BE A LEADER, LEARNING FROM LEADERS
2 March 2016It’s time for BBS International Marketing Communication and New Media students to experience, hands-on, how retailers develop innovative in-store marketing communication strategies.
The BBS retail tour, organized by Professor Marco Repezza for his Trade Marketing class, with the collaboration of top national and international retailers, was a real “store tour”. Immersing students in the best practices of retail and trade marketing, It demonstrated how modern retailers engage their customers through different promotional and communication channels, utilizing an omnichannel corporate strategy.
Our first stop: METRO Cash&Carry. METRO, the international leader of the Cash&Carry channel, has recently renovated its first store, right here in Bologna (Castel Maggiore), based on a revolutionary new store concept. Organized in “worlds” to satisfy the specific needs of its target clients, It is narrowly focused on Ho.Re.Ca professionals (Hotel, Restaurants & Catering). The new Metro 3.0 strategy was outlined to BBS students by the knowledgeable Store Director, Luca Ratti, and centers on the importance of service and relationship with professional clients: “Put the customer at the center, also within the self-service environment, and build the store and service around that”. At the end of the visit, Metro’s chef offered BBS students a sweet taste of Italian hospitality. Well done, METRO!
ESSELUNGA, one of Europe’s leading retail chains, was our second stop. ESSELUNGA Superstore’s performance “monster” in Casalecchio Meridiana gave students a real lesson in serious and profitable retail. Professor Marco Repezza and ESSELUNGA’s experienced Sales Director, Filippo Rivolta, guided the BBC students through the store layout, explaining the elegant logic of ESSELUNGA’s category management system, and how retailers, by offering consumers an optimum product selection, can create an unequalled shopping experience. The store included modern shopping systems like self-scanning, self-payment, self- checkout, and the latest integration of the ESSELUNGA mobile app that allows the consumers to build their own personalized promotional plan. Once again: the customer shopping experience is at the center. Hat’s off to ESSELUNGA.
The BBS tour concluded with a visit to an Italian “retail gem”, Italy’s leading specialist in the automotive category: BEP’S (Via Stalingrado, Bologna), an innovative, upscale and entertaining store concept …unique in the world. The stunning store exterior strongly communicates BEP’S’ clear positioning: an overarching passion for cars, motorbikes, and vehicles in general. The BBS tour was guided by BEP’S’ enthusiastic Store Manager, Annalisa, who immersed the students in a true customer experience in the car and bike world. Architecture, shelves, colors, lights, music, videos… the departments are intelligently organized to offer integrated customer solutions (products and services, including an installation center) for any vehicular need in a dramatic “pit-stop” atmosphere, where one expects to find Valentino Rossi or Vin Diesel just around the shelf corner. Not enough? BEP’S integrates its wide and deep assortment with its e-commerce and promises consumers the same experience, on-line.
Special thanks to
