What is Design Thinking? Emerged around the 2000s as an innovative thinking model, today it is considered a design method that facilitates the analysis of interconnected ecosystems and the identification of solutions to complex problems, typical of the digital age. It is based heavily on heuristic observations of specific cases, with the aim of identifying the most appropriate actions for a certain cluster of users in a given context, starting from specific business requirements.
In an unpredictable post-pandemic scenario, retail companies have had to rethink their services and products with short and long-term strategies. One of the winning actions was to develop customer experiences tailored to new customer demands.
In particular, those who survived were those who managed to govern complexity, including using analysis methodologies typical of Design Thinking to build plausible change scenarios. Some techniques are the observation of changing habits, the consideration of cultural diversity, and the identification of unexpected needs of people. Among the changes in the post-pandemic context there was the explosive growth in online purchases, on which, among others, the large-scale retail trade and the fashion industry have focused.
Qualitative user research and the context investigations reveal some trends, such as changing shopping habits, the search for healthier and organic food, the impossibility of buying in physical stores and a new way of sharing spaces. It has also been possible to conduct quantitative analyses, based on the large amount of data collected while browsing digital environments, which allowed the development of ad hoc technological solutions that make the consumer experience increasingly personalised and fluid.
Atoms: the right partner for building a customer experience based on product design
This was precisely the approach taken by Atoms Studio, a Retex Group company that creates Digital Product Design, Technology & Engineering, Research and Consulting solutions mainly oriented to the Fashion & Luxury, Design, Pharma and Retail distribution sectors. The advanced technological models that have distinguished its history so far are the very nature of the change induced with products and services that make sustainability and inclusiveness real tools for enhancing planning and development.
“Listening to the customer and utmost attention to detail and digital design have always been the elements that have characterized our history from the beginning. The pandemic and changing habits have been a challenge that we have been able to successfully face thanks to our open approach to unpredictability and creativity in seeking new solutions, which have always distinguished us. The future is uncertain but what we know is that uncertainty represents the main incentive to seek new horizons suitable to meet the new needs of customers” said Valentino Caporizzi, Atoms Studio CEO.