Consumers' collaborative innovation for supporting retailers' decision making: a new immersive approach for store design

Innovating is a prerequisite for competing also for retail sector and has attracted huge interest concerning the role of technology management for successfully adopting technology-based innovations. In this competitive scenario, the design of new and attractive retail environments able to better influence consumer decision-making process plays a critical role, with emphasis on stores characterized by large size (i.e. department stores, huge anchor stores, etc.). Despite the wide deal of research in involving consumers in the design process, identifying the best practices for achieving consumers' contribution to the co-design process has proven difficult. This study extents previous knowledge on consumers' involvement in collaborative innovation by focusing on retail environments, starting from the case study of a new collaborative platform devoted the design of a new store in Italy and the experimental design based on the response of 150 potential consumers. Empirical findings suggest a set of users' motives to participate to the development of the new store, by providing insights for defining novel tools for achieving more consumers' contribution with benefits for innovation and decision-making process.