TTX is a modular and flexible display project that makes choosing the right product easier, turning it into an engaging and participatory experience: Brico io has created it in collaboration with DINN!, a design and innovation company.

Paolo Micolucci (CEO of Brico io) and Marco De Carli (founder and CEO of DINN!) tell us about it.

During the “Destination Autumn” fair by Brico io, held on July 3-4 in Milan, TTX (Tech Touch eXperience) was officially presented, a modular and flexible display project that makes choosing the right product easier, turning it into an engaging and participatory experience, created by Brico io in collaboration with DINN! design and innovation company, and Jakala, Martech company.

The project will start in the autumn in 2-3 points of sale limited to the categories of glues and silicones, and depending on the success it will achieve, it can then be extended to other product families and in other points of sale.

We asked Paolo Micolucci, CD Brico io, and Marco De Carli, founder and CEO of DINN!, to explain the pluses of this innovative project. (The full version of the two interviews will be published in the September issue of Ferramenta&Casalinghi…)

PAOLO MICOLUCCI, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BRICO IO

MondoPratico: What need did you start from and what do you expect from this project?

Paolo Micolucci: Brico io is always looking for innovative solutions to improve service to our customers. This is the origin of the project, the result of collaboration between Brico io, industry manufacturers (Henkel, Saratoga, UHU-Bostik) and technological innovation companies: from DINN!, an innovation and design company, to Cean for the structural part, Jakala, Google Cloud, Reply and Retail Hub for innovation and technology.

MondoPratico: How do you think new technologies will increasingly influence in-store purchases in the future and, consequently, your work?

Paolo Micolucci: New technologies are rapidly changing the way consumers make purchases in stores. With the advent of tools such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence and digital payments, customers have new ways of interacting with products and making payments. This change could have a significant impact on our work, as we may need to adapt our sales and customer service strategies to meet the needs of an increasingly technologically advanced clientele.

MARCO DE CARLI, CEO DINN!

MondoPratico: Who is DINN! and what does it do for companies in the retail sector?

Marco De Carli: DINN! is an Italian and global company of design and innovation that recently entered the US market. It helps companies to conceive and design the experience within the points of sale and designs furniture modules, thus combining experience design with interior design and branding.

MondoPratico: How did this project with Brico io come about?

Marco De Carli: In a market in slow but perpetual evolution, the GDS sector is going through a phase of technological, personnel and service innovation transition; both to adapt to the continuous changes in the market, and to respond to the new needs and demands of consumers.

It is in this scenario that, in collaboration with Brico io, the TTX project was born, aimed at giving the end customer an engaging, participatory and integrated experience. The project provides, in different modes and touchpoints, the tools through which to fully immerse oneself in the understanding, choice and purchase of the products on display. We started by choosing the “Glues & Silicones” sector, thanks to the support of important product brands such as Henkel, Saratoga and UHU-Bostik.

The proposed system, modular and flexible, allows customers and also staff to easily and quickly identify the products available at the counter; to learn more about their characteristics, functions and methods of application; to clearly understand which product or products are most suitable for their needs and, finally, to interact in a new and technological way with products, store, customers and staff also through AI. The project, the result of the co-generation and interconnection of different realities, experiences and partners, will give birth to a new way of experiencing retail spaces, of knowing and buying products and will be implemented in some Brico io Pilot projects in the next Autumn.

Brico io was founded in 1988 by Marketing Trend, which in 1995 joined COOP Lombardia. On October 21, 2013, it launched an e-commerce project in a multi-channel logic. In December 2015, the super-central Sistema Italia together with Bricolife was founded. Brico io currently has 119 stores.