Technology with a soul amplifies human value in luxury retail

In high-end retail, technology must enhance rather than replace the work of client advisors, drawing on increasingly intelligent backends and operations. It should serve to create synergy, improving the efficiency of the entire Made in Italy supply chain, also through the development of new metrics capable of capturing the value and coherence of technology with the semantic capital of brands. Vittoria Veronesi, Director of the Master in Fashion, Experience & Design Management (MAFED), summarized the discussion Technology integration in luxury retail operations, held with the support of Altagamma, the Foundation that gathers high-end italian cultural and creative companies.

The research at the center of the meeting—conducted by Veronesi herself together with Laura Colm, Silvia Gallo e Beatrice Medici—identifies five areas of technological application in luxury retail (interaction, immersion, personalization, operations intelligence, and relationship continuity) and develops a model that outlines what technology should do in the sector.

Interaction technologies streamline the customer–brand interface across physical and digital touchpoints, including onboarding and payment. Immersion technologies enrich the sensory and narrative in-store experience, fostering deep engagement with the brand’s identity. Personalization arises when technologies enable the creation of tailored, data-driven experiences—not only during but also before and after in-store interaction. Operations intelligence technologies support the in-store customer journey, working behind the scenes by improving back-of-house processes. Relationship continuity is strengthened by technologies that help maintain a consistent, lasting relationship with the customer over time.

The research addresses the question “What should technology do?” through four “E’s,” which were discussed during a round table.

Technology must empower roles. “And it does so when it is not cold, but creates warmth and frees up time to be used to better understand the customer. It is present throughout the entire client experience, but in a non-intrusive way,” said Alessandra Casalino, Omnichannel Adoption and Digital Store Operations Senior Manager at Bulgari.

It must also embed itself behind the scenes. Luca Sburlati, CEO of Pattern Group and President of Confindustria Moda, shared best practices of technologies that improve everything upstream of sales—from the creative phase to sample production—while also managing make-to-order processes far more efficiently than in the past. This approach involves a very small number of clients but carries extremely high added value.

Stefania Lazzaroni, CEO of Fondazione Altagamma, spoke about technologies that extend relationships, recalling how the sector viewed technology with coldness until the pandemic period, during which its full potential became evident. The best digital relationships with customers are able to extend luxury values such as exclusivity, creativity, and savoir-faire without distorting them.

Finally, technology must evaluate and be evaluated meaningfully. Marco Di Dio Roccazzella, Shareholder and Managing Director at JAKALA, highlighted the strong—and in a sense new—focus on the bottom line that has characterized the sector in recent years. He illustrated the impact of technology on store operations, inventory management, forecasting accuracy, and the ability of client advisors to serve a larger number of clients effectively through better information.

SDA Bocconi School of Management

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