Online shopping is the national sport of Italians, but how much fake news is circulating? Analysis of prices, payment security and reviews
One click and the fear goes away. Buying online has become the new national sport, so much so that estimates predict record spending in Italy of approximately 182 million euros per day. But how much awareness is behind each virtual cart? While digital platforms are turning into the first purchasing option for millions of Italians, a jungle of false myths is growing in the shadow of the e-commerce market. Between urban legends about prices and phobias about safety, it’s time to understand what is true and what is just a cliché to be dispelled.
Glinta company specialized in the creation of tailor-made e-commerce solutions (part of the group The Next Generation Platform), which ended 2025 with a +77% of sales managed for its customers, reaching 14.2 million eurosbased on the experience with its partners, proposes an analysis of the main false myths that characterize the world of ecommerce and tries to clarify.
1) Online costs less and less
For a long time, the digital sales industry has been linked to the concept of savings and unmissable promotions. However, the current scenario shows a more evolved consumer who, while not ignoring the economic factor, increasingly favors it logistical efficiency and immediacy of servicesearching in the brand’s online shop for a purchasing experience in line with the physical one.
Behind an online store there are also important structural costs: from logistics to marketing to customer support, which make competition based exclusively on lower prices increasingly less sustainable.
2) Online payments are not secure
Distrust towards digital payments continues to be one of the most widespread fears, despite the evolution of security systems having made online transactions extremely protected.
While estimates indicate that global e-commerce fraud is set to grow, reaching $100 billion by 2029 (up from around $44 billion in 2024), advanced encryption, biometric authentication and multi-level verifications allow you to purchase safely todayespecially on trusted sites. The main risks derive rather from unaware behaviour, such as relying on non-transparent portals or being attracted by unrealistic offers.
How to recognize a reliable site? Certainly by checking the presence of the Https protocol in the address bar, in addition to the presence of the company data clearly visible at the bottom of the page.
3) Opening an e-commerce is enough to sell
One of the most common mistakes is considering e-commerce a simple digital showcase. Actually, an online store requires continuous investments and constant managementboth from a technological and user experience point of view.
Technical performance and ease of navigation directly impact conversions: slow pages, cumbersome checkouts or hidden costs shown only at the end of the purchasing journey still represent some of the main causes of cart abandonment today.
4) Online will completely replace the physical store
Over the years, the debate on the relationship between traditional retail and e-commerce has often been described as a contrast. In reality, the most effective models are evolving towardsharmonious integration between physical and digital.
The most fitting example is «click & collect»: the service that allows the user to purchase online and collect the product in store, thus generating direct traffic to the physical point of sale.
5) Reviews are enough to understand if a site is reliable
Online reviews remain an important tool, but not always sufficient to evaluate the reliability of an e-commerce also due to the presence of tools capable of falsifying them.
For this reason, in addition to the comments on the site, it is important rely on external platforms that evaluate the reliability of a brand. Furthermore, learning to read reviews starting from the three-star ones, usually the most detailed and honest, allows you to more easily identify the real comments.
6) The shopping experience ends with payment
Many companies invest significant budgets to bring the customer to the point of purchase, but completely neglect post-sales. A slow customer service or, worse yet, non-existent, the lack of tracking clear of the shipment, a complex management of a logistical problem: one of these elements is enough to compromise the entire experience. Furthermore, it is important to remember that maintaining an existing customer costs significantly less than acquiring a new one.
«Every day we deal with consumers and companies who, based on their different needs, tell us their often unfounded beliefs about e-commerce. For consumers, it is essential that an online site guarantees maximum security at the time of payment, and with today’s technology it is possible to remove this fear”, he comments Pietro Gerolimetto, Co-founder & CEO Of Glint. «On the other hand, companies think that it is enough to put a site online to sell their products: this is not the case. The customer acquisition process, the relationship and post-sales are fundamental moments that a successful brand must take care of meticulously.”
