With few days to go before the event, the rich schedule that will enliven the four-day event is ready. Not to be missed is the Retail Plaza format with trends in new business and modern retail models, and with the second edition of the Better Future Award, the prize that showcases food innovation excellence from the companies at the show.
Shaping the future of retail: emerging trends can be found at Retail Plaza
Retail Plaza by TUTTOFOOD is the event format that analyzes changing business models and dynamics involving modern retail in a unique networking setting. And, as usual, it will also have a strong emphasis on case studies. Emerging trends in the food value chain that directly and indirectly affect all stakeholders in the value chain – namely producers, retailers and consumers – may be, nowadays, summarized under the following three macro themes:
- Supply chain sustainability
- Value chain innovation
- Changes in culture and consumer buying trends
These will be some of the insights that will enliven Retail Plaza where retailers, manufacturers, companies and experts will discuss new approaches and evolutionary lines of modern retail, also in response to the new scenario in which companies operate. The confirmation of these three trends of innovation in the supply chain is because of both the external factors we have seen in the last two years (pandemic and geo-political crisis) and the boom in the use of IT technologies that have been more easily accepted and used by consumers. The schedule of meetings and talks already includes several events that will alternate during the exhibition days, led by some prominent personalities including: Professor Giuseppe Stigliano, Global CEO, Spring Studios and Lecturer in Retail Marketing Innovation at IULM Milan; Massimo Visconti, Value Chain Innovation Strategist and Partner; Giorgio Santambrogio, CEO, VèGè Group and Vice President of Federdistribuzione; Cris Nulli, Founder of Appetite for Disruption; Alberto Miraglia, General Manager of the Retail Institute Italy.
Also worth marking on the agenda are the meetings with the talk by Giuliano Noci, Full Professor of Strategy & Marketing and Pro-rector Chinese Territorial Campus, Polytechnic University of Milan, featuring some interesting realities such as Signorvino, Easycoop (Coop’s online platform), Glovo, Lidl; and the presence of Franco Fassio, Associate Professor of Systemic Design, EcoDesign, Circular Economy for Food, of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy and Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano to identify sustainable nutrition strategies.
The contribution of the most relevant Italian and international chains will be of great importance, and they will also talk about sustainability and how modern retail can address this, both in Italy and abroad.
The collaboration with the Retail Institute will specifically address the issues of Green retail and Sustainable Food. Additional appointments will involve startups, new evolved omnichannel players, companies involved in the digital transformation of HoReCa, and much more. Especially in the post-pandemic era, in fact, the balance between online sales, in-store sales and the use of digital tools from a drive-to-store perspective is becoming increasingly essential. The growth rate of these changes will be strongly influenced by the new buying patterns of new consumer generations (Gen Z) and a new systemic vision of all supply chain stakeholders.
Better Future Award 2023: the red carpet where excellence shines
Gdoweek and Mark Up, in collaboration with TUTTOFOOD, present the second edition of the Better Future Award,the award highlighting food and beverage excellence of the companies present at the event and nominated. While it is still premature to go into detail about the event, it is interesting to outline some of the product trends and the attitude of some of the brands that have evolved following the pandemic. Now more than ever, a brand’s strength is represented by its ability to develop innovative, qualitative and sustainable content when it comes to products, services and projects. In this specific period, for example, we are seeing a strong expansion of functional foods associated with sports, especially aimed at younger targets, particularly with a high protein content, an expanding offer that parallels the consumption of meat, eggs or cheese. The demand for alternative protein sources is also associated with the boom in demand for vegetarian products, an area in which there is significant competition.
The discount format is also growing in double digits, on the one hand because the number of outlets throughout Italy is increasing, and on the other because retailers are increasingly redefining their offerings in an increasingly rational way. By now, consumers are used to moving in a multi-channel way, choosing the most convenient format for the type of product they are looking for. So, while price is the driving factor, there has to be, however, a renewed brand strength based on values that go beyond the concept of quality.
–Sign know-how and new professionalism
To really understand where the market of the future is heading, companies need to focus on younger targets, which are very sensitive to the issue of sustainability. To meet this need in the coming years, companies, including large-scale retail and SMEs, will require new expertise. Therefore, it is not only a matter of developing innovative products or new processes, but also new professional skills.
Green, organic and natural products continue to perform even when other more traditional segments are less dynamic. And the expansion of the “white brand” into these ranges as well should not be seen as a threat, but as an opportunity: finding product lines on which to collaborate with brands, which in turn bring their know-how and have their hand firmly fixed on the actual demands of consumers, helps to actually create innovation and can generate positive spillovers throughout the company’s business. After all, in recent years there have been numerous cases of companies that started out primarily as suppliers of private brands, then established themselves with their own brand, capitalizing on the experience gained. The Better Future Award aims to recognize companies that have distinguished themselves in the development of new products or solutions capable of ensuring a certain competitive differential, or in the improvement of those already on the market.
TUTTOFOOD is the international platform for the entire food and beverage sector that will bring together the food&beverage and retail elite at fieramilano from May 8-11, 2023.
