Benetton Group: Sharing bespoke recommendations with AI and cloud-based analytics
About Benetton
Benetton Group is one of the best-known fashion companies in the world, operating in key global markets with a network of 4,000 stores. With a continuing commitment to the environment, human dignity, and societal transformation, Benetton Group plans for the future and lives in the present.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact usBenetton Group uses BigQuery and Discovery AI Solutions to build a data-driven omnichannel experience that can understand customers' preferences in real time, personalize recommendations, and improve conversion rates.
Google Cloud results
- Personalizes recommendations and responds in real time to customer behavior and choices with Recommendations AI
- Increases conversion rate by 6 times when the customer interacts with the panels generated by Recommendations AI
- Reduces friction in the sales funnel and boosts sales by 7%
- Increases customer engagement and time spent on the website by almost 3 times
Higher conversion rate with Recommendations AI
Whether we're dressing to impress or decompress, what we wear is an expression of who we are. It's big business too, with the global fashion industry worth around $1.5 trillion in 2022. Founded in 1965, Benetton Group has stood out from the crowd with its sense of style, bold use of color, and inclusive messaging. Today, the Group is one of the largest names in fashion, with around 4,000 stores across the world.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when stores were shut, Benetton Group successfully digitized its shopping experience and, with the help of Google Cloud, built a marketing data lake to better understand its customers and their preferences.
"We wanted to build a tool that uses artificial intelligence to gain a better understanding of our customers' desires, learn from their browsing habits and provide them with personalized recommendations. Google Cloud was the platform that could deliver what we needed."
—Antonio Patrissi, Chief Digital Officer, Benetton GroupBy early 2022, after the launch of its new omnichannel experience, the Group wanted to build on the information it had started to acquire and break new ground. In particular, Benetton Group wanted to improve the recommendation tool for online customers. Once again, it turned to Google Cloud.
"We wanted to build a tool that uses artificial intelligence to gain a better understanding of our customers' needs, learn from their browsing habits and provide them with personalized recommendations," says Antonio Patrissi, Chief Digital Officer, Benetton Group. "Google Cloud was the only platform on the market that could deliver what we needed."
Harnessing the power of AI and cloud analytics
Benetton Group's existing content management solution had a built-in recommendation tool, but the company wanted something more sophisticated. With a cloud-based platform, Benetton Group was keen to use cutting-edge analytics and AI to capture detailed insights on shopping patterns, how stores performed in a multichannel environment, and how to localize recommendations for a global customer base.
Benetton Group began the project by adopting a multi-site approach and grouping different countries by language type. This helped to create customized recommendation models based on the specifics of each user.
"Recommendations AI is at the heart of real-time recommendations made to users on digital channels. It makes it possible to import both product information and customer behaviors on the data platform."
—Antonio Patrissi, Chief Digital Officer, Benetton GroupThe Group took between 90 to 120 days of data for each country from Google Analytics and BigQuery and imported it into Recommendations AI. "Recommendations AI is at the heart of real-time recommendations made to users on digital channels," says Patrissi. "It makes it possible to import both product and customer information on the data platform."
Personalized recommendations, low-friction user experience
After running a successful proof of concept with one model trained in Recommendations AI, the Group rolled out its new solution within three months. Benetton Group trained its models to show recommendations in various context-specific sections of the web, such as "Frequently Bought Together" on the product detail pages or "Recommended for you" and "Others you may like" on the checkout page.
"With Google Cloud, we built a recommendation tool that helps us personalize the shopping experience for each customer," says Patrissi. "It dynamically adapts in real time, improving engagement and driving sales."
"With Google Cloud, we built a recommendation tool that helps us personalize the shopping experience for each customer. It dynamically adapts to their behavior, improving engagement and driving sales."
—Antonio Patrissi, Chief Digital Officer, Benetton GroupBenetton Group also embarked on an ambitious redesign of its user experience, leveraging the analysis of its customer preferences and integrating its new recommendation tool. "We wanted to focus customers on the recommendations panel, increase time on the site, and reduce friction in the sales funnel," explains Patrissi.
Targeting the home page, product detail pages, and shopping cart, Benetton Group A/B tested a range of new changes before finding the right design. Following the redesign, the company found that users who clicked on the recommendations panel had 6 times the conversion rate of users who didn't. Those sales were also higher by 7% on average than the sales that hadn't come through the recommendations panel. Customers who engaged with the panel also stayed on the site almost 3 times longer than those who didn't.
Having rolled out the redesigned user experience, including the release of Recommendations AI panels across its top five markets, Benetton Group is now working to extend it to the rest of its territories. The Group is also working to improve its recommendations tool by adding automation for even more responsive engagement with customers.
"We were always looking for a data-driven solution that would support the business in achieving real commercial value through data collection and analysis," says Patrissi. "Google Cloud has been the perfect choice."
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About Benetton
Benetton Group is one of the best-known fashion companies in the world, operating in key global markets with a network of 4,000 stores. With a continuing commitment to the environment, human dignity, and societal transformation, Benetton Group plans for the future and lives in the present.