Venchi transforms the shopper journey with Dynamics 365

Venchi expanded rapidly with the support of Microsoft Dynamics 365. To continue to share Italian allegria (joy) with customers worldwide, Venchi needed to build a personalized omnichannel retail program.

With Dynamics 365 Commerce and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, Venchi built a loyalty program to gather data on customers. From this foundation, Venchi is introducing AI-powered personalization through Copilot capabilities in the Store Commerce app.

Venchi saves 1,500 hours annually by automating fulfillment. More accurate accounting and inventory management decreased the cost of goods sold by 2% year over year. And easy sign-up added 800,000 customers to the loyalty program in its first year.

Venchi, makers of Italian chocolate and gelato since 1878, shares Italian allegria (joy) worldwide. With 180 stores, and sales in 70 countries, Venchi prides itself on using high-quality ingredients to craft 350 chocolate recipes and 90 gelato flavors.

In the last three years, Venchi has more than doubled its stores and sales. Maintaining high customer service standards while scaling is a significant challenge for any business. But Venchi seized this opportunity to unify and streamline processes on one platform for greater visibility and customer satisfaction.

First build a unified global platform

Venchi implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to provide a reliable, unified platform for visibility across the company. These solutions transformed supply chain logistics. From the manufacturing plant in Italy, where the chocolate is made and the gelato base is blended, to transportation and warehousing, to the shop where the customer selects a gift box of Assorted Chocoviar, to B2B accounts, all data is finally accessible in one platform.

“Creating a unified global platform with shared data and processes was essential for efficiency and growth," says Fabio Tormen, Chief Information Officer at Venchi. "Dynamics 365 gives us real-time data for decision-making, flexibility, and speed in our expansion."

Next, set the stage for personalized customer experiences

With this foundational platform in place, Venchi turned to Dynamics 365 Commerce and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights to set the stage for personalized customer experiences. “We wanted to shift from a purely transactional sales process to something more customer oriented,” explains Giorgia Mondino, Enterprise Application Manager at Venchi. “To do this, we needed more customer data and more accessible product data to build a clienteling process.”

The team set up a loyalty program to collect customer data. “What could we do to keep customers coming back more often? The loyalty program is how we start,” explains Tormen.

Dynamics 365 Commerce also made it easier to help ensure consistency with pricing promotions, inventory availability, and checkout processes.

Creating a unified global platform with shared data and processes was essential for efficiency and growth. Dynamics 365 gives us real-time data for decision-making, flexibility, and speed in our expansion.

Fabio Tormen, Chief Information Officer, Venchi

Then introduce the power of AI

Now Venchi looks to the future and sets its sights on a richly personalized omnichannel retail experience driven by the power of AI. Venchi have been working with Microsoft Partner HSO to continuously evolve their Microsoft Dynamics 365 solution. "With Dynamics 365, we have a single platform that supports all our processes, from finance and supply chain to in-store operations," explains Tormen. "This foundation allows us to innovate in-store, bringing technology closer to our customers and enhancing their overall experience." Tormen smiles, continuing, “Now we are piloting Personalized Shopping Agent in Dynamics 365 in collaboration with HSO.”

The mobile POS system in Dynamics 365 via the Store Commerce app makes it easier for Chocolate Hosts and sales assistants to work personally with a customer. “In the future, imagine our sales assistant can see on the app, from Customer Insights, that the customer shopped one year ago for his wife’s birthday, and we know she is allergic to dairy. With Copilot, we can easily access data for all 350 chocolate recipes and figure out which are safe options for the customer, in just a few seconds,” Tormen explains.

With Dynamics 365, we have a single platform that supports all our processes, from finance and supply chain to in-store operations. This foundation allows us to innovate in-store, bringing technology closer to our customers and enhancing their overall experience.

Fabio Tormen, Chief Information Officer, Venchi

Continue building on success

Since the first steps of building a unified global platform, Venchi has seen positive results. Automating order fulfillment is already saving 1,500 hours annually on previously manual tasks. In just a year, 800,000 joyful Venchi customers signed up for the loyalty program. In customer satisfaction surveys, Venchi consistently earns 4.9 out of 5. “We have decreased our cost of goods sold by 2% year over year because our inventory and our accounting is more accurate now. More accurate inventory also means product is fresher in stores,” says Ilaria Iacopinelli, Retail Area Manager at Venchi.

“We are just beginning with Dynamics 365 and Copilot,” Tormen says. “We’ll continue to bring the Italian way of life and delicious flavors to every corner of the earth. The future is sweet.”

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