasing a Paolo Penko Baptistery design pendant – ‘for my wife, given the amount of time I spend at the office,’ the mayor quipped.
