Retail now and in the future
Daniele Tirelli, president of Popai Italy – a nonprofit association set up to develop the culture of retail in the widest sense – sums up the situation in the sector.In what way has retail changed in recent years? The change has been radical abroad and in Italy it is going on slowly. This business is built on certain foundations: information, logistics, places where it interfaces with customers. All these factors have undergone considerable changes. Information has increased together with the ability to collect it and organize it by codification and taxonomy. Logistics have benefited from the collapse of commercial barriers, transport costs, technological developments in warehousing, including mainly, robotics. Retail locations have undergone a gradual diversification in formulas and formats: discount stores and outlets on the one hand, flagships, pop-ups, temporary shops and showrooms on the other, via new types of shopping centers. Obviously these are joined by a totally new channel like online and its various facets.How much has the change been influenced by technology?As I said before, technology or, rather, the multitude of retail-applicable technologies, have had an enormous influence. But we must not forget that they can be ineffective if they are not part of a contextualized environment in which their full potential can be developed. Maybe this is lacking in Italy, where bureaucracy and relics from the past have certainly prevented stiffer competition and, consequently, the process of selecting the most efficient solutions. Despite this, lately we have been seeing numerous demonstrations of how new technologies can be applied, which are certainly fairly chaotic, but interesting. Digital signage and digital billboards, mobile applications, customized solutions for customers, and support devices for traditional outlets are proof that the increase is accelerating.What designs are trending now?In this case many “light areas” are merging with the many “shadows”.Specific exceptions aside, the principle by which functionality (in retail) should prevail over aesthetics is indisputable, even if it is frequently disregarded. Retail is undoubtedly the latest discovery by designers and architects. Unfortunately, many of them have put their egos before what should be a professional exercise in the main and exclusive interest of the customer. In other words, as well as intuition and ingenious creations we’re also getting a lot of “mannerism”.Stylistic choices that were avant-garde, such as “museum” display minimalism, “neo-pop”, “shabby”, “industrial archaeology”, “techno”, “ecolò”, tend to be repeated too often and with little imagination. Frequently, the architect’s vision prevails over that of marketing, which should be fully in control of customer attitudes and conduct inside and outside the point of sale. Nowadays, buying is a decision and an act that is more closely linked to the psychological traits of the human personality than to its material needs. Marketing possesses this knowledge, not designers or architects. However, apart from this situation, it is obvious that the evolution in spaces and the many useable materials offer magnificent opportunities, especially for selling apparel and accessories, the basic appeal of which is their spectacular display.In conclusion, despite the crisis, from our point of view investment in store design and visual merchandising appears to be showing encouraging signs of growth.Can you describe the consumer of the future?There are no specific consumers but an increasing number of ideal types of consumers. With the growth of alternatives in an increasingly vast and specialized assortment, the consumer culture (at the basis of choices) will become decidedly asymmetric at individual level. This means that everyone will be well informed about certain things that interest them and extremely ignorant about other things, given the limited capacity to process information. In short, in many ways the consumer of the future will be more confused, less well informed about many things and very demanding about others. In other words, emphasis will be placed on the role of socio-cultural conditions rather than on those that are purely socio-demographic.
