Bulgari Touch is Bulgari's official app that allows users to access the digital passport of its products, offering a post-purchase experience able to enhance the bond with the brand. This is a B2C solution that we have developed to make it possible to scan jewelry, bags and watches with precision and the best User Experience. Here's how it went.
Our customer, Bulgarians, one of the most important companies active in the luxury jewelry sector, was faced with a series of critical issues related to the verification process of its products.
The most significant difficulties emerged during the recognition phase of the individual items that make up the company's portfolio dedicated to bags, watches and jewelry; a crucial step to offer the end user the opportunity to precisely identify the products purchased and create a personalized digital collection.
There was no single solution to precisely scan the different types of items.
The solutions adopted up to that moment were fragmentary, ineffective and, above all, unsuitable for recognizing the serials engraved on the jewels.
This last operation was in fact carried out manually, in the absence of adequate technology, which forced the staff to carry out repetitive and often prolonged checks. This resulted in a significant slowdown in daily operations and unjustifiable margins of error in the eyes of an audience interested both in a product and in a high-end service.
The very nature of the jewelry contributed to further complicating the situation. The curved surfaces made it difficult to visually recognize the serials. The systems tested previously could neither adapt to these peculiarities nor to integrate with the management software in use, accentuating the fragmentation of the process.
Even the scanning of items such as bags and watches had similar critical issues. In the absence of a centralized system, data was often annotated by hand, making traceability complex and slowing down access to the history of each item.
The end customer experience was inevitably affected. The waiting times for validation or product support were excessive, undermining confidence in the after-sales service.
A turning point was achieved only thanks to the development of a system of Smart scan, capable of bringing together data in a single intuitive interface and overcoming the difficulties related to the recognition of the serial engraved on the jewelry, with a much more accurate reading.
The project required careful architectural study, given the need to build a solution centralized and multiplatform able to adapt to different mobile devices and contexts of use, but without sacrificing the quality of the user experience.
This is because Bulgari was not simply looking for a custom application: it needed a platform modulate and scalable, with graphics based on brand guidelines, an interface accessible to any user and useful automations to accelerate internal processes.
A complex challenge, successfully solved thanks to a tailor-made approach.
Let's dive into the details in the next section.
To meet customer needs, we have developed Bulgari Touch, a mobile app that offers a unified platform capable of recognizing products registered in the internal database through the best identification technologies.
In fact, at the heart of the app lies an intelligent recognition system, designed using a specific branch of artificial intelligence, which integrates OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and machine learning.
We have therefore replaced the old platform in use with a new application, created from scratch with React Native to improve UX, graphics and data management. But not everything has been trashed.
To speed up the development of Bulgari Touch, the features already present in the previous system for recognizing codes relating to bags and watches have been reused.
The real problem was the serials engraved on the jewels, so there was no scanning system.
So here's how we moved.
First of all, we have integrated motors into the new app Apple Vision and Android ML Kit, to extract text from images acquired by users.
On this basis, our team has created an advanced level of customization, calibrating the models to increase the accuracy of individual scans, even in the presence of complex or reflective surfaces.
We have thus implemented an automatic scanning flow, which proceeds step by step:
This system proved to be the best for ensuring accurate scan results, as:
What about the user experience?
We emphasize that Bulgari Touch does not work like a classic cloud service, which sends every photo to a remote server for processing, forcing the user to wait more or less long.
Image scanning, data processing and consultation of product sheets: everything happens locally, ensuring velocity and full operation of the application even in situations where the internet connection is absent or weak.
Graphics and navigation experience are designed to offer a sophisticated interface, transmitting from the first glance the attention typical of the Bulgari world.
Every detail is in line with the brand, every functionality is accessible even to inexperienced users.
The elements that make up the navigation have been designed to minimize steps and scrolls, guide the user through commands and information sections, and enhance the individual product thanks to a high-quality visual rendering, with attention to contrasts, proportions and adaptation to different mobile devices.
The result is aexperience Fluid to use, consistent with the elegance of the brand and designed to accompany the user at every stage, from scanning to consultation, without friction.
But that wasn't the only noteworthy result.
We'll talk about it in the next section.
Within the agreed time frame, we were able to create a new application that perfectly meets Bulgari's requirements:
The validity of our solution is then supported by numerical results:
Thanks to the features and performance that make Bulgari Touch unique, our customer has had great feedback since the launch. A satisfaction that made us proud, especially for the invitation to participate in the Bulgari event dedicated to the promotion of its new digital experience.
The Modern Apps team responds swiftly to IT needs where software development is the core component, including solutions that integrate artificial intelligence. The technical staff is trained specifically in delivering software projects based on Microsoft technology stacks and has expertise in managing both agile and long-term projects.
