Benetton revolutionises the metaverse experience
United Colors of Benetton is transforming its Corso Vittorio Emanuele store during Milan Fashion Week to align it with its upcoming virtual shop in the metaverse.
The metaverse store will feature an experimental look and feel and will enable the brand to create an additional touchpoint with consumers. However, ‘visitors’ will not buy clothes but will instead participate in gaming experiences that will allow them to accumulate QR codes, which can then be used to make purchases in physical shops.
Massimo Renon, chief executive of Benetton Group, explained: “We want to turn the immersive experience on its head. We will achieve this by creating the same emotional ecosystem in physical retail as will be available in the new virtual store in the metaverse, which will open in the next few weeks. Anyone visiting our Milan shop in 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, colour and sound.”
The virtual store will offer an experience mirroring what shoppers can expect when they visit the Corso Vittorio Emanuele location in the coming weeks. To mark Fashion Week, the Milan flagship has been redecorated in pink.
Antonio Patrissi, chief digital officer of Benetton Group, added: “We are one of the first brands to experiment with a distributed omnichannel model, one that creates a circular relationship between the physical world and the metaverse. The aim is to offer a dimensional link between the present and the future, the real and the virtual, through a brand experience that is increasingly immersive and, above all, in tune with the language of young people.”
