To define the future retail scenarios, Milano Home has involved many professionals in the sector – including me – and started a working table; a year-long process, with an answer in progress and that I hope will be carried forward.
How the collaboration was born
Let’s take a step back: in January 2024 the first edition of Milano Home was inaugurated; for those who have not yet visited it, it is a fair dedicated to the world of home decor and design, especially for professionals and retailers, with a focus on creativity, innovation and product quality. Through Simona Finessi, Platform Architecture then selected me and 13 other architects for an event on the themes of the residential environment, “I luoghi dell’abitare”, where each explained their vision. If you want, here there is my speech (in Italian).
Fresh from this experience, a few weeks later I was contacted by Sabina Fornasari, marketing manager of the fair, to be part of a small think tank, a study group that has set itself a significant goal for Milano Home 2025: to help the fair’s subjects think about the changes in the world of retail, in order to interpret them and become an active part of them.
The working group
Besides me and Sabina Fornasari, the group includes Emanuele Guido – director of the event, Adolfo Carrara – creative director and Laura Rolle – semiologist and founder of Blue Eggs. What I found deeply stimulating and that is already visible in the different roles just described, was the multidisciplinarity that allowed totally different approaches and that surprisingly had many points in common.
From the point of view of TRADE FAIR MANAGEMENT it was important to provide a tool, an in-depth analysis to the people who would be part of it; a service to add to the exhibition space and the possibility of establishing new business relationships. The theme chosen is not by chance very heartfelt, the super question “what will be the future of the shop?” expresses the threat that they feel concerning the changes and innovations in progress, which is why it is important at any scale to remain current, reinvent yourself and understand your catchment area to keep your business thriving. Our help would have been precisely in trying to answer, trying to define strategies, how, based on our experiences. Consequently, it is necessary to find an approach applicable to the small scale, shareable and simply replicable by every business and retailer, whatever the geographical, product or catchment area.
From a MARKETING point of view, an analysis of the direct requests of retailers, competitors, trade fairs, and the solutions adopted by those who were able to read the changes in the world and made them their strength was important: whether they were multinational brands or the single point of sale that broke down the historical rules. In addition to the work group I was part of, the Milano Home team started many in-person meetings throughout Italy throughout the year, listening to everyone’s voices.
the presentation of the Manifesto on 23.01.2025 in Milan Home – in the center; on the left Emanuele Guido on the right Laura Rolle
From a SEMIOTIC point of view, a world unknown to me until then opened up. Laura Rolle brought Deep Trend® in her luggage: we all know the word trend, these are tendencies, orientations, directions that are clearly visible to us in everyday life and that are often discernible on multiple fronts. Let’s think for example of eco-sustainability, a value but also a concept that in recent years has been exploited on multiple fronts, not only in the political-strategic one but also in the sale of products, in the communication of the personal image of a public figure, in the technical choices of the construction sector and so on.
Deep Trends® are a deeper reading, the forecast, the anticipation of what future choices will be and that will be influenced by different factors, not only economic, but cultural, social, political and even religious. And why bother to track down trends that will be in vogue in 5 years?
In our sector, the reason is simple: being a forerunner in the creative field has always been an advantage, anticipating the times allows you to propose current projects, which are unlikely to age in a short time. For those who work in the product or marketing field, they know very well that the development of a product takes years; and it is very risky to release a product when the market is already saturated or tired of it; proposing a service or a product to a ready market instead maximizes the profits and efforts of everyone. What you have just read is a very simplified explanation of this concept but if you want to delve deeper, since it is very interesting, I refer you to the links below.
From an ARCHITECTURAL AND DESIGN point of view, we analyzed the latest aesthetic and spatial trends of stores. The fairs, trade magazines, brands and stores that have studied their market and their aesthetics more deeply are in fact light years away from the concept of an old-fashioned store, overflowing with objects and not always interested in an interface with the end consumer. The goal was not to say which material or color was most in vogue, but to define with a broader scope what was the way of displaying the objects for sale, what were the spaces planned for the sale and which for the customer affiliation; in what way the identity of the store was communicated and which strategies of the use of the spaces were appreciated by the end consumer.
All this might seem like a distortion of the old-school store, the promotion of copy-and-paste stores like Apple, activating a feeling of nostalgia and protection: anything but. The goal is actually to save small businesses, giving them tools so they can update themselves without losing their values, their history and the human relationship on which they are based. Many of these businesses are closing, losing customers in the face of increasingly aggressive online commerce or multinationals that make them obsolete. Our idea instead is that they have a lot to give, and that the trend will reverse, but shopkeepers must become an active part in updating themselves by understanding contemporary demands.P
The Manifesto
This premise above has led to some reasoning, to some strong points that we have found in agreement in our experiences and in our professional training. We are convinced that the shop will have a central role in the future, because human value, uniqueness and territorial value will be increasingly important. We have focused on these points in a manifesto – downloadable from the official website or from this link, and we have exposed them at the opening of the 2025 edition, on January 23rd.
In a rapidly evolving economic, cultural and technological context, the specialized store will be increasingly called upon to transform itself into a place with high added value, in terms of identity, competence, service and communication.
Hyper-briefly, I report the points of the manifesto here too:
- IDENTITY: clearly define your identity (visual, values, offer and service); take care of your store and select products in harmony with your history and values
- VITAL RELATIONSHIPS: the store as a meeting point, a place for relationships, information, collaborations
- HYPERCOMPETENCE: know your products and become a point of reference as a consultant, for customers, companies and professionals. An enormous added value in a world where online offerings flatten differences, do not always make the best brands known for your needs
- CONNECTION: open up to new connections and relationships in the area, for example co-business and co-working, host third-party activities – see the bookshop with a bar; yoga courses in herbalist’s shops; show-cooking in household appliance stores and so on.
- HYBRIDIZATION: consider the physical store and the online as parts of a single project, of the same identity; communicate and open up to technologies
Next Generation: the talk
The next day, January 24, in addition to the many events planned by the event, a further space for in-depth analysis was dedicated to which I took part as a moderator.
We were interested in addressing the themes of the manifesto according to a specific topic: generational change. So we gave shape to a talk entitled: “Generational challenge: following the flow and renewing the appeal of physical stores“, to answer questions such as:
- How does the identity of a store change or can it remain true to itself in the case of a generational transition? For example, when the store passes from father to son; or when a new entrepreneur takes over an existing business.
- How do you attract new young customers?
- How does the perception of a store change in a young audience? How much do its care, aesthetics and beauty influence its success?
- How can you continue to keep up with the times?
Three professionals were involved to give their point of view.
Giuseppe Gallo and Andrea Cembalo are two young entrepreneurs who have continued two historic family businesses, respectively Cose di Casa dei F.lli Gallo and La Casa di Betty. In their apparently similar experiences, two different approaches were adopted, due to contexts with different needs: in one case the store was well connected at a territorial level, while the second had to adopt multi-channel approaches to be visible; in one case it was necessary to maintain a strong historical family legacy, in the second case a very strong renewal was essential; both then activated collaborations with third-party professionals or businesses.
Beatrice Villata is an interior designer who has interfaced with the world of retail both for professional activities and as an IED teacher, and has expressed her point of view combined with that of the very young students she has followed during the year. As shown by a series of selected projects and university theses, she has carried forward the principles of careful product selection, detailed design of spaces with high concepts and standards to be able to stand out within the market.
The debate was very interesting, because as you can see these professionals also adhered to many of the principles of the manifesto, confirming how our intuitions – although very personal and the result of personal experience – are still a good path to follow to maintain a business in line with the times.
Link and resources
A few links for those who want to delve deeper into the topic.
- Milano Home home page
- Manifesto official page
- Deep Trend®, articoli di Laura Rolle – Promotion Magazine, Confcommercio – e sito di Blue Eggs
- Milano Home articles about the next generation, here introducing the topic, here interviewing Giuseppe Gallo.
- the protagonists of the talk: La Casa di Betty, Cose di Casa di F.lli Gallo and Beatrice Villata.
I take this opportunity to make a greeting to the family and loved ones of Adolfo Carrara who passed away a few days before the start of the event and to thank the organizers who involved me in this beautiful experience.