How can new materials and new sales strategies/purchasing experiences play a key role in helping retailers and consumers be part of the change that is taking place in the retail sector.

The post-pandemic period saw a considerable increase in sales in the retail sector. People were forced not to go out and to limit in-person experiences as much as possible. However, this did not prevent the digital commerce flow. The increase in the use of technology, even in this particular sector, has certainly pushed heavily on formats and strategies (even more exciting from an experiential point of view) that focus on “omni-channel” and online sales. Nevertheless, physical space, the relationship with materials and perceived sensoriality are still central themes for getting the consumer excited and are always central to the testing of products that the digital experience only leads to the desire for them.

An increasingly popular model is one in which companies that are apparently different from each other, but with common advertising aims come together, albeit in some cases for limited periods of time, to share spaces, concepts and sales strategies, especially in the short to medium term. This allows them to test business models on a more economically sustainable basis. In its totality, the experience becomes a crossover between virtual and real, hovering between retail space and TV set, super-technological screens and physically present products increasingly characterised by recycled materials.

This talk will attempt to ground these themes in order to analyse innovative aspects and support the new needs, choices and behaviour of companies, retailers, buyers and consumers and how the role of the designer can support them with multi-sensory proposals.

Professor Francesco Scullica - Architect Fabio Daglio