The third roundtable of the day saw the presence of Claudio Orrea, president/CEO, Patrizia Pepe; Enrico Moretti Polegato, president, Diadora); Massimo Marconi, regional CEO lender Euromed, Centric Software; and Uwe Fricke, VP retail, fashion, beauty, luxury, CoreMedia.
Patrizia Pepe presented its newest agile and low-impact Concept Hub store concept, based upon a rational use of recyclable and low-impact materials.
The store uses metal tubes for flexible, easy to change and move store decors that also give maximum emphasis to product. "The first hub ame into being last year, and, now, there are 12 of them, which complement traditional stores,” explained Orrea.
The new store concept is the perfect means to enter dynamic neighborhoods in big cities, outside city centers, but also for franchise development, because they do not require expensive investments on the concept. Then they need ongoing training of salespeople and communication consistent with brand choices.
Orrea: “Knowledge of consumer data is useful, but it must be employed properly, letting salespeople do their job,” said Orrea. Though, the winning key is a mix of storytelling and empathy: "The Patrizia Pepe woman is rock, which translates into the product, and we see that our consumers appreciate this identikit,” he added.
Moving toward an increasingly sustainable model is in the tradition of Diadora, whose 2030 collection offers a low-impact version of some of its iconic sneaker models. They cost 15% ore than the average collection but, as Moretti Polegato explained, it’s the consumer who chooses based on his or her conscience and willingness to spend.
Despite the price, the 2030 line is the one that currently boasts the best sell-trough.
“But does the customer get informed? And how informed should he be?" asked Marc Sondermann, director of Fashion/The SPIN OFF, while moderating the talk.
"You need to establish empathy with the consumers, and need to make them feel part of the project," replied Polegato. "In Diadora we decline the concept of sustainability into the concept of proximity–a single language to indicate caring for a project, a product or a community. No 'I' or 'you,' but ‘we’.”
"Sustainability is the theme of the moment but it needs to be imagined, then planned and managed, before bringing it to market," pointed out Massimo Marconi of Centric Software, which specializes in solutions for planning, PLM-Product lifecycle management and pricing, with extensive experience on fashion as well.
According to the manager, true "sustainability design" must be done, including consideration of related factors such as product packaging, reuse and recycling.
In addition to having to be managed, while the context can abruptly change, it has to be tracked and will be justified by a data structure that will go into the Sustainability Report. Tracking is important because the data impacts costs and the brand, "which should not be distorted."
Moreover, as technology helps and simplifies procedures. Ultimately, with proper management of information related to a company's virtuous behavior, "sustainable" profit can be achieved.
There are also advanced solutions that intervene at the stage when it is necessary to communicate to the consumer, trying to engage them, explained Uwe Fricke, of CoreMedia, a German company specializing in content management and the creation of digital experiences for B2C and B2B.
The company is also known for developing CoreMedia Content Cloud, which combines real-time product information with multimedia marketing content and provides consistent, personalized product messaging across multiple digital channels.
According to Fricke, the company's vice president for retail, fashion, beauty and luxury, the scenario is very complex and needs to be addressed. “There is a multiplicity of channels available through which to communicate the product, the services provided and the company, but what really matters is consistency in storytelling.”
Fricke notes that entrepreneurs know that the brand is original, has an own heritage and specific characteristics, but when it comes time to orchestrate the mall, they realize that there is a catch-up to be made and that a consistent experience needs to be crafted across all channels.
"Technology comes into play within the ongoing confrontation with social media. Competition can be won by focusing on producing content that also changes every second or minute,” he explained.
Evolved content management goes so far as to change content throughout the day, whether it is the homepage of the digital store or the physical store.
“Also important in the case of sustainability storytelling are speaking the same language as the target consumer and making sure that every touchpoint is a buying opportunity for your target audience by combining content and corporate vision.”
READ ALSO:
