Distributed omnichannel: it doesn’t matter if it’s Milan or Metaverse – the main thing is Benetton

The color of the season is pink – it didn’t take a visit to Milan Fashion Week in February for that. A visit to any (fast) fashion store like Zara, H&M or Benetton clearly shows that summer will be colorful.

Benetton went even further for Fashion Week and transformed the Milan flagship store on Corso Vittorio Emanuele into a pink store during Milan Fashion Week. From ceiling to floor – all pink. The integrated digital signage elements – walls and LED screens – also shone in the trending color of the season.

Benetton invited to invidis at DSS ISE

At DSS ISE on May 11, invidis will speak with Giovanni Flore, Head of Digital Signage at Benetton, about digital concepts, new omnichannel models and the role of digital signage on the floor. Information and tickets on the conference website at digitalsignagesummit.org/ise/

So far so good – the campaign is interesting to digital retail experts for another reason. Because not only did the stationery in the shadow of Milan’s cathedral turn pink, but also the brand’s new Metaverse store at the same time. Whether in Milan or in the Metaverse, customers and fans of the brand had the same brand looks and experiences, regardless of space and time.

The return channel developed by United Colors of Benetton is remarkable. Unlike most other Metaverse stores, Benetton customers cannot buy virtual clothes for their avatars, but instead accumulate points with games that can only be redeemed at stationary stores. The Metaverse thus offers a virtual reality in which new technologies increasingly align interaction on the Internet with that in the real world.

Flagship Store London: digital facades are back at Benetton

“We want to revolutionize the immersive experience”, explains Massimo Renon, CEO of the Benetton group. “We will achieve this by creating the same emotional ecosystem in physical retail that is available in the new Metaverse virtual store. Anyone who visits our Milan store on Corso Vittorio Emanuele over the next few days will be able to immerse themselves in a world where physical reality and digital connection come together in an explosion of creativity, color and sound.

However, the United Colors of Benetton store in the Metaverse is taking a new approach. The “visitors” will not buy clothes, but will participate in gaming experiences that will allow them to collect QR codes, which they can then use to make purchases in physical stores. The brand thus creates an additional point of contact with the consumer and strengthens its omnichannel strategy.

Multi-vendor strategy

Even Benetton doesn’t put all its eggs in one basket when it comes to digital signage. While M-Cube has been supplying digital displays worldwide for over ten years as a supplier to homes and courts, the Italian fashion group is always on the lookout for other suppliers for selected markets. In Spain, Benetton works with Waapiti.

“We are one of the first brands to experiment with a distributed omnichannel model that creates a circular relationship between the physical world and the metaverse,” said Antonio Patrissi, Chief Digital Officer, Benetton Group. “The goal is to create a dimensional connection between present and future, between reality and virtuality, through a brand experience that is increasingly immersed in the world and, above all, in tune with the language of young people.”