Retail: The beating heart of the Italian business system and Teddy example

The term might seem technical, but its meaning is deeply human: specialized Retail is one of those branches in the retail landscape that chose to focus on a specific category of products or services, offering not just goods but also experiences, competence and care for customers. Let’s imagine a boutique that becomes a point of reference for fashion, a sports store offering tailored consulting services or a furnished space to make you feel at home. It is the trade business making quality and relationships its key feature to make a difference.

However, it is not just a matter of customer experience: specialized Retail drives a large and complex production and distribution chain involving manufacturing, Logistics, security and maintenance services. It is an integrated system connecting people and places, thus generating a positive impact at a national level.

Figures tell a story that leaves no doubts about the importance played by the sector. According to Ambrosetti’s Forum Report, specialized Retail accounts for 282.2 billion Euros of Italian GDP, equal to 15% of the total. Each euro produced in the production and distribution chain generates additional €1.10 in connected industries, for a total multiplier effect of €2.10.  It is a system that not only produced value but amplifies it, involving companies and families in the entire country. 

However, the economic impact goes beyond the GDP. With 16 billion Euros in private investments, specialized Retail is the first industry in Italy for mobilized assets and its widespread presence contributes to support the vitality of cities and their outskirts. Each store is not just a point of sale but a place generating opportunities, employment and innovation.

Furthermore, the industry employs more than 1.6 millions of people, equal to 7% of the total Italian employed population. And 45% of the new hires in 2023 were people under 30, thus proving the high attractiveness of the sector for younger categories, while showing a leading position in youth employment.  

Also from the point of view of pay, the sector stands out for the positive signs in the latest years, such as the real wage growth of 1.5% between 2019 and 2023, against the general negative trend of other economic sectors, or the average increase in the paycheck of €240 every month, thanks to the renewal of collective agreements in 2024, with a yearly average wage growth of 3.8%.

If figures make an impression, the stories they feed make even a greater impression. Specialized Retail is not just an economic drive, but a network connecting people and areas, promoting inclusion and a sense of belonging. Its widespread presence, which goes from small urban stores to large shopping centers, promotes social cohesion besides creating economic value. It is there that young people find their first job opportunities, where cities rediscover their commercial soul and outskirts are turned into centers of attraction.

In such a historical moment where the consumption of Italian families is stagnating, with an average annual growth of -0.1% in the last decade, and inequalities are increasing, specialized Retail represents a concrete hope. Despite the challenges, such as a falling purchasing power and absolute poverty affecting 2.2 millions of families, the sector stands as a facilitator for change. Through innovation and inclusion it aims at relaunching consumption and creating a fairer and more sustainable future.

Within such a scenario, Gruppo Teddy stands out as a virtuous and inspiring example. Teddy is not just a Company but it is a Dream turned into business. For more than sixty years, it has been combining economic growth and social commitment, proving that doing business can also mean building common good. With regard to this we were particularly happy to be able to tell our vision, our way of interpreting Retail, to Genzy4Retail podcast produced by Ambrosetti, to which two colleagues of ours took part.

With 841 stores in 39 countries, we brought the Italian specialized Retail model all over the world, while keeping intact our core values, sense of belonging, solidarity and sustainability. And we did it always relying on the ability to look beyond profit, putting people at the center: customers, collaborators and the community.

We have always trusted shared entrepreneurship, supporting small entrepreneurs through the franchising format ‘on a sale-or-return basis’. This model, which shares risks and opportunities, allowed hundreds of people to become entrepreneur of themselves, thus contributing to create a network of true and supportive relationships.

During the presentation of the Retail 5.0 Report, some priorities emerged about the future of specialized Retail in Italy. The document, which is the result of the collaboration within Retail 5.0 Community to which Gruppo Teddy belongs to, highlights some challenges and the main requests, such as a stronger institutional representation, also making the most of the Permanent Observatory of Retail 5.0 Community, the promotion of competence update and of work attractiveness, the need to seize the opportunities given by digital (Retail Media) and sustainable (circular development) transitions and the promotion of a level playing field and equal obligations with online platforms.

The contribution specialized Retail gives Italy reminds us that the future is not just time to wait for, but also a space to build. In an age marked by global challenges, their example invites us to imagine Italy as a place where economic growth and social well-being can go together.

In some ways, specialized Retail acts like a mirror of our country: dynamic, tough, able to turn difficulties into opportunities. We like to think, as Gruppo Teddy, to be an evidence for it; the efforts for inclusion, sustainability and the community, proves that doing business can also mean make a difference.