Recently, I visited Milan where I met a number of our Retail partners. The overriding message I took away from my meetings was one of optimism and determination.

Lessons from online

This sense of optimism was echoed by all of our luxury brand partners I spoke with in Italy. They could see there was light at the end of the tunnel although there were lessons to be learned.

One of those involves the internet presence of brands. On reflection, many feel they under invested in their brand's online personality before the pandemic. With more people driven online – many by necessity – these brands are busy increasing investment to further enhance the online retail experience they offer their customers.

I'm looking forward to being able to support our Retail partners with our compelling innovation roadmap as they further boost their online experience.

The importance of having an integrated, high quality proposition has never been greater, but what does that mean for stores on the high street, in shopping centres and for department stores?

The importance of bricks and mortar

With the move to ecommerce it would be easy to overlook the importance of bricks and mortar, but that would be short-sighted and frankly wrong.

It's fascinating to learn more about how retailers are looking to leverage all that bricks and mortar has to offer, to build on what's primarily been an online brand experience over the last 18 months. To evolve their offering to unify online and in-store into one seamless shopping experience for customers.

From what I’m seeing, luxury brands are continuing to invest in bricks and mortar. They will be upping the drama, increasing the wow factor and finding lots of new ways to amaze us. They know that nothing beats that real-life OMG immersive moment, so expect bigger window displays, more sensory experiences, greater integration with digital technology and unique offers; all trying to excite us and deliver an even better shopping experience.

Great collections, bold visuals and sensory overloads will always keep the customer curious, but nowadays it is just as important to reassure them that their payment moments are fast, safe and seamless.

The leading brands in Italy want the payment moment to be slick and hassle free – they want nothing to distract from the shopping experience; the unique style and sophistication that premium luxury brands offer.

During lockdown, customers enjoyed access to a full online inventory. As a result, more retailers are introducing mobile solutions, including Click & Reserve and Click & Deliver services, to help enhance the overall brand experience. The experience shows this significantly helps to increase basket sizes and conversion rates. By using POS applications installed on mobile devices and tablets, staff can also help customers browse their online collections while in-store, leading to opportunities to extend the range of products the customer buys.

From a payments perspective, expect to see more assistants working the floor with handheld mobile tills – accepting all the major payment methods, helping their customers spend seamlessly and freely.

Focusing on international shoppers

Many of the brands I spoke to are very excited about the prospect of welcoming international shoppers back to their European stores.

Travel may have been off the cards but they've still been spending at home in luxury stores and online. They've remained loyal to brands and with increased purchasing power, the brands I spoke to can’t wait to get them back in-store when they return to Europe. Once they're given the all clear to fly, the Italian luxury brands expect them to pick up where they left off and make up for lost time.

It may be some months before international shoppers are hitting the Italian tourist attractions in high numbers. Even so, luxury brands are preparing for them by offering more payments options to make sure they can accept their choice of payment methods in their preferred way.

Staff investment is vital

A friendly, well informed, efficient shop assistant can make or break a visit to a store. But like other retailers, the luxury brands in Italy have lost some staff during the pandemic, who won’t be returning once the restrictions ease.

To cope with this, I know brands are investing in recruitment drives and intensive training programmes. Like the ones we run teaching shop workers how to serve customers with sensitivity and awareness of their cultural background. It's this deep understanding and attention to detail that really sets the best apart from the others.