A couple of years ago, United Colors of Benetton revamped its store format and customer experience with a new concept “that goes beyond the traditional notion of a store to become an urban and contemporary showroom,” according to Fashion Retailer.
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And, indeed, nowadays it’s a whole new ball game, as consumers embrace online shopping like never before. Fittingly, the Italian fashion brand has turned its focus towards the creation of a superb online experience for its wide variety of customers who have grown with the brand over the years.
The most obvious driving force behind the timing of it all must be the ongoing covid-19 pandemic that forced us all to hunker down under lockdown for months. Digital Commerce 360 notes that consumers spent $347.26 billion online with U.S. retailers in the first half of 2020 – that’s an increase of 30.1% from $266.84 billion for the same time in 2019.
To help Benetton create a market-leading fashion brand and rethink its global omnichannel strategy, it has appointed the agency R/GA London as its digital transformation partner.
“With the importance of Benetton’s digital experience more significant than ever due to the changing market conditions, we are thrilled to have been selected as their new Digital Transformation partner,” said Rebecca Bezzina, SVP managing director R/GA London.
“We look forward to helping pivot this incredible fashion brand and create a next-generation eCommerce platform that sets them apart from the competition.”
Additionally, Benetton is aiming to generate a better shopping eCommerce experience on www.Benetton.com for localizing reasons.
Set to launch next month, the brand’s new website will be available in 25 countries. The website will be translated into six languages as well as offer numerous currencies to shop in. That’s a big move, which requires a modernized platform to enable it.
“With Covid, every market is in a unique position – as a brand, you need to have a personalized strategy and approach to each… Marketers must be aware of the local context above all,” Bezzina added.
Finally, as millennials represent the largest group of consumers today, who particularly enjoy shopping online, many with D2C brands – it is important to cater to this key customer segment.
Together with R/GA, Benetton is also set to track online behavioral changes and shopping browsing habits to provide the business with a successful digital transformation and a superior omnichannel experience.
“We wanted to collaborate with an agency that fully understood the complex challenges and different disruptions that the fashion industry is currently facing,” Antonio Patrissi, Group Chief Digital Officer at Benetton.
“Since the moment we met the team over Zoom, they have demonstrated themselves to be entirely the right partner to help us transform digital vision. We’re very much looking forward to working together”.
We will make sure to check in on Benetton’s site in the near future and tell you how this digital transformation is going from retention loyalty and general CRM best practices.