Italy and other countries are entered to the new phases of coronavirus emergency and people can now decide if coming back to physical shops or going on shopping on-line.
It is a new era for distribution of every sector that must reinvent itself with new rules and organizations.
GfK has made a survey in Italy asking consumers how they intend to do and which will be their approach to traditional shops.
Data show that, although on-line sales have grown significantly in recent weeks as a result of the lockdown, 63% of Italians still want to buy in the physical store.
A fundamental aspect to attract the consumer back to the store will be to focus on safety. In fact, according to the GfK surveys, 68% of Italians intend to go to shops able to guarantee maximum hygiene and safety conditions.
Communicating and transmitting a sense of security will be fundamental for having visitors, but it will also be necessary to find new ways to make the visit to the store pleasant, because protective devices (masks, gloves, hand gels, spacing…) can weaken the pleasure of shopping in-store.
Italian consumers are divided in half, among those who wish to rediscover human contact in the shops (49%) through the presence of staff, in-store assistance or promoters and those who would prefer to find greater use of digital technologies (51%), including virtual assistants and artificial intelligence systems, which can help maintain a high level of security in the store.