Dimas Gimeno, founding partner and president of WOW: “No algorithm is a substitute for the physical experience of a high-street store”
“No algorithm is a substitute for the physical experience of a high-street store”, declared Dimas Gimeno, founding partner and executive president of WOW, at the latest ‘Desayunos Esade’ session organized by Esade Alumni in conjunction with Criteria Caixa. During his talk, he explained that “the retail sector is in the throes of a paradigm shift that many call the ‘retail apocalypse’ although it’s really a renaissance or ‘retail reset’ and the high-street store is crucial”. “This scenario is characterized by saturation, fragmentation, the disruption caused by new actors, and data – the gold bullion of the 21st century. The worst thing we can do is sit back and ignore it all”, he said.
Gimeno believes that “to avoid this, we must redefine, reload, redesign and reinvent the sector and focus on two aspects: online connections and emotions. There’s no substitute for the physical experience of a store and it must enlist online services”. “The aim is to give stores a wow factor again by offering memorable experiences and content,’ he added, ‘Solutions are not enough, we must provide sensations and stop focusing just on the brand, product or service”. “What brands want nowadays is help positioning themselves. They’re already selling on mobiles and the internet – channels that now account for 75% of commercial transactions”, pointed out the WOW founding partner and president.
In addition, “a transversal generation has emerged after the pandemic, the Connected or C Generation that includes digital emigrants and digital natives who expect a new form of shopping that blends physical and digital approaches”, explained Gimeno, who admitted that “we consumers have undergone a digital shift, but many retailers haven’t yet”.
‘Phygital’ approach
“We need to rethink how physical and digital channels can be integrated”, emphasized Gimeno, because “the omnichannel approach didn’t work. It was centered on the physical world and regarded the internet in the background as a threat”. He explained that the crucial factor in this respect is phygital, an organic fusion of physical and digital concepts. “Phygital works the other way round, it aims to integrate physical assets on the basis of a digital platform to achieve connected knowledge characterized by eight vectors: customer, community, content, curating or careful selection, customization, convenience, culture and circularity”.
As an example of this new approach, Dimas Gimeno outlined the business model of the company he runs, “a model quite different from that of traditional retailers”. “The WOW Concept is a phygital platform built from scratch, an emerging model we could say entails experiential platforms, an evolution of the classic concepts of marketplace, multibrand and department store.” “Technology is the backbone of the WOW concept, and our idea is to move beyond how brands – both native digital and traditional brands – and their products have been handled until now. This model will enable us to get 500 digital firms and 200 physical firms on board by the end of the season”, he announced, whilst admitting that “nothing is easy, it’s an ambitious project but we’re meeting targets and will be opening a restaurant in our Gran Via store soon”.
The founding partner and CEO of WOW was accompanied during this session of Desayunos Esade by Mario Lara, director of Esade Madrid.
