Revolutionising Retail – the potential of neuroscience at an event by Nicolis Project and Largo Consumo

On 12 October last year our innovative event, Exploring the New Frontiers of In-Store Communication – Neuromarketing, Digital Technologies and Innovation Serving the Customer Experience – Scenarios, Trends and New Challenges, organised in collaboration with Largo Consumo, caught the attention of professionals in the brand and retail industry.

The event shed new light on the future of neuromarketing and new frontiers for the customer experience in physical shops.

For years the brand and retail industries have based their marketing strategies on conventional market surveys, such as questionnaires and focus groups. However the traditional model has been completely revolutionised by neuromarketing. An increasing amount of evidence shows that purchasing behaviour isn’t driven by rational logic, but by subconscious decisions.

Colours, packaging, product shelf arrangement and communication are all factors that influence our choices, but it is only through neuroscience and neuromarketing techniques that it is possible to work out how stimuli are perceived by the brain.

A crucial point which emerged from the event is that attention levels, the intensity of emotions, memory and recognition can be measured scientifically and analysed to provide a neural assessment of the effectiveness of a product or experience in a shop.
This goes beyond standard subjective responses from customers, and captures a more detailed and extensive picture of how our emotions react.
The use of neuromarketing tools was one of the focus areas at the event, with particular emphasis on:

1. Eye Tracking: Tracking the movement of customers’ eyes to understand where they focus while shopping.
2. Skin Conductance: Measuring the skin’s electrical response to understand emotional reactions.
3. EEG (electroencephalogram): Measuring brain activity to analyse neural responses to the buying experience.

The event opened with interesting contributions from Carlo Oldrini from Ipsos and Professor Vincenzo Russo, who shared valuable studies and information on neuroscience and the application of these techniques. A round table session was then chaired by Armando Garosci, director of Largo Consumo, with neuromarketing experts debating and discussing valuable information in depth. Speeches at the round table session were made by Maria Antonietta Iacovaccio, Retail Manager at CEF LA FARMACIA ITALIANA, Andrea Prange, MD at L’ERBOLARIO RETAIL, Enrico Romano, General Manager at NICOLIS PROJECT, Jacopo Carini, Sales & Marketing Manager Italy at JYSK and Pasquale Muciaccia, Category Manager at MEGAMARK, who all covered tangible subjects, real-life scenarios and different viewpoints in the world of retail.

Of particular interest was a presentation by researchers from BrainLab Iulm, who illustrated their discoveries and the real-world applications of neuromarketing. The event took place at one of Italy’s most active and prestigious scientific parks, the Kilometro Rosso, Innovation District, with outstanding support from our partners ELEA and SIPOS, who we would like to thank.

Given the event’s resounding success, a 2024 edition is already being planned, which will focus on other aspects of neuromarketing in relation to retail. This event promises to shed even more light on the future of the industry, by giving participants a unique view into how neuroscience is redefining the way consumers interact with physical shops and products, and how it represents an important resource for the retail industry.