Pitti progresses thanks to data collection by online trade show e-Pitti

By

Dominique Muret

Published
May 6, 2015

Launched in June 2011, Pitti Immagine’s online trade show, which extends the scope of Pitti Uomo, Pitti W, Pitti Bimbo and Pitti Filati (dedicated to the knitwear industry), is playing an increasingly important role in the organization of physical exhibitions through the mass of data collected on its website.

With the success it has seen over the last eight seasons, including a 45% increase in page views compared to January 2014, e-Pitti.com is now taking things a step further. The platform is further developing its forte by, on the one hand, seeking to improve the experience of its users (buyers and exhibitors) by offering more content and services and, on the other, by offering more and more information to its organizer, Pitti Immagine, as regards to buyers’ behavior when exploring the online trade show.

E-Pitti is indeed able to analyze what are currently the most sought after products in each category (pants, shirt, etc.), by color and style (classic, casual sportswear or avant-garde) and those that are most attractive to buyers, according to their nationality. Thus, organizers might learn that Germans prefer avant-garde knitwear, while Americans love classic jackets. 

"While, at the physical trade show, badges only allow visitors to scan their presence at a stand, on our platform, we’re able to see which products interest buyers the most, and which have less of a market," explained Francesco Bottigliero, the founder and head of FieraDigitale, which manages e-Pitti. Bottigliero owns 25% of the company, while Pitti Immagine owns the remaining 75%. 

"We’re only at the beginning of a long road that will allows us to offer increasingly advanced statistical analysis. It’s currently only possible to obtain this information online. In the near future, the idea is to obtain the same precision at a physical trade show and to achieve true hybridization between online and offline spaces. We want to be the first to offer a trade show that is genuinely both physical and virtual,” said Bottigliero.

"This information allows us to anticipate and to meet buyers’ expectations. It helps us to better select new exhibitors, guides us in terms of which products are more sought after than others, and assists us in finding the best locations for each exhibitor according to the available data," said Pitti Uomo CEO, Raffaello Napoleone. 

Another advantage: e-Pitti can maintain a link between the various editions of its trade shows. "If a buyer can’t come to a session, he or she can visit our virtual site. E-Pitti has absolutely not decreased our visitor numbers. In the end, the return in earnings to our business is phenomenal. We are at the forefront in this field," said the head of Pitti Immagine. 

One of the latest services developed by e-Pitti, “trend forecasting," allows visitors to take the pulse of current trends each week through a selection of images collected and analyzed on social networks thanks to a partnership with the Italian startups Nextatlas. The service offers three current trends and a more detailed document including relevant products presented at the time on e-Pitti.

The January 2015 edition of e-Pitti, which is now available in English, Italian, Russian and Japanese, has been completely revamped since June 2014, successively covering trade shows dedicated to men, women with Pitti W, children and knitwear over the course of 13 weeks, presenting a total of 1336 brands and 8000 products, and attracting buyers from 105 countries, with Italy (60%) at the fore, followed by Japan, Spain, the United States and Germany.