What Chances does Italian Creative Excellence have of still being Successful in the Future?
In view of an irreversible cultural transformation, Andrea Garrone, Ceo of Pedemonte Group, highlights the importance of guaranteeing a range of fundamental values for generations Y and Z
«For over a year now, we have been forced to live a new reality that has obliged processes to speed up. We have had to adapt them to enforced conditions that certain operational rules have imposed and introduce new culture to support the traditional one. First and foremost, digitization, which has changed both the logics of our normal physical relations when managing our professional daily life, and commercial practices, formerly based purely on a personal relationship. Technological support, which has, nevertheless, allowed our group to continue with all our activities during this pandemic year, has actually overturned the production and commercial system. Here, e-commerce has proved its extraordinarily important role in reaching the final consumer, ensuring continuity in jewelry sales by replacing one of the supply chain’s mainstays: the figure of the salesman, who always acted as the interpreter of company philosophy. An irreversible cultural transformation that involves generations Y and Z, key players and majority buyers in the jewelry market of the future. Added to this is the exponential growth in branded jewelry sales over unbranded, both due to the credibility that a trademark guarantees in an on-line purchase since it does not have to build up its image, and for the services that it offers with direct presence in sales points. The central theme is therefore the following: what elements are there to guarantee a future for Italian creative excellence? Greater attention to environmental, social and ethical sustainability in terms of raw material traceability because future generations will no longer be asking how much an item costs and where it comes from, they will want a guarantee that those very values of Corporate Social Responsibility are respected. So, the elements available that will determine our future existence and the continuity of the goldsmith tradition are creativity and style, which we can ensure with the only true leverage at our disposal: professional training. Promoting the uniqueness of this outstandingly excellent profession must therefore start from the companies whose duty it is to transfer, not dispel. We need to invest, speak with the young and stimulate them through technological innovation in order to transmit the knowledge of the competitive advantage that has always accompanied us.»
