Milan, 23 May 2024 – When wandering around the town centres in Italy, one often wonders what the future holds for individual retail outlets in such a complicated market environment, featuring so many new technologies that have required a fast and rapid evolution.

What are we talking about specifically? According to the estimates made by Milano Home based on Hoover 2022, in Italy, the world of retail trade handling at least one home decoration product (furnishing, tableware, kitchenware, decoration, textiles, fragrances, gifts) consists of 38,000 sales outlets, 100,000 employees and over 16.5 billion euros in turnover.

Most of these shops have a turnover of between 100,000 and 300,000 euros (almost 20,000), and almost 5,000 more shops generate from 300,000 to 600,000 euros.

If we go by specialisation, there are more than 14,500 shops specialising in home furnishing, lighting and decoration, 12,000 floral and gift product shops, over 6,500 shops specialising in tableware, kitchenware and gifts, and almost 5,000 specialising in textiles and linen.

This is a network of shops characterised by knowledge of the products, the promotion of locally specific goods, and the supply of beauty and richness – a unique service that strongly characterises our country.

Not only that, recent consumer research clearly indicates that the two main information channels for people who want to buy these products are social media (38%, with Instagram leading the way) closely followed by physical shops with 20% (Promotica Spa data 2024).

Therefore, shops are not just points of sale, but real local informers for the brands they represent, for the quality of the products they handle and for the selection they make.

The professional profile of the shop is therefore a fundamental one in which Milano Home has decided to invest time and professionalism, in order to define the lines on which to support its development and allow it to carve out an even more innovative and crucial role for the territory in which it operates.

Therefore, from the end of May, a series of meetings, structured as veritable focus groups, will be held in Italy and in some European cities. These will give rise to an open and constructive dialogue, but above all they will offer an opportunity for the operators to gain a real picture of the home decor sector in the commercial areas they operate in.

They will also offer an opportunity to analyse the needs and requirements faced by retailers in these times of great transformation of their role and provide new solutions and ideas for a market that is always looking for new stimuli and new ideas. Finally, some of the most current and relevant topics for shops will be addressed, ranging from omni-channel retailing to supplier relations, and from knowledge of the materials to product scouting.

The stages planned in Italy will start in Sicily and will continue in Puglia, Calabria, Campania, Abruzzo, Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria. Some European cities such as Vienna, Zurich, Munich, Nice and Ljubljana will also be involved.

The next edition of Milano Home will once again feature a comprehensive offering for the world of home products: from fragrances to tableware, from decoration to concept gifts, the event will cement its status as a platform where novelty and innovation converge and where the excellence of the sector is revealed, characterised by original design, research, uniqueness, customisation and, of course, sustainability. A project that rewards product research and innovation, by highlighting the skills and stories of the exhibitors, from the smallest companies to the industry leaders, who all share the founding values of the Milano Home vision: originality, authenticity, quality and innovation.

The layout of the exhibition will once again be divided into themed areas that will allow operators to discover all the novelties of interest to them at a glance. There will also be a focus on specific areas and event spaces, which proved very successful during the first edition. The exhibition offer will then be completed by information and training events, delivered in cooperation with major players in the world of design and specialised publishing, focusing on the most interesting topics for the sector.

Save the date! Milano Home - fieramilano (Rho) from 23 to 26 January 2025