Large-Scale Retailing Does Not Speak Italian

It's 1877. The brothers Luigi and Ferdinando Bocconi open the first Italian department stores in Milan. They are called "Aux villes d'Italie" and are inspired by the Parisian prototype. Inside, modernity rules. The range of merchandise, the ample shopping spaces and aisles, prices clearly displayed, carefully designed window glasses to attract the attention of the casual passer-by, occasions for entertainment (tea rooms, theater, fashion shows) all mark a sharp discontinuity with the traditional shop. And yet, the advent of department stores did not alter the shopping habits of Italian consumers. At the 100th anniversary of Italian Unity, in 1961, there were just 10 department stores in Italy. In France 83, in Germany 230, and 277 in the United Kingdom. In 1980, this gap with European counterparts was still to be bridged. In Germany, department stores, which competed with other emerging retail formats, accounted 7.8% of the market, while in Italy they were a paltry 0.4% of the retail market. It's 1955. Boogart, manager of IBEC, a US firm, arrived in Italy to introduce self-service in grocery shopping. The correspondence he sent to corporate headquarters provide a glimpse of a country in one of its most advanced (or less backward) areas, still hesitant about embracing modernization at full speed: "I don't know a single family in Milan which owns a second car. Only one of our partners does. How can we survive in this country of avid producers?". But he went on to establish, together with his partners Crespi and Caprotti, the foundations of what later became Esselunga, Italy's first supermarket chain. The history of the postwar Italian retail industry has evolved along two parallel paths. On one side, small-scale retail, the proliferation of a myriad of small shops to absorb unemployment generated by other sectors, on the other, pioneering initiatives by courageous entrepreneurs aiming to develop department stores and supermarkets, but constrained by an unfriendly legal, economic, and social context. Over the last few decades, much has been accomplished in terms of rationalization of the Italian distribution system and openness to new retail formats. In fact, Italy has attracted foreign companies, but Italian retail firms have a hard time crossing the border and investing abroad. When it comes to retailing, Made in Italy lacks a business model it can identify itself with. Looking at Italian history from the vantage point of the 150th anniversary of its unification, we can say that the lack of a strong national identity also has repercussions for the retail system, whose full-scale modernization could remain unaccomplished.