Welcome back. After a rich session held by KiKi Lab during the Confcommercio Conference I felt the need to go back to talking about the store of the future and the evolution of retail, taking up the theme I had covered a month ago on the hybrid world.

The store of the future will be hybrid. Evolution is transformation, adaptation. The term evolution means the change, within a population, of the heritable characteristics with the passing of the generations.

In these passages it is extraordinarily important to consider that the transition from one model to another, as long as it is fast, requires an intermediate phase in which past and future are integrated and feed the transformation, fusing experience with courage, pragmatism with predictions, …

Going back to the retail theme and to the themes of the Conference, Valente of KiKi Lab presented a series of very interesting, disruptive, innovative and sometimes extravagant international case histories but all simple, with a strong ability to scale quickly and to be modern and successful. digital? No. Traditional but hybrid. From the "brick and mortar" model we move on to the "brick and clicks".

Among those presented, I noted the following:

  • VIGGA, rental of used clothes for children of all ages
  • BLOOM&WILD, flowers delivered to your home with an innovative package
  • RUNNING ROOM, sell and train with scheduled running sessions
  • JOE THE JUICE, is an innovative concept bar where the staff is an integral part
  • SUN&SNOW, two entrepreneurs with two different role models discover they are stronger together
  • SHINOLA, from production to craftsmanship
  • MACELLERIA BREZZO, through the App "Last minute at home" they communicate special discounts on available meats that should be thrown away at the end of the day

Here we are not just talking about making good use of the new digital tools. These companies have been able to reinvent themselves by rebuilding their models by applying small rules that have made them big and successful. Among these rules I have captured a few to treasure:

  • first engage and then share
  • transfer culture to your employees
  • give autonomy to your staff
  • forget the phrases "it's always been done this way", "they taught me to do it this way", "if it works why change" (it could work better), etc...

As they say, these are "Companies ahead".

What is the hybrid enterprise?
Have you read Hawking's book "The Grand Design"?
In one passage in the book, the author declares that a theory of science is defined as such if it is simple, consistent, verifiable, reproducible and elegant. Thus, with the humility of someone who is fascinated and not fascinated, I tried to give a definition to the term "hybrid company" when the world is talking about Industry 4.0.

"a company defines itself as hybrid when the business models it adopts are virtuously transformed between two worlds, the traditional past and the progressive future"

It is industrial evolution. Today a company can be defined as hybrid when it combines Online and Offline going beyond the concept of Omnichannel. Thus retail and the examples cited above in which digital (online) is a component of a more complex formula made up of many elements that touch on other more traditional aspects of the company, from organization to management.

In the end we always come full circle.

The entrepreneur remains the key to everything even in this world where the customer is at the center of business processes and models, it is the creator of the company who always holds the key to success in his hand. With courage!

Because change is part of our evolution.

PS > Can't wait to see Blade Runner 2049