The results of the Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail in Europe 2024 analysis presented by Manhattan Associates and commissioned by Incisiv in collaboration with Google Cloud and Zebra Technologies, highlight how The unified retail market is expected to grow by 1.3 percentage points per year in the coming years, bringing turnover from 80.4 billion in 2022 to 88.3 billion in 2028..
The study, which involves the clothing and footwear, home and DIY, and luxury sectors in Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, highlights the growth potential and critical issues of brands in four specific areas, Search & Discovery, Cart & Checkout, Promising & Fulfilment and Service & Support.
In detail, Italy is substantially aligned with the rest of the countries even if there are still areas for improvement as explained by Roberto Vismara, sales director of Manhattan Associates: “Italian specialty retailers are making significant strides in digital and customer experience skills and resources. However, there are margins of improvementin particular in areas such as Promising & Fulfillment and Cart & Checkoutwhich have the potential to meet evolving shopper expectations. These key sectors are investing significantly in digital capabilities to improve customer engagement, inventory visibility, order fulfillment, green practices, and personalized shopping experiences both online and in-store. By focusing on the strengths and addressing the weaknesses mentioned, Italian retailers will certainly be able to improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty”
“With this survey we wanted to answer a specific question: does a company identified as a leader have a real competitive advantage over its competitors? The answer is yes: leaders have growth rates that are two or three times higher than all other companies and these higher growth rates are also accompanied by significantly higher conversion rates. Therefore, Having a high level of maturity in unified commerce really leads to a competitive advantage in terms of rare majors. Another thing that emerges from the survey is that maturity in unified commerce is no longer measured only on the ability to make certain features available, but much more on the depth, on the completeness with which I use a certain feature that has been identified as differentiating,” underlines Roberto Vismara, sales director of Manhattan Associates. “Not only that, the third element that should make us reflect concerns the theme of Fulfillment and Promising. This is an area where we have seen that the average level of maturity is decidedly lower compared to other functional areas.”
Gucci and Calzedonia/Oniverse stand out as industry leadershighlighting how some brands manage to excel in customer engagement right from the early stages of contact. Other brands such as Moncler and Valentino stand out for their engagement capabilities, while Benetton and Dolce&Gabbana stand out for their effective post-sales and sustainable packaging solutions. Technology and sustainability are increasingly important in consumer expectations. The integration of sustainable practices and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies not only improve the customer experience but also strengthen brand loyalty. But especially Italian customers are interested in personalized support and the possibility of accessing customer service, seen as a differentiating factor in terms of loyalty. The technological innovation brought by artificial intelligence will allow an evolution in the assistance service, where MaxMara and Prada are currently recording the best performances.
Manhattan’s commitment to unified retail is demonstrated through a completely cloud-based product portfolio. This approach ensures constant updates and a more fluid management of retail operations, from the point of sale to supply chain management, including every aspect of the customer relationship.
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