Aeffe on the hunt for start-ups
The group of Moschino, Alberta Ferretti and Philosophy by Lorenzo Serafini is building a pool of international start-ups to improve the shopping experience.
If Covid-19 has led companies to focus on enhancing the digital channel, there are those who have chosen to do so by collaborating with a series of start-ups. This is the case of the Aeffe group - which includes the brands Moschino, Alberta Ferretti, Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini and Pollini - whose e-commerce team, led by Gionata Galdenzi, began selecting a group of start-ups active in the digital commerce and artificial intelligence segments.
Ten start-ups for the perfect project
The experience is told by Galdenzi himself: "We are looking for what we call" the perfect project "- we already know that at an absolute level it cannot exist - which we are building on the basis of the needs of the group and of the individual brands that make it. part". The construction goes through a cluster of start-ups that the team is selecting in collaboration with the Italian accelerator Retail Hub: "Thanks to the board, and in particular to our CEO who is very digital oriented, we are developing a project based on the collaboration with many vertical, small, but smart start-ups, which allow us to be quick to follow needs more and more of the end customer, who after Covid-19 has ever more immediate needs », says Galdenzi.
The Aeffe group - which closed 2019 with an aggregate turnover of 351 million euros, slightly up (+ 1.4%) on 2018, with a positive performance of both the retail and online channels - aims to make about 10 start-ups by the end of the year. "We are working with our partner Triboo on the implementation and most of the start-ups will be active in the 2nd half of 2020, having used the Covid period to analyze them".
The tool that identifies the right size and the emotional chatbot
Among the technologies already selected by Aeffe is the size guide tool created by the start-up Naiz fit which, with a selfie uploaded by the customer, allows the software to calculate the right size to buy. A useful tool to bring a slice of customers closer to online shopping who see in not being able to try on the garment one of the main obstacles to finalizing the purchase. Then there is the “Inside” chatbot developed by Californian Powerfront: «It is a more sophisticated system than the traditional chatbot: it aims to interpret the customer's wishes and emotions, using a series of information on past visits or purchases, for example». In the group of start-ups selected by Aeffe there are companies from all over the world: Giftmagic from the United Kingdom; Wapping Web and Viume from Sapgna, Noibu from Canada. There is also the Italian Qaplà which uses technology to track shipments. "The collaboration with startups from all over the world allows us to collect a lot of information and analyze it with AI systems to read or better interpret the trends that change suddenly". Trends that, for example, could soon add video consultations with a sale assistant and personal shopper to the virtual shopping mode.
Source: The sun 24 hours
