AI-personalized email campaigns now see 17% higher open rates and 7% higher click-through rates
Campaign localization is 10x faster, thanks to AI-assisted translation and asset adaptation
Customer service workflows are faster and more intelligent, with AI helping to triage tickets and support agents in real time
Swarovski modernized its data with Google Cloud, creating a single source of truth on BigQuery. This enabled real-time personalization, better decisions, and the use of gen AI. Key benefits include boosted email engagement, faster campaign localization, and improved customer service, all while prioritizing responsible AI practices.
Swarovski modernized its data with Google Cloud, creating a single source of truth on BigQuery. This enabled real-time personalization, better decisions, and the use of gen AI. Key benefits include boosted email engagement, faster campaign localization, and improved customer service, all while prioritizing responsible AI practices.
From legacy systems to data-driven luxury
We came from a time when everyone had their version of the truth. Our data structures were mainly designed for financial reporting in the last two decades, not for real-time personalization in the 2020s.
Fabrizio Antonelli
VP and Global Head of Data and AI, Swarovski
How does a 130-year-old luxury brand redefine itself for the digital age? Since 1895, Swarovski has been synonymous with brilliance through precision-cut crystals, timeless craftsmanship, and distinctive design. Today, the brand is redefining brilliance in the digital age with a bold transformation driven by data, artificial intelligence, and personalization at scale – all powered by Google Cloud.
In 2022, Swarovski found itself at a crossroads. Like many global enterprises, the company was running multiple disconnected systems. Data was trapped in silos, duplicated across platforms, and often inconsistent. Insights were delayed, and a lack of trust in the data hampered decision-making. "We came from a time when everyone had their version of the truth," recalls Fabrizio Antonelli, VP and Global Head of Data and AI at Swarovski. "Our data structures were mainly designed for financial reporting in the last two decades, not for real-time personalization in the 2020s."
Meanwhile, customer expectations had never been higher. Across 140+ markets, more than 2,300 boutiques, and numerous digital touchpoints, people expect seamless, intuitive, and personalized omnichannel experiences – browsing a collection online, visiting a boutique, or engaging through mobile. Luxury was not just about product — it was about data-enhanced moments of relevance, precision, and connection.
To meet these expectations, Swarovski needed more than a tech refresh. It required a complete rethink of how data was stored, accessed, trusted, and used across the organization. The goal is to build a single source of truth that will serve as the launchpad for enterprise-wide innovation and AI.
One golden source of truth – Built for AI
Gen AI removed the entry barrier to AI. Today, everyone can be a creator, an analyst, or a designer — without code.
Fabrizio Antonelli
VP and Global Head of Data and AI, Swarovski
Swarovski partnered with Google Cloud to create a modern, scalable data foundation supporting a global luxury business. The journey began with a massive data consolidation effort, involving the migration of over 1,000 data objects from more than 30 sources to a centralized Data Lakehouse on BigQuery. This unified, cloud-native platform became the company's single source of truth, ensuring that every system and stakeholder could rely on accurate, timely, and high-quality data. The Google partner Cloudsufi provided key support to achieve this ambition.
"We wanted to bring all our enterprise information from multiple systems together – CRM, ERP, ecommerce, and even creative assets – into one system," says Fabrizio. "With BigQuery, we were finally able to do that."
Swarovski's data transformation wasn't just technical, it was cultural. A newly established internal data certification program ensured every business-critical data element was identified, verified, and managed responsibly. Automated quality checks were embedded in the pipeline. Cross-functional stakeholders were involved at every stage of the process. "We used to build complex reports because our systems couldn't handle real-time analytics," Fabrizio explains. "Now, every business decision can be based on live, trusted data."
Store size data, for example, has become a critical input for profitability metrics, ensuring apples-to-apples comparisons and enabling more informed decisions on merchandising, staffing, and expansion. By combining structured data (such as financial information) with unstructured sources (like customer reviews), Swarovski gained a more comprehensive understanding of its operations and brand perception.
On top of this foundation, Swarovski built a Customer Data Platform on Looker to unify touchpoints across ecommerce, CRM, marketing, and retail. This Single Customer View powers individualized product recommendations, consistent omnichannel experiences, and profoundly localized campaign execution.
With its core data architecture in place, Swarovski rapidly scaled up its AI ambitions with Gemini and Vertex AI. In 2023, the company launched Génie, a gen AI portal designed to democratize access to generative AI tools across the business. Over 1,000 employees now utilize Génie for tasks such as contract review, content translation into over 20 languages, creative digital asset generation, and campaign inspirations, and product design cost estimation.
"Gen AI removed the entry barrier to AI," says Fabrizio. "Today, everyone can be a creator, an analyst, or a designer — without code."
Personalized experiences, global scale, responsible innovation
Luxury today is about relevance, timing, and emotional connection. With Google Cloud, we've built intelligent solutions that listen, learn, and adapt in real time. We communicate authentically and intelligently with our customers, while keeping the human connection and creativity at the core. That's what it means to bring joy.
Fabrizio Antonelli
VP and Global Head of Data and AI, Swarovski
Swarovski's transformation is delivering measurable results across the organization:
- AI-personalized email campaigns now see 17% higher open rates and 7% higher click-through rates
- Campaign localization is 10x faster, thanks to AI-assisted translation and asset adaptation
- Customer service workflows are faster and more intelligent, with AI assisting in ticket triage and supporting agents in real time
But the impact goes deeper. Once focused on historical data, financial reporting now integrates live marketing, campaign, and even weather data to produce forward-looking, scenario-based insights. "We can forecast demand based on external signals we never had access to before," Fabrizio says.
Genie, the internal gen AI platform, has become a creative partner across functions. It helps marketing teams test different visuals and descriptions for different regions. It allows legal teams to verify contract compliance. It even supports merchandising teams accelerating the design to shelf process by estimating the production cost of designs in the early stage.
Importantly, Swarovski has built a strong framework for responsible AI use. Every AI application adopted is evaluated using an internal AI ethics and risk model. Data privacy, brand integrity, and cybersecurity are considered in every deployment. The company also launched an AI literacy program to empower employees to use AI safely and confidently.
In 2024, 77% of AI initiatives were successfully evaluated and approved through this framework. "Responsible AI is not a side note," Fabrizio says. "It's a prerequisite for scaling it in a luxury brand."
"Luxury today is about relevance, timing, and emotional connection," says Fabrizio. "With Google Cloud, we've built intelligent solutions that listen, learn, and adapt in real time. We communicate authentically and intelligently with our customers, while keeping the human connection and creativity at the core. That's what it means to bring joy."
What's next: A future built on data, creativity, and AI
Swarovski is now piloting advanced gen AI tools to support digital merchandising, virtual try-on, and predictive product recommendations. Behind the scenes, it's exploring how conversational interfaces and autonomous agents can assist customers and employees alike to make the shopping experience enjoyable and without friction.
The company aims to blend human creativity and AI-powered scale across every aspect of its operations. As Fabrizio puts it, "AI combines thousands of years of human knowledge — but without people, it stagnates. AI provides intelligent answers, but only when intelligent questions are posed. The brands that succeed will be those that train their employees to maximize AI's potential by teaching them how to ask the right questions."
With Google Cloud, Swarovski is not just transforming how it works — it's redefining luxury in a world where intelligence and emotion go hand in hand.
Swarovski creates beautiful products of impeccable quality and craftsmanship that bring joy and celebrate individuality.
Founded in 1895 in Austria, the company designs, manufactures, and sells the world's finest crystals, Swarovski created diamonds and zirconia, jewelry, and accessories, as well as home décor and crystals for automotive.
Industry: Luxury Goods
Location: Austria
Products: BigQuery, Vertex AI, Gemini, Looker
About Google Cloud partner- CloudSufi
CloudSufi is a global technology company specializing in cloud-based decision support software, advanced analytics, and AI solutions across diverse industries.
