Author: Elisa Dell’Apa
On Friday we had the great honor to take part to an exclusive event in Rinascente in Rome and attend a masterclass with the CEO @Pierluigicocchini, who shared with LFC Luxury Club’s members his precious insights about Rinascente’s strategy as the only luxury department store in Italy.
Let’s start with some numbers
Rinascente is currently present in eight cities with nine stores, Rome being the only city with two stores, with a total of 74,000 net square meters and 60 floors. It also has an online store and an on-demand Chat&Shop service.
In 2023 it collected more than a billion euros in turnover (+16% compared to 2022), 20 millions of visitors and 4 millions of cardholders.
It holds more than 3,600 brands and has a total of 5,150 employees (1,546 Rinascente ones), of which 47% are under 40 years old.
La Rinascente is not a store
It may sound like a paradox, but Rinascente aims to be much more than a simple store.
It has become a symbol of every city in which it’s present, a true monument that attracts thousands of customers and tourists every day. It blends its identity with the one of the cities, by choosing prestigious historical locations and even adapting the logo to best represent each city’s soul. This is what makes Rinascente not a chain of stores, but a collection of stores.
Moreover, Rinascente wants to offer its customers an experience beyond the simple act of purchasing a good. Each element in each store is carefully crafted to attract visitors and lead them through an immersive path, thanks to the very peculiar concept of “wall-free stores”.
What are wall-free stores?
Rinascente offers a new way to experience luxury thanks to its innovative concept of wall-free stores, spaces dedicated to each brand which are architecturally separated but not delimited by walls. This eliminates any barrier and friction between the brand and the visitor, dramatically changing the experience of visiting multiple luxury stores one after the other, and allows consumers to freely flow among brands and never feel judged or under pressure by the typical intimidating allure of high-luxury brands.
It’s a very powerful strategic escamotage to offer an experience which is inclusive and exclusive at the same time.
Rinascente as a Media Company
Pierluigi Cocchini defined Rinascente as an editor, painting the image of Rinascente as a magazine whose authors are brands.
This metaphor allows to better understand one of the main strategic pillars of Rinascente: its role as a media company, an amplifier which makes brands’ voices widely resonate through different categories of activities.
The most prestigious one is with no doubt the brand activation and takeover. It’s a complete domination of the brand, which literally takes over the front of the building, the windows, sometimes even the common areas inside such as the escalators. It’s a true “branding” of Rinascente. For a brand this is a very powerful tool: instead of buying several advertising panels dispersed throughout the city, it can concentrate its financial effort in a unique place with thousands of visitors each day that has proven its efficiency in reaching the desired target.
This is a relatively recent asset for Rinascente. The media company started in 2022 with the Diabolik campaign, with which Rinascente showed what kind of takeover it could offer to brands. From 2022 to 2024 the revenues from this kind of activities have grown from 2 millions to 8 millions, with an astonishing increase of 300% in just two years.
Notably, the brands which take over could also have nothing to do with what Rinascente sells: it’s the case of MSC Crociere or Diabolik itself. On one hand the brand could be interested in reaching Rinascente’s target and being displayed on such a prestigious space; on the other hand Rinascente is able to amaze its customers, attract new visitors and ultimately gain market share.
Smaller initiatives are pop-up stores, limited spaces of 50 to 60 square meters dedicated to a special theme, and air snakes, areas that change every month with new proposals.
Moreover, Rinascente also hosts majestic events, both branded and unbranded.
From retail to leisure: a dynamic approach to luxury
Nowadays, we as a society don’t buy to live anymore, we buy to be, to feel represented and part of a group. At the same time, we are always looking for ways to be unique, to emerge, to distinguish ourselves. Consumers want to feel exclusive and included at the same time: this is the greatest challenge for luxury companies.
Thanks to the power of social medias and digital word of mouth, consumers are able to generate advertising, becoming simultaneously the sources and the recipients, and this is why experience has become such a valuable asset for Rinascente.
In other words, retail has transformed into leisure.
To face more and more demanding consumers and to successfully compete in a constantly changing market, the key of Rinascente’s strategy is a dynamic, fun, fresh approach to luxury, without leaving exclusivity behind.
One last piece of advice from Pierluigi Cocchini
Pierluigi Cocchini concluded his masterclass with a precious piece of advice coming from Mark Hurd, CEO of HP: vision, without execution, is just another word for hallucination.
Rinascente LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rinascente_rinascente-activity-7275927391670071296-VCon?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
