Trends: Digital Excellence in Fashion Roundtable: Flexibility Wins

Unstable markets, changing demand, increasingly fluid purchasing patterns, changing scenarios that do not allow for stabilization. How to cope with the volatility of the environment? What role can open technologies play? These were the questions that the participants tried to answer at the “Digital Excellence Roundtable” organized at the end of June by Fashion Magazine, a sister publication of The SPIN OFF, in Milan and moderated by Giuliano Noci, full professor of strategy and marketing and vice-rector of the Politecnico di Milano.

During the discussion, several key words emerged, such as “flexibility”, “openness” and “agility”, as well as “putting people at the centre” as the main driver of change.

We have selected some of the most interesting quotes of the day.

Scila Battistella, Partnership Manager, BigCommerce (Open, foldable SaaS e-commerce platform):
“Responding to the speed of the market is today’s priority.”

“Most of the technology that will need to be implemented on a site to be able to respond efficiently and effectively to the market in 18 months. Being able to rely on a technology partner who can integrate the right solution that is needed at the right time makes a big difference.”

“When we talk about e-commerce, there are two universes you can rely on: open source, which are large monolithic technologies that work very well and allow a lot of freedom in terms of customization, but are limiting in terms of investment in development and security, and technologies that work like licensed BigCommerce, which are open and suitable for integration.”

“You have to be open to what the market is asking for and pay attention to the need to modernize systems. Responding to speed is the priority today.”

Nicola de Cesare, Senior Director, E-commerce and International Markets, PagoLight (Buy now, pay later financial solution from Compass Banca/Mediobanca Group):
“Financing can be a marketing lever.”

“Deferred payment is often seen as a lever of product availability, which sometimes goes against the marketing strategy and aspirational logic of a luxury product. I think you have to look to the future: a college student or a law firm intern has limited purchasing power, but they can increase it in the future. If a brand allows them to buy a €1,500 bag in multiple installments, that allows them to get on board right away, fall in love with my product, and open up the possibility that they will become my customer in three to four years.”

“Financing can also be a marketing lever because it allows you to get to know and retain the end customer in advance.”

Mena Marano, CEO of Arav Fashion:
“Even in payments, the principle applies that the consumer is at the center.”

“The most important thing is to flatter the needs of the consumer, who must be our point of reference. Offering a variety of options at this stage allows us to create future loyalty, bring different customers closer together and increase sales.”

“In Italy, we need to grow through innovation, the digitalization of businesses and, above all, the integration of systems in a company that should not operate within tight compartments, but organically.”

Francesca Verde, Marketing and Digital Director, Camomilla Italia:
“The obstacle to change is mentality.”

“We managed to digitalize the company, but you have to take into account that we are 50 years old and changing certain logics was not easy. We are far ahead technologically, although the results are not directly proportional to the infrastructure we have created, because people need time to gain awareness and get used to it.”

“It must be clearly stated that what was worth it 50 years ago is not worth it today. That is why, three years after the start of the digitalization project in the company, we are very satisfied: a challenge that has brought results, including the conversion rate.”

Roberta La Terza, Head of E-commerce, Tessabit:
“The most important thing is the cultural impact.”

“We, as leading Italian retailers with several stores on Lake Como, are 70-year-old experts in retail and although we started investing in digital solutions very early on, the road to get there was not easy.”

“We worked on changing the way of thinking in management, we introduced systems into communication, we made them open and flexible even for something that may not exist today. I think that the cultural lever is in the foreground: today’s technological reality is different from the way of thinking that generated it.”

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