FEATURE | Sustainability
WHAT’S NEXT:
Discovery Missions at FICO Eataly World
By John Stanley
We’re all aware that retailing is changing—rapidly. The key to
success is to identify where your business will fit into the retail
model of the future. With consumers altering their shopping
habits and making fewer “get missions” and more “discovery
missions,” retailers must identify at which of the three key
marketplace spots they want to position themselves:
• Price, which tends to be led by everyday-low-price
retailers rather than discount stores
• Convenience, which is being slowly dominated by online
retailing, especially Amazon
• Experience, where the consumer visits a physical store
on a journey of discovery
The majority of brick-and-mortar retailers need to own
this experience marketplace. It means no longer processing
customers and spending more time talking to them. Many
retailers will fail to produce that experience, often because
they are too product-driven. It was with this in mind that
I visited a new experience-focused retail destination in
Bologna, Italy: FICO Eataly World (FICO), an edutainment
park that Eataly Srl, Coop Alleanza 3.0 Soc. Coop., and
Coop Reno Scarl privately own. FICO is the world’s largest
agri-food park, sprawling over two hectares of land with 40
farming factories, 45 eateries, and 150 retailers selling and
promoting local produce.
The park is designed to allow local farmers and artisans
to promote and sell their products, as well as educate their
customers. Not every business can invest the amount of
money and time that has gone into this experience, but any
retailer can still learn from it and adapt it to their its own
merchandising and marketing model. Among the many
takeaway points from my FICO visits, I noted the following:
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TACTICS / KID'S ENTERTAINMENT EDITION
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to view the FICO Eataly World video.