1.
LET'S START WITH A STATISTIC: ACCORDING TO A RECENT STUDY BY THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OBSERVATORY, IN 2020 THE ONLINE FOOD & GROCERY MARKET GREW BY 70% COMPARED TO 2019. THIS "SURGE" IS WORTH APPROXIMATELY €1 BN IN ABSOLUTE TERMS, THE HIGHEST EVER RECORDED. IN YOUR VIEW, IS THE COVID-19 CRISIS THE ONLY REASON FOR THESE NUMBERS? OR ARE WE REALLY CHANGING HOW WE SHOP?
It's a crazy statistic: Covid was the trigger, the market had been growing consistently for the past few years, but what happened accelerated us forward two or three years in just a few weeks.
I don't think we'll go back now. The traditional way of shopping is changing. There will always be shops, however, they will be very different, based on the experience and knowledge they can offer the consumer.
I remember the Apple Store in San Francisco in 2003. Even then the concept of store was radically different. The store was designated to offer the products experience: you could see them, use them, you could talk to staff who explained what to do with them, outer than buy them of course. I think that, to some degree, this is the future for our sector as well, where shops will continue to sell products, but will concentrate on certain sectors such as fresh produce, leaving all the repeat purchase goods online where there is little change from one purchase to the next.
It's a crazy statistic: Covid was the trigger, the market had been growing consistently for the past few years, but what happened accelerated us forward two or three years in just a few weeks.
I don't think we'll go back now. The traditional way of shopping is changing. There will always be shops, however, they will be very different, based on the experience and knowledge they can offer the consumer.
I remember the Apple Store in San Francisco in 2003. Even then the concept of store was radically different. The store was designated to offer the products experience: you could see them, use them, you could talk to staff who explained what to do with them, outer than buy them of course. I think that, to some degree, this is the future for our sector as well, where shops will continue to sell products, but will concentrate on certain sectors such as fresh produce, leaving all the repeat purchase goods online where there is little change from one purchase to the next.
2.
IT HAS BEEN SAID MANY TIMES THAT, A YEAR AGO, "TRADITIONAL SUPERMARKETS" WERE NOT PREPARED FOR THIS E-COMMERCE BOOM. WHAT'S THE SITUATION TODAY?
Definitely none of us were prepared, but we saw our customers respond quickly and efficiently. Many business owners dedicated themselves to continuing to provide a service, investing rapidly in digital and modifying their processes.
Now large-scale retailers are prepared to manage a different demand, like the one we saw during the pandemic, because they know a lot more about this new sales channel.
Definitely none of us were prepared, but we saw our customers respond quickly and efficiently. Many business owners dedicated themselves to continuing to provide a service, investing rapidly in digital and modifying their processes.
Now large-scale retailers are prepared to manage a different demand, like the one we saw during the pandemic, because they know a lot more about this new sales channel.
3.
DURING THE MOST CRITICAL PHASE OF COVID, DIGITELEMATICA WAS AT THE FOREFRONT. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON YOU'VE LEARNED OVER THE PAST YEAR?
During the tsunami we learned how much of a team we could be even though we weren't in our offices. It was only weeks later that we realised what we had been able to achieve with our clients, when we were able to raise our heads and see the consolidated figures of what had happened.
At the beginning it was difficult to observe from inside the system. A few weeks later we realised that we could handle loads four times greater than those during the pandemic. I have to thank the staff of Digitelematica for their incredible work, their passion and dedication. It wouldn't have been possible without them.
During the tsunami we learned how much of a team we could be even though we weren't in our offices. It was only weeks later that we realised what we had been able to achieve with our clients, when we were able to raise our heads and see the consolidated figures of what had happened.
At the beginning it was difficult to observe from inside the system. A few weeks later we realised that we could handle loads four times greater than those during the pandemic. I have to thank the staff of Digitelematica for their incredible work, their passion and dedication. It wouldn't have been possible without them.
4.
IT IS NOW CLEAR THAT DIGITISING THE FOOD & GROCERY MARKET IS MORE THAN CREATING A WEBSITE. HOW DOES DIGITELEMATICA SUPPORT THOSE WANTING TO BRING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION TO THEIR OWN PROCESSES AND BUSINESS?
In this sector, as in others, adopting technology fundamentally changes the processes and the people involved.
There are new roles, for example pickers who do our shopping for us. There are new structures such as dark stores that have been built to facilitate the picking of goods for online shops. There are new technologies such as automatic warehouses and systems for picking goods using visual aids such as "pick to light".
There are many other innovations and Digitelematica knows them and can integrate and implement them according to the client's requirements, making all the processes more effective and efficient. The new technologies need thought to direct and manage them within a complex system of new processes. We strive to do this for our clients.
In this sector, as in others, adopting technology fundamentally changes the processes and the people involved.
There are new roles, for example pickers who do our shopping for us. There are new structures such as dark stores that have been built to facilitate the picking of goods for online shops. There are new technologies such as automatic warehouses and systems for picking goods using visual aids such as "pick to light".
There are many other innovations and Digitelematica knows them and can integrate and implement them according to the client's requirements, making all the processes more effective and efficient. The new technologies need thought to direct and manage them within a complex system of new processes. We strive to do this for our clients.
5.
HOW DO YOU ENVISAGE THE E-GROCERY MARKET IN TWO TO THREE YEARS? HOW MUCH WILL NEW TECHNOLOGIES HAVE MODIFIED ITS DNA?
As technology enthusiasts, we realise that we still have huge challenges such as last-mile logistics, optimising picking processes and automating shopping preparation processes.
Business owners of large supermarket chains are investing in technology, building more IT departments that are unavoidably updating and modifying the DNA of companies in this sector. I like to see my firm as a gardener who is able to create a fruitful graft onto a plant with a solid trunk, that is the large-scale retail trade.
Thanks to the lifeblood of the large-scale retail trade, in fact, we developed and will develop new fruits, new processes, new technologies. There wouldn't be such huge growth in this sector if it weren't for the solid base that supplies the lifeblood: we are taking established processes, strengthening them with technology or creating new ones while still respecting what went before and still thanking the enlighten and forward-looking entrepreneurs who understood the importance of the technology and managed to seize the change as a positive factor of their growth, their competitiveness and their development.
In the next 2 or 3 years we want to create new blooms and so new processes staying close to these companies.
As technology enthusiasts, we realise that we still have huge challenges such as last-mile logistics, optimising picking processes and automating shopping preparation processes.
Business owners of large supermarket chains are investing in technology, building more IT departments that are unavoidably updating and modifying the DNA of companies in this sector. I like to see my firm as a gardener who is able to create a fruitful graft onto a plant with a solid trunk, that is the large-scale retail trade.
Thanks to the lifeblood of the large-scale retail trade, in fact, we developed and will develop new fruits, new processes, new technologies. There wouldn't be such huge growth in this sector if it weren't for the solid base that supplies the lifeblood: we are taking established processes, strengthening them with technology or creating new ones while still respecting what went before and still thanking the enlighten and forward-looking entrepreneurs who understood the importance of the technology and managed to seize the change as a positive factor of their growth, their competitiveness and their development.
In the next 2 or 3 years we want to create new blooms and so new processes staying close to these companies.
Federico Dell'Acqua
Founder of Digitelematica, together with Norberto Viganò, Federico guided a team of software developers in the fields of book publishing and large-scale retail trade, for which an e-commerce system was developed, that was adopted by the reference customers in the sector.
In 2019 he divested the majority of the company, today in the Engineering Group, becoming its CEO.
Federico is also one of the authors of the White Paper "Digital Retail & Fashion" and contributed to the Instant Paper "Our Post-Covid View on Digital Retail & Fashion".
In 2019 he divested the majority of the company, today in the Engineering Group, becoming its CEO.
Federico is also one of the authors of the White Paper "Digital Retail & Fashion" and contributed to the Instant Paper "Our Post-Covid View on Digital Retail & Fashion".
Contact us
marketing@eng.it
Tel. (+39) 06-87591