(Finance) – Archived the suffering experienced in the pandemic, in 2022 The physical trade has regained centrality in the development plans of retailers.
Innovation covers an important role for the development of Retail in Italy and, despite the less than rosy expectations, investment in digital by the main players in the sector did not suffer a setback in 2022: the ratio between spending on digital innovation and turnover it is stable compared to 2021 and equal to 2.5%. These are some of the evidences that emerged from theDigital Innovation Observatory in Retailpromoted by the School of Management of the Milan Polytechnic and now in its ninth edition, on the occasion of the conference “Digital in Retail: a change of course?”.
“In recent years, retail, especially physical, has experienced moments of great stress. In 2020, the outbreak of the Covid emergency generated a violent shift in consumption and investments from offline to online” he declares Valentina Pontiggia, Director of the Digital Innovation Observatory in Retail.
“In 2022 the scenario has completely changed: the growth of overall retail sales and the stability of the online incidence rate on consumption are unequivocal signs of how Italians have rediscovered the value of the physical experience. the Retail. However, digital can be an effective tool in which to invest to counter the economic consequences, resulting from geopolitical instability, such as inflation and rising costs of energy and raw materials”.
In detail, the analysis shows that in the year just ended the value of total product retail sales (online + offline) in Italy recorded a growth of +4.7% compared to the previous year (it was +4% in 2021), while theeCommerce continues its path of evolution, albeit to a lesser extent than the extraordinary growth of recent years.
It should be noted that the recovery of the physical channel requires a review of the stores not only from an infrastructural point of viewbut also digital. The customer experience is simplified and made more aware: digital kiosks, implemented by 28% of top retailers, favor the deepening of product knowledge, while digital solutions signage (23%) activate effective communication with the customer.
“Digital is not just a means to work on improving the customer experience and developing omnichannel sales modelsbut also performs a primary task in response to the current economic situation. It also changes the way retailers make innovation: lean approaches are preferred, i.e. those capable of guaranteeing the necessary flexibility to operate in conditions of uncertainty and adapt more quickly to market turbulence” he concludes Valentina Pontiggia, Director of the Digital Innovation Observatory in Retail.
“It is also interesting to note the employee experience revolution, which amplifies online-offline integration. Some players in the supply chain are in fact aiming on the role of digital to facilitate the operations of front-end personnel, others are launching training programs on digital transformation topics to encourage the acquisition of new omnichannel skills. Finally, there are those who work on the level of innovation of meaning by designing a memorable employee experience, which pushes store staff to live experiences rich in value in moments of physical and digital interaction with customers”, he adds Emilio Bellini, Scientific Head of the Digital Innovation Observatory in Retail.
(Photo: Alexander Kovacs on Unsplash)