At the second panel of the inaugural Forbes Business Bridges event in New York, experts and leaders from the luxury retail industry gathered to explore how iconic brands are navigating the delicate balance between tradition and innovation. Titled “Elevating Luxury Retail: Blending Tradition with Innovation,” the discussion delved into the evolving relationship between brands and consumers, emphasizing how emotional connections and customer experiences are reshaping the future of luxury.
Speakers such as Anca Vlad, President of Fildas-Catena Group, questioned how to communicate authentically in an age where emotions drive purchase decisions. Meanwhile, Octavia Marginean-Tahiroglu, General Manager of The St. Regis New York, shared insights on transitioning from invisible service to highly personalized, interactive experiences. With topics ranging from the impact of AI on luxury hospitality to the enduring importance of human craftsmanship in watchmaking, this panel provided a forward-looking discussion on how legacy brands can remain relevant in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
Pioneers such as Silvio Pietro Angori, CEO of the Pininfarina Group, reminded the audience of the irreplaceable role of human creativity and design in shaping emotional experiences, while Zach Erdem, entrepreneur and CEO of the 75 Main Group, revealed how technology is driving efficiency without sacrificing the personal touch. Finally, leaders from Bovet and Roger Dubuis emphasized that, despite technological advances, human interaction and exclusivity remain at the heart of luxury retail.
This panel brought together a variety of voices, each highlighting the power of heritage, emotion, and innovation in forging a lasting connection with today’s luxury consumers.
Here are the main statements of the speakers:
Anca Vlad, President Fildas – Catena Group
I would like to express some ideas after the extremely interesting AI panel… The world is made up of both male brains and female brains – and this creates a harmonious result. I wonder why AI appears to exhibit such a male bias. Are we entering a new era of masculinity? I’m also curious about the human characteristics of the programmers behind these famous algorithms – do they understand the feminine part of the world well enough? Are we encouraging girls to trust their mathematical skills and to be prepared for a future with AI? These are just some of the thoughts I had while listening to the Distinguished Panel. Women tend to value precision, and at a recent conference on AI held by Deloitte in Bucharest, it was noted that AI is about 15% of the time wrong, and it doesn’t even know it. That really made me question who can supervise it. And in order for us to effectively supervise it, we need to learn and build confidence, and attract more women into the business.
I’m not going to mention the advertisements I receive because I read Forbes magazine, but since I also read Bloomberg and various financial publications, I get a lot of ads for prostate medication. This made me think that there is a bit of bias in the programming and algorithms, and bias is definitely not good. I mean, we’ve come a long way as women, so let’s not allow AI take that away from us.
I watched our company’s short presentation, which, by the way, was written by my son – he’s in charge now – and it was such a pleasure to realize that he said, “Fildas-Catena, the name of health in Romania.” I thought about this 30 years ago, and that’s what I wanted Fildas to be one day: the name of health in Romania. And today, I realized that it is. So, we did it. How did we achieve this? Well, we are a team of strong personalities, and it’s a 50/50 balance, ladies and gentlemen. However, when it comes to direct interaction with the public, about 90% of our team members are women. We are important, and we are here for you. It’s all about trust. Our core value is trust.
And since you mentioned the pandemic, I’d like to share something that happened during that time, which really showed me what a strong team we are.
A law was passed in Romania that allowed women with children to stay at home, because their kids couldn’t go to school. The law stated that these women would receive their full salary. As you know, with 90% of our team in direct customer interaction being women, more than half of them had children at home. They were supposed to stay with them, so we thought we wouldn’t be able to face the challenge as a company. That’s life,’ we said. ‘This is the pandemic, and these are its consequences.’ There was nothing we could do, so I just waited to see how many women would stay home and whether we could manage the situation.
It was only natural for them to stay home to take care of their families. But do you know how many women took advantage of this law? Do you have any idea? I thought it would be 25%, maybe even 30%. But none – not one! Whenever I think back on this, I still feel the same incredible emotion. They cared about their community and their colleagues. They didn’t want to show fear. There is a network of support within extended families in Romania, so maybe some grandmothers stepped in to help. But I was told that the main reason was that they didn’t want to leave their teammates behind during such difficult times.
What did this mean for our company? It meant that we became the most trustworthy company. And after COVID, we experienced double-digit growth, which is not easy for a mature company. In fact, this is what it means to be the name of health in Romania.
In terms of challenges, one particularly interesting issue we’ve faced in recent years was figuring out how to take a brand recognized for its service and communication with patients and transfer it online. We spent considerable time reflecting and discussing, only to realize that we couldn’t fully replicate that level of service online. The personalized interaction and anamnesis – what we refer to as the initial patient discussion – require direct contact, and relying on robots for explanations just wouldn’t work.
So, we created a new brand specifically for the online space, called Spring. The name Spring came from our desire to convey the agility of a spring, the fluidity of water, and the freshness of the spring season.
We loved the concept, worked hard on it, and now it’s doing very well, especially as a brand for young people. They love it, they recommend it to each other, which is fantastic, and it’s been a wonderful creation. But then we were faced with another challenge: reaching young mothers. How do we approach them? Should we encourage them to connect online, or invite them to come and talk to us in person? Ultimately, we decided that Catena would focus on maintaining the traditional pharmacy chain while prioritizing direct connections with young mothers.
