New plan to boost digitalisation in Barcelona’s shops and markets

A new municipal plan is being implemented to improve digitalization in Barcelona’s shops and markets, aiming to encourage retail establishments to incorporate online sales and enable them to turn their shops into points of contact with their customers, even though the subsequent purchase is made through other channels. The objective is for shops and markets to have a basic web presence. Retail establishments in Barcelona can access a catalogue of services, promoted by the Department of Commerce, with programmes and tools that can help to improve businesses and with innovation at the centre of every activity.

The initiative for digitalisation, which is part of the Local Commerce's Digitalisation Strategy, will involve an investment of 1.7 million Euros over the next two years. A catalogue of applications for commerce will be created, with a technological radar with updates on the latest news, a list of success stories of shops in the city, along with a directory of shops in Barcelona that have online sales. The information obtained will be shared with the Barcelona Commerce Observatory.

For the Councillor for Tourism, Commerce and Markets, Agustí Colom, the municipal measure aims to accompany retail establishments and provide them with the resources for developing new digital tools for online sales and using social networks to promote their own businesses, and to do this together so that the sector continues to be professionalized and has a greater capacity to be competitive, to preserve the local model that characterizes our city. “

Diagnosis and training

Services offered by Commerce and through the Business Advice Office (OAE) of Barcelona Activa, include the promotion of business advice, with support to facilitate the implementation of initiatives for improving businesses. The Business Care Office will be putting a tool at the disposal of retailers and companies for carrying out an initial diagnosis of the level of digital maturity and pointing out an itinerary to follow. In addition, it will also inform them of the subsidies that are available. The diagnosis tool will be required for all shops that wish to apply for municipal grants for digitalisation.

A website will be created featuring the information and tools that are being developed within the framework of the programme: a tool for diagnosing digital maturity, a catalogue and training agenda, a catalogue of grants, a news section, an events calendar, a catalogue of applications for commerce, success stories, technological radar and requests for appointments with the Digital Transformation Office.

Training activities have also been planned, which will focus above all on shops with a lower digital profile. This diagnosis will provide information so that the Digital Transformation Office can have a database at its disposal that continuously reflects the digital-transformation process of Barcelona commerce. Shops and markets will be studied on a case by case basis, so that a training, technical-support and financial model can be proposed for accompanying them. 

– Training: Definition of training courses taking into account the level of digital maturity of each business
– Advice and support: Advisory and accompaniment service during the digital transformation process, offered by the Business Advice Office
– Financial support: Definition of several financial grants that facilitate the necessary investments a business needs to make to bring about its digital transformation
– Knowledge: Collection of information on digital transformation for commerce, new technologies and experiences from other businesses or pilot tests

- Pilot tests: Small-scale introductions and in the area of new solutions and technologies giving rise to demands from the sector and consumers. 

Training catalogue

The process for promoting the digitisation of commerce will be equipped with a catalogue of training that can be done in person, partly online or totally online and mainly technical. It will correspond to five levels of maturity for each business. The training is so designed that by the time it finishes, shops and markets will have been able to advance to a higher level of maturity (having a website, profile on social media or a digital marketing plan, for example). In addition, the aim is to generate knowledge on the latest updates in programs and digital applications for commerce.

According to the Study of Digital Maturity, 62.75% of the shops analysed have a website on the internet but only 42.86% update their content on a regular basis. Only 7.71% of the establishments studies present an advanced level of digital maturity with a proposal to their customers across all channels. Digital gaps among various groups of shops was also observed, based on their location in the area, their belonging to commercial chains and the sector of activity they are dedicated to.

Purchasing in conventional physical establishments continues to prevail among Barcelona consumers, although the changes in recent years have led to the emergence of a new consumer profile that buys in both physical stores and online retail stores, and communicates directly with the establishments and with other consumers. The profile of the Barcelona resident who buys online still corresponds to that of a user who adopts technological innovations: they are male, and mainly young. And although in 58.4% of cases online shopping is occasional, a trend towards an increase in the frequency of these internet purchases was observed.

The City Council has a budget of €340,000 for 2018 and €640,000 for 2019, for assistance and subsidies in the digitalisation of shops. Two lines of assistance are provided for individual shops, one for obtaining a basic web presence, and another for the development of an active presence on the Internet. There is also a line dedicated to associations and merchant organisations for expansion of the portfolio of services they offer to shops.