United Colors of Benetton: Using Colorful CRM Tactics to Care for Customers?

Welcome to PostFunnel’s 29th episode in the Seven CRM Commandments series!

This time around, we will be analyzing that colorful and carefree knitwear brand we all used to love back in the 90s – United Colors of Benetton.

Are they up to the task of what basic CRM tactics require of a brand in 2020?

1. Be Transparent 9/10

Between the way the brand has been handling an antitrust investigation in Italy, and different press releases it sent regarding the needs for accelerated modernization and digital transformation of its digital assets, we feel like the brand is “some you can talk to”. And that is what transparency is all about – a brand showing itself to be human.

Regarding that digital transformation, it was reported here on PostFunnel that the iconic fashion brand is set to transform its digital shopping experience for its loyal customers by teaming up with agency R/GA London.

“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.”

Therefore, Benetton has publicly acknowledged that it needs to improve the overall digital experience for shoppers – not shy to let customers know the truth about where the brand is heading.

2. Incentives and Perks 3/10

Other than signing up to receive the brand’s newsletter with a promise to, “Get a sneak peek at our latest news and promotions!” – we didn’t notice any other special offers, first time purchase promos, bonus codes, or other CRM marketing promotional offers that can definately work for the brand to retain customers as well as require new ones.

3. Be Relevant 7/10

The brand’s HP features a Christmas theme (holiday marketing) banner – which also gives customers the ability to browse through their “Gift Guide” – obviously relevant just in time for Christmas.

Also, their cozy home wear banner below is relevant as consumers still spend more time at home than usual due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the brand’s FAQ section, we didn’t find any mention of the coronavirus pandemic and how it has affected the brand by any means.

Also, numerous brands have created new ways to shop in order to combat the spread of coronavirus. For instance, delivery methods like BOPIS, click and collect, or contact-free delivery have been introduced (among others) and have already been put in place across many retailers’ websites. For lack of this at Benetton, few points were deducted.

4. Be Helpful 8/10

United Colors of Benetton is a green fashion brand. On its sustainability webpage, they write:

“Since 2017, we have been part of the SAC (Sustainable Apparel Coalition), the largest alliance for sustainable production for fashion, footwear and textile brands.”

The brand also has a news section on their site with posts ranging from fashion to weather, inspiration, culture, and so much more.

The brand’s Dress Safely provides plenty of details on how “the Benetton Group project aimed at raising awareness and reassuring customers about the quality and safety of our garments, especially those that will be worn by children.”

Finally, with the brand’s slogan being: “All the colors of the world,” it’s clear that Benetton promotes diversity and inclusivity through its overall image and standpoint as a fashion brand.

These are all fantastic ways to show the world your brand’s values – however, how about something a bit more relevant to these times, especially for a year gripped by a global pandemic!?

5. Realtime Personalization 4/10

Although it might seem obvious, not too many brands that we’ve recently analyzed to date offer a drop-down menu to choose your country in order to localize and personalize your shopping experience. Especially not with such a wide range of options.

We also couldn’t help but notice a small banner at the bottom of the brand’s HP reading, “An exclusive service on benetton.com: personalize your virgin wool sweater, add your initials or give a special gift.”

However, when adding an item to our cart and going back to the homepage – we weren’t presented with “similar items” suggestions. Also, when adding that same sweater to our cart – no up-sell or cross-sell efforts were made by the brand.

Finally, no re-targeting efforts were made on our social media accounts either.

6. Master UX 6/10

Overall, our experience with the brand was good. It was nice to see them offer an “inside” section aside from shopping, with a campaign, expertise, history, sustainability, and even a “how do you feel” section.

The menu bar on the top left-hand corner of the brand’s HP is also clear and neat – making it easy to interact with the brand and find the category of products you’re looking for. We’ve seen worse sites.

Kind of annoying/outdated to have to fill in the entire form below to contact their customer service team, though:

Finally, removing items from our cart also wasn’t that simple – other brands simply offer it at the click of a button.

7. Leverage Social Media 6/10

Benetton’s Twitter account boasts over 34K Followers. However, the brand’s last Tweet is from the year 2018.

Though from a couple of years ago – this was a very cool and creative idea that the brand initiated and brought to life:

Also, to the brand’s defense, Benetton India is indeed an active page on Twitter.

Benetton’s Facebook account boasts over 636K Followers.

The brand posts every couple of weeks, more or less – mostly promoting their clothing lines and/or new collections.

Benetton’s Instagram account boasts over 657K Followers. The brand is a lot more active on this social media platform, posting every single day, and also using the Instastory feature.

The brand posts colorful images from all around the world as well as videos here to properly engage its large user base.

It’s clear that the company’s focus is on Instagram – and we agree that it’s the most suited platform for what they do. Still, neglecting other accounts isn’t ideal.

**

Overall, United Colors of Benetton is getting a disappointing 43/70 here (61%) placing them in joint 25th place, really near the end of the pack. We would agree and say – they are in real need of a digital overhaul. We’ll make sure to check in on them in a few months.

Here are the full rankings of all the brands we analyzed to date:

1. Pets at Home 91%
2. Lowe’s 90%
3. Petco 90%
4. Target 87%
5. Uniqlo 86%
6. Vrbo 83%
7. West Elm 81%
8. The North Face 81%
9. Holland and Barret 80%
10. Brooks Running 79%
11. Best Buy 78%
12. Etsy 76%
13. The Body Shop 74%
14. Gymshark 73%
15. William Hill 73%
16. Iceland Foods 71%
17. Total Wine & More 70%
18. Tommy Hilfiger 70%
19. Walgreens 70%
20. Kohl’s 70%
21. Buy Buy Baby 68%
22. Fiverr 67%
23. Next 63%
24. Patagonia 61%
25. United Colors of Benetton 61%
26. Burberry 60%
27. Zara 59%
28. COS 57%
29. Dream11 53%

One more brand to go and we’ll be reaching a total of 30 brand analyses! Stay tuned to see who’s next.