REPORT 2023

Innovation, Talent &

Customer Expectation
CUSTOMER COUNTRY COMPANIES
 Customer

Channels trichotomy
Embracing the Digital Age, awaiting the Virtual Revolution
“Which channel have you used for your last purchase?”

~70% ONLINE

ONLINE ONLINE
WEBSITE PLATFORM OFFLINE Online experiences are expanding,
and offline is digitizing
>85% >85%
Streaming services Automotive

>30% Companies shift to “direct to

>65% House appliances >55%
Fashion
consumer” is changing landscape
Travel & cosmetics
from omni-channel to a multi-
touchpoint journey with evolving
and complementary channel roles
43%

25%

32%

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents; Industries analysed: travel, fashion, home appliances, cosmetics, electricity/gas/phone/internet 3
contract, financial / insurance products, automotive, streaming services
 Customer

In general, customers have no fear to buy high-priced

products online…

Customers do not choose the channel based on the

price of the purchase

“How much have you spent for your last purchase?”

… but some industries still have some biases

OFFLINE OFFLINE WEBSITE ONLINE PLATFORM

29% 32% 21%

19% 4 out of 5
14% 14% Bought > 1.000€ fashion products offline vs online

33% 32%
36%

24% 19% 28%

3 out of 5
Bought > 1.000€ fashion products offline vs online
<100€ 200 - 500€ 500 - 1.000€ >1.000€

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 4

 Customer

…But they still struggle to buy products as cars or mortgages

online, and prefer the “human-touch”
“Among the following types of products and services, which ones would you NOT purchase online?” (multiple answer)

Loan/Mortgage
27% Some products are still “difficult” to
65% for >43
buy online, indifferently from
years old product price, but the paradigm is
slightly changing

Big furniture items

Car
27% 10% Declared that would buy
everything online
50%
Medicines +1p.p. for
GenZ
20%

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 5

 Customer

Elevating the Shopping Experience: Bridging the Gap Between

Online and Offline Channels with Cutting-Edge Tools

What if we maximise online/offline

WHY OFFLINE?

45% AUTHENTICITY channels simultaneously?

31% AUTHENTICARE Expected ~30% CAGR ’23-’32 of

LIVE-ASSISTANCE
OR AVOIDABLE Gen AI Market applied to
COMPLEXITY? Metaverse
16% PERSONALIZATION
METAVERSE
WHY ONLINE?

27% SPEED & EASE

EFFICIENCY OR
GEN AI
11% CHEAPER PRICE DIMINISHMENT
OF THE CX?
6% DISCOUNT COUPON

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 6

 Customer

Cracking the Code of Customer Personalization

What Does it Truly Mean?

~7 out of 10 customers
expect companies to deliver
personalized interactions but…
38% 21% 16% 6% 35%
“I used “Price changed “I personalized “I set up “None of the
a discount/ compared to the the product/ instalment previous
voucher” last time I service” payments” answers”
checked”
…Half of them
state that they do not > 50%
> 40% travel
> 50% > 35%
Customers
streaming serv. financial serv. financial serv.
find 'recommendations to don’t find
purchase other products' value in
26% online vs personalization
helpful 12% offline
> 30%
channel
automotive for how it is
conceived
today

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 7

 Customer

Customer loyalty is the main driver for sales: 3 out of 5 sales

are driven by existing CB
“How did you find out about the product/service you purchased?” (multiple answers)

Attachment to
35% the brand 32% Word of mouth

“I already have/had a product/

service from the brand”
“A friend talked to me about
the product / service”
3 out of 5
sales are driven by
existing customer base

44% Marketing
Of which >90%
“I saw the product / service on Has seen the advertisement online
an adv” on websites or on social media

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 8

 Customer

Unlocking the Mystery: Most Customers Are Unaware of How Data

Personalizes Experiences – First-Party Data is the Key

2 out of 3 Why are First Party Data so important?

lack a clear
understanding of how
data is used to
personalize experiences 1P data key to generate precise audience
based on behaviour and deliver highly
personalized adv

45% 31% 24% Collected through owned channels (e.g.

sign-in forms, consumer surveys/ feedback,
etc.)
Provides Does not share Feels confident
consent to data for in sharing data
recognized personalization for
brands personalization

Website journeys Feedbacks & Geolocation

surveys
Importance of Brand loyalty for sharing data

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 9

 Customer

Consumers are evolving their purchasing behaviors also due to

increase of Smart Working

83%

Do Smart Working

1 out of 2
Declares Smart Working
affected purchasing
66% 17% habits
72% 44% 18%
Sometimes Always
“I can stay “I make more “I notice more
home if I have online online ads (eg.
a delivery” purchases on Social
Smart Working is affecting consumers purchasing habits, providing an during the media)”
additional reason to companies to innovate, in order to keep up in a fast- day”
changing world

Source: Survey on Oct 23, 1k respondents 10

 Country

Innovation through research and development:

International perspective
15-20B€
2022 Italian Firms’ investments in R&D
+1.000B€
Funds to be mobilized
1st by EU until 2027
2nd
3rd
14th

New European Innovation Agenda

Attracting Talents
~1,3%

OBJECTIVES
2022 Italian R&D expenditure as % of GDP Regional Innovation Valley

3,1% New Shared Policies

2,6%
2%
1,3%
…

11
 Country

European and Italian startup

landscape

~500M€ 196
~7.300
Investments in 84 deal (1H 2023) vs ~1B€ (1H 2022) Italian innovative
startups (2021-1H2023)

No “Big Deal” War

Inflation Uncertainty ~9%

Italian innovative lifescience
startups on total (2021-
1H2023) 55

~23% CAGR ’20-28 62

Digital Therapeutics Expected EU Market CAGR

~1,6B€
Funds dedicated to Italian digital health projects Number of innovative
(PNRR, NextGen EU, MIMIT, MUR, …) lifescience startups by
region

12
 Digital Marketing

Amplifying Advertising Investment

The Art of Forging Lasting Connections

Engaging with customers is a difficult struggle

Companies are increasing But engaging audience Increasing communication

investments in digital adv is not easy
investments, yet companies
struggle to engage customers
DIGITAL ADV SPENDING KEY AVERAGE KPIS ACROSS INDUSTRIES meaningfully

CAGR +17% Harnessing data with the right

digital adv ENGAGEMENT NET
RATE SENTIMENT technologies and adopting a
vs. -3% offline
channels 0,3-0,5% ~2% testing approach as a primary
2022 2023
solution to enhance
performance
Value METAVERSE ADV +100-150M€ LEADER ~3% Travel ~3,5% Fashion
generated in
3 years by VOICE ADV +450-500M€ LAGGARD < 0,5% CGP ~1% Travel
new trends

Source: Bain analysis on IDC DAMM 2022, S&P Global Market Intelligence, Statista, Similar Web, firms social media accounts, NetBaseIT;
Industries analysed: travel, fashion, financial services, insurance, energy, consumer goods products, retail, healthcare, telecommunications 13
 Digital Marketing

Every industry is following its own path in digital adv boosting,

but social and video adv are becoming a must for all players
Digital communication spending CAGR 2020-2023 per industry

+31%
Different industries are
following different strategies in +19% +18% +17 %
terms of investments in Digital
+14% +14%
Advertising, but all are
increasing with double digit
path Retail Consumer Automotive Healthcare Telco
Financial
goods Service

Digital spending drivers +21% Social Media +19% Mobile adv

per tech and device
(CAGR 20-23)
+17% Video platform +17% Desktop adv

Source: Bain analysis on IDC DAMM 2022, S&P Global Market Intelligence 14
 Technology

MarTech, CDP and Gen AI: innovative tools

that will deeply transform customer experiences

MarTech CDP Generative AI

execute marketing aggregate various generates new and original content that does not exist anywhere
campaigns driving customer data (1P, 2P, else, using vast data inputs and analysing patterns)
many benefits (speed, 3P) improving
cost and effectiveness) targeting)
enterprises adopting or currently evaluating
~40% the GenAI use cases)
K# Global Martech
Providers ~30%
Uplift in marketing ROI
~5,4 13% 12%
2017 Code Generation Virtual assistant
~100
Marketing Tests*

~9,9 ~5-10K 12% 10%

2022 Customer Knowledge
Marketing Tests*
Communication Management

Source: 2023 Bain AI Survey (N = 571); Bain analysis, *on selected cases 15
 Technology

Substantive change to basis of competition, leaving

those who “wait-and-see” behind

70-75% 65-70% 60-65%

enterprises think AI is think AI will significantly think AI will upend
changing rules for disrupt the cost competition in core
customer engagement structure product differentiation
and business models

2/3 of the industry participants believe early movers will have a sustained advantage which will not level of

1-2 years
Yes

Early mover > 2 years Early mover

6-12 months head start advantage
No

< 6 months I don't know I don't know

16
 Talent

Companies are starting to enhance their talent

acquisition processes, but there’s still a long way to go
Talents presence per capability - Italy
Biggest player
~300-400 data
scientist
ADVANCED ANALYTICS

Insurance & Telco 1-2 %

Machine learning, artificial
intelligence, chat GPT
How to close the
5%
TOOL & TECHNOLOGY Gap with Italy's
Top-Performing
Telco 3-4 %
Automation, Cloud specialist,
data lake, solution architect Companies? 10%
INNOVATION & DESIGN

Healthcare 3-4 %
Service design, UX design,
innovation hub 10%
DIGITAL MARKETING In-housing of externalized
competences
Fashion & CPG 8-9 %
Mar Tech, Audience planning,
Customer segmentation 15%
Source: Bain analysis on Aura data, S&P Capital IQ Pro, Company website and annual report; Industries analysed: travel, fashion, financial
services, insurance, energy, consumer goods products, retail, healthcare, telecommunications 17
 Talent

Many opportunities to revamp Talent System

leveraging on innovative tools

Training program
Data-enhanced Talent System development

Generative AI Design reporting tools to

Job description generation and update Skills assessment …
accompany the program

Artificial intelligence
CV scraping Chatbot for internal communication CV scraping …
Talent Acquisition
Diagnostic
AR / Metaverse
Office day simulation Virtual team events …
Assessment of the point
of departure and Automation / RPA
identification of the gaps
Autonomous research for candidates Onboarding process automation …
to fill (e.g. competence
mapping, listening of
employee needs through Data analytics
NPS, …)
Employee satisfaction monitoring Performance KPIs tracking …

18
Anticipating
Consumers
Generating Future

19
20
Anticipating Consumers
Generating Future
Since 2012, Nextatlas has been a leader in the global market of digitally-empowered marketing
intelligence and trend anticipation services by developing the world’s first independent data-driven
trend forecasting platform.
Throughout this years, we anticipated many of the innovations and possibilities that AI is now offering
to brands, researchers, and consumers.
Now, we are combining the data of the Nextatlas engine with generative-AI technology to
automatically generate trend reports and insights across a wide range of industries and markets .

21
Navigating Consumer
Dynamics in the Age
of Generative AI
This report, elaborated for Bain & Company Digital Awards
2023, has the goal of detecting a list of emerging consumer
dynamics, that will affect different industries in the next year.
We asked Generate - The world’s first generative trend
forecasting service powered by large language models and
the Nextatlas engine - to highlight some of the most relevant
phenomena.
Eventually, we organized them according to Bain &
Company’s B2C Elements of Value framework – 4 value
categories with roots in Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs.

22
INSIGHT Saves Time

Due to their familiarity with

fast-paced and digital
interactions, consumers
expect efficiency in their
shopping experiences as well
INSIGHT Connects

Rising digital fatigue fuels a

hunger for authentic
connections, transforming
social and brand interactions

INSIGHT Simplifies

From conversational
commerce to optimized
pricing, the future of retail will
be powered by artificial
intelligence
INSIGHT Integrates
In a world of limitless options,
people crave personalized
experiences that speak to
their unique individuality

23
Functional Due to their familiarity with
fast-paced and digital
Nextatlas Insight
interactions, consumers
expect efficiency in their
shopping experiences as well
Target Top Industries

Gen Z Timeline
Retail
100 45%

Millennials Technology
67 14%

Concepts & Tags

Remove Friction Supermarket

Retail Shopping Zero Friction

24
Functional From conversational
commerce to optimized
Nextatlas Insight pricing, the future of retail
will be powered by artificial
intelligence

Target Top Industries

Gen X Timeline
Retail
100 69%

Millennials Financial
54 6%

Technology
Concepts & Tags 4%

Dynamic Pricing Personalization

Customer Experiences Customer Data

25
Functional
Rising digital fatigue fuels a
Nextatlas Insight hunger for authentic
connections, transforming
social and brand interactions

Target Top Industries

Millennials Timeline
Architecture & Spaces
100 21%

Gen X Advertising & Brands

83 21%

Art & Design

Concepts & Tags 14%

Authentic Relationship People

Authentic Connections

26
Functional In a world of limitless options,
Nextatlas Insight people crave personalized
experiences that speak to
their unique individuality

Target Top Industries

Gen X Timeline
Retail
100 32%

Millennials Advertising & Brands

56 12%

Concepts & Tags

Personalization Digital

Consumer Brands Experience

27
INSIGHT Reduces Anxiety INSIGHT Wellness
INSIGHT Provides Hope
“Toxic positivity” discussions As technology continues to
“Never too late” struggle
reflect society’s thrives as
to play a central role in our lives,
society
balanceacknowledges
valid emotions the conversation around
learning,
against thegrowth, and
tyranny ofchange digital wellbeing is gaining
know no age
perpetual limit
happiness importance

28
Emotional “Toxic positivity” discussions
reflect society’s struggle to
Nextatlas Insight balance valid emotions against
the tyranny of perpetual
happiness

Target Top Industries

Millennials Health Timeline

100 13%

Gen X Advertising & Brands

72 10%

Concepts & Tags

Optimism Emotions

People Work Negative

29
Emotional As technology continues to play
Nextatlas Insight a central role in our lives, the
conversation around digital
wellbeing is gaining importance

Target Top Industries

Gen X Health Timeline

100 16%

Millennials Technology
91 13%

Concepts & Tags

Phone Addiction Sexual Health

Digital Detox Game Addiction Mental Wellbeing

30
INSIGHT Provides Hope INSIGHT Heirloom

“Never too late” thrives as Cultural heritage

society acknowledges renaissance reflects society’s
learning, growth, and change quest for authenticity amid a
know no age limit rapidly digitalizing world

31
Life changing “Never too late” thrives as
Nextatlas Insight society acknowledges
learning, growth, and change
know no age limit

Target Top Industries

Gen X Education Timeline

100 9%

Millennials Baby & Child Care

92 8%

Health
6%
Concepts & Tags

Learn Something New Change Your Life Dreams

Career Age Journey Learning

32
Life changing
Cultural heritage renaissance
Nextatlas Insight reflects society’s quest for
authenticity amid a rapidly
digitalizing world
Target Top Industries

Seniors Art & Design

Timeline
100 33%

Gen X Craft
95 6%

Millennials
54

Concepts & Tags

Unesco Intangible Amazon River Basin Museum

Immaterial Preservation Art and Design Traditions

33
INSIGHT Self-Trascendence

“Woke capitalism” fuels

conservative backlash,
transforming brand loyalty into
a political battlefield

34
Social Impact
“Woke capitalism” fuels
Nextatlas Insight conservative backlash,
transforming brand loyalty into
a political battlefield

Target Top Industries

Gen X Goverment & Public Sector Timeline

100 33%

Millennials Financial
100 24%

Nonprofit & Social Cause

14%
Concepts & Tags

Corporations Esg Conservative

Left Right Climate Republicans

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