CORE - Center for Consumer Welfare and Retail Innovation aims to contribute to consumer welfare and the prosperity of the retail sector by developing and sharing knowledge with companies in a relationship of synergy and co-construction.
Our vision involves becoming a reference in Europe in the development of advanced knowledge and impactful teaching programs on innovation in the retail sector and the promotion of consumer welfare. To this end, we are developing a set of innovative projects and programs with companies, developing an Executive Training School in Retail Management and Innovation, with Jerónimo Martins and Delta Cafés as key partners.
In terms of education, this school has already given birth to a pioneering program in Portugal - a degree for executives that allows them to develop skills in the area of commercial and retail management. The program developed with Jerónimo Martins, already accredited, was successfully launched in September 2023 with 37 students and is now receiving a new class. Short executive training programs for the retail sector are being developed in parallel, some of them using a micro-credential model.
In the field of research, the School participates in 3 mobilizing agendas supported by the PRR, in collaboration with various companies on topics related to retail and consumption. Specifically, the SMART RETAIL project on automated retail models, the InsectERA project on the production and sale of food made from insect protein, and the SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS project, which aims to use blockchain technologies to ensure the effective recycling of plastic packaging. The School's participation in these projects enables the creation and dissemination of new knowledge on these topics linked to the future of Retail and Consumption.
Founding Partners
Executive Degree in Retail and Commercial Management
In close partnership with Jerónimo Martins as a pilot client, since 2022 the School has developed a pioneering program to train employees who aspire to higher education - the executive degree in commercial and retail management - taught in a distance learning model.
The delay in Portugal's educational development over the decades means that there is still a very large gap in the training and level of education of the Portuguese workforce. In particular, there are many professionals over the age of 23 who would like to go on to higher education but have not had the opportunity to do so. Distribution and retail companies have a large number of employees in this situation.
This gave life to a strategic partnership with Jerónimo Martins to be the pilot client for an executive degree in commercial and retail management to be developed by Universidade Católica with input from the company. The program was developed in 2022 and submitted for accreditation, which was achieved the following year, allowing the course, which is taught in a distance learning model and lasts 4 years, to be launched in September 2023 with a class of 37 students. These students were recruited from a pool of several hundred applicants, 60 of whom were chosen to take various modules in a micro-credential model and prepare for the Mathematics entrance exam. 37 students passed the exam and started their degree, which will open its second class in September 2024, and is now open to the market and aimed in particular at professionals over the age of 23.
Executive Training in Retail
An executive training program in Mastering Retail Innovation is being prepared, as well as short executive programs that allow micro-credentials to be awarded. Executive training programs have also been developed and delivered for the Centre's partners - Jerónimo Martins and Delta Cafés, as well as for SONAE, Essilor Luxotica and Leroy Merlin.
In the area of Research, the Centre is committed to developing research and knowledge on behaviors and practices that will increase consumers' quality of life, bring new perspectives to innovation in the retail sector and strengthen the synergistic link between the two. The Centre will work in close partnership with companies, delving into new and emerging strategies for sustainable consumption and innovation in retail, following up on themes such as digitalization, micro-segmentation and specialization, sustainable consumption, value chain optimization and, in the food, health and organic sectors, increasing the sustainability of the value chain and improving the relationship with the consumer and their loyalty.
Specifically, and for the period 2022 to 2025, the Centre is actively collaborating as a knowledge partner in three mobilizing agendas supported by the RRP:
Smart Retail
The SMART RETAIL Mobilizing Agenda brings together a group of prestigious retail companies led by SENSEI to work on new automated retail models. The CATÓLICA-LISBON team conducts several studies on consumer behavior towards automated retail solutions. A unit of the GALP Smart Store was installed in May 2024, after several months of preparation, with SENSEI technology that will make it possible to have an experimentation laboratory on automated retail on campus. The CATÓLICA-LISBON team is led by Professor Maria Estarreja.
The Agenda Mobilizadora Smart Retail (Smart Retail Mobilising Agenda) aims to develop, demonstrate, and industrialise technologies that support a new generation of retail. This involves the adoption of dematerialised process solutions within the sector to provide a seamless and ultra-convenient experience for users, with significant economic and environmental efficiency and notable potential for internationalisation. These solutions, with considerable economic impact and relevance, could revolutionise the retail sector and have a diffusing and multiplying effect on other sectors and segments, such as tourism, culture, restaurants, gyms, offices, and mobility, among others.
The Agenda Smart Retail (Smart Retail Agenda) aims to create value for operators of future retail formats, based on digital solutions that capitalise on information gathered in-store through computer vision technology, artificial intelligence, and sensor fusion. Therefore, the consortium brings together entities from various stages of the retail sector value chain, including technology suppliers, industrial partners, R&D partners, retail operators, and technology recipients, initiating the development of a new holistic ecosystem of autonomous companies and intelligent sales solutions and interactions with the end consumer, capable of being replicated in different physical retail contexts. This will allow consumers to have an integrated experience and access to an increasingly digital economy. In this context, it aims to develop new retail formats, such as autonomous/hybrid stores (500 and 1500 m2), Pods (i.e., containerised autonomous stores with ~15m2, easily installed in different locations), Zero Waste Cabinets (the vending solution of the future), as well as peripheral technologies capable of enhancing consumer user experience.
Among the activities developed under the leadership of CATÓLICA-LISBON/Retail Innovation Lab for the Smart Retail Agenda are research in data analysis and information systems, the development of scientific articles and case studies, and the promotion of outreach events that can impact stakeholders and support more efficient decision-making and the acquisition of new insights by users. Noteworthy among these activities is the inauguration of a GALP Smart Store on the premises of the Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, a result of collaboration between the entities, demonstrating the latest technology applied to the retail sector and consumer experience. For assortment analysis, research was conducted by the Retail Innovation Lab of CATÓLICA-LISBON. Besides being a data source for studies, the fully technological store has proven to be an excellent solution for those who study and work after hours or seek a quicker, easier, and more convenient solution.
The main lines of research at the Retail Innovation Lab are as follows: sustainability in the retail sector; technology in retail across various dimensions; autonomous stores and their impact on consumers and the national economy; assortment analyses in different types of autonomous stores; analyses of assortment differences in retail stores in Portugal and Italy; data analyses of autonomous stores for future AI implementation; Galp Smart Store case study.
Sustainable Plastics
This agenda led by LOGOPLASTE aims to increase the sustainability and efficiency of the value chain by increasing the recycling of plastic packaging. The CATÓLICA-LISBON team led by Professor Paulo Amaral is working on applying Blockchain technologies to this model.
The Mobilizing Agenda for Sustainable Plastics (https://sustainableplastics.pt/), co-financed by the PRR, is the result of an initiative by APIP and is led by the Logoplaste Innovation Lab. It comprises a consortium of 39 companies and 10 non-business entities from the technological and scientific community, aiming to encompass all segments and subsectors of the plastics industry and address the primary challenges faced by stakeholders within this value system vision.
This Mobilizing Agenda for Sustainable Plastics is structured into seven Work Packages (WP) and 14 PPS (Processes, Products, and Services), with strategic objectives to promote the sustainability of plastics, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, and enhance resource efficiency towards innovative differentiation.
In this context, the CONNECTED SINGULARITY project (PPS9) aims to promote environmental sustainability and recycling behaviours for plastic materials, consisting of various initiatives and complementary sub-projects.
One of the strategic vectors of PPS9, focusing on the uniqueness of packaging within an open ecosystem involving multiple entities, is the development of a digital circuit that connects all participants, from packaging producers to other stakeholders and end consumers. This will enable innovative forms of interactivity, improve product experience, and promote recycling/circularity behaviours.
To achieve this, the research team at CATÓLICA-LISBON, led by Professor Paulo Cardoso do Amaral, is responsible for the architecture and development of this innovative Digital Circuit, which includes the Digitalization Solution and the Tokenization model of packaging through emerging Blockchain technology.
Utilizing the Blockchain platform, it will be possible to ensure the uniqueness of packaging throughout its lifecycle in the digital ecosystem, allowing data processing at various stages, from the production circuit to consumption, and including the final recycling behaviour intended to be encouraged.
As mentioned, Blockchain technology has a structural impact on the relationships between economic agents in this circuit. The technological model under development will explore and apply Blockchain capabilities, including the collaborative trust mechanism, unique cryptographic aspects, distributed consensus model, self-execution of business rules, and low transaction costs.
Ultimately, the distinctive solution of an integrated Digital Circuit, encompassing the production, consumption, and recycling of packaging, will empower end consumers with high environmental awareness and create opportunities for innovations in relational and interactive marketing, driving the transition towards a greener and more sustainable agenda.
InsectERA
InsectERA (www.insectera.pt) seeks to explore the potential of insects as a bioindustry tool in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of innovative technology solutions and new Products, Processes and Services (PPS) based on a circular economy. This PRR Mobilising Agenda brings together 42 partners from the entire value chain, committed to create a new European bioindustry headquartered in Portugal that responds to the global challenges posed by the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those linked to food production and consumption. To this end, InsectERA projects (2023/25) are carried out in two areas of exploration – Raw Materials and Production, and Industry 4.0 –, four areas of exploitation – InFood, InFeed, InIndustry and InBiorremediation –, and three ancillary domains – InFrass, One Health and In2Market.
The main purpose of In2Market is to support the development and marketing of InsectEra’s PPS by removing the last barriers to market entry and solving the marketing challenges faced by the different partners. CATÓLICA-LISBON is the InsectERA partner leading the Market Analysis (2023/24) and Marketing Planning (2024/25) activities for the InFood, InFeed and InIndustry Food areas, in addition to collaborating as consultant in the development and market testing of PPS. Ana Isabel de Almeida Costa, Principal Investigator at CUBE/CORE, coordinates these activities, which further engage CATÓLICA’s School of Biotechnology (UCP Porto), IST-ID, SenseTest Lda., Auchan Retail Portugal and collaborative laboratories Colab4Food, B2E Blue Economy and FeedInov as partners.
Market Demand for Insect-based Products is the first study carried out by CATÓLICA-LISBON/CORE for InsectERA. This study segments and profiles main European consumer markets, identifying the best opportunities for the development and launch of new offers. Findings are supported by an analysis of the launches and prices of insect-based offers worldwide over the last decade, a meta-analysis of consumers’ willingness to pay for new offers in different country markets, estimates of market demand in Portugal, Germany and Italy based on primary consumer data, and structured interviews with 35 key informants of European companies and other relevant entities. The study will be presented at the First InsectEra Congress, to be held on October 23 2024 in Estoril, Portugal.
