After closing its 2020 financial statements with a positive net profit and generating a €66 million turnover as a brand (with a limited 8% decline compared to the previous year), Il Bisonte S.p.A. faces the challenges of the ongoing pandemic by focusing once again on digital.
The e-commerce channel of the brand — which exceeded €10 million in sales in 2020, registering a 53% growth rate compared to 2019 — strengthens ilbisonte.com with the launch of a new platform.
The new e-commerce site, which has been optimized in design, functionality, and user experience, presents all the products of the Essentials collections (the brand classics) and, starting this spring, also the Contemporary collections (currently sold exclusively in carefully selected boutiques around the globe). The site features high quality photos and detailed descriptions that, starting with the bags and small leather accessories, describe the extraordinary supply chain, the natural vocation for sustainability, and the history of the brand that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020 with the specialized workers and artisan workshops of the area.
Even the creation of the new e-commerce platform was an investment with a very short supply chain. The work was done in collaboration with the Wodka Agency of Florence, part of the Nana Bianca digital community whose headquarters are on the same stretch of the Lungarno overlooked by the historic Il Bisonte headquarters in Palazzo Corsini on via del Parione.
The future of the Florentine brand envisages a strategy that is increasingly focused on digital: for the two-year period 20-21, the company has invested more than 1.5 million euros in digital transformation processes. Expansion of the commercial network also continues at the same pace. In fact, the retail strategy plans further investments in Japan (the brand’s privileged market, which grew by 2% in 2020), where five single-brand boutiques were opened in 2020 and four more will be inaugurated in 2021. By the end of the year, there will be 50 directly owned stores in the country. Regarding the wholesale channel, in addition to Asian markets, Il Bisonte will focus on European and American markets.
The company, which closed 2020 improving its Net Financial Position by 61%, continues to invest in environmental, social and consumer sustainability, which has always been the prerequisite of the brand’s industrial and commercial policy and is constantly developed with innovative materials and processes. The fundamental importance of the people who work with and for the brand remains unchanged. In recognition of the profound commitment shared by all during an extraordinarily difficult year worldwide, Il Bisonte strengthened the bonds of trust with its supply chain — all within a range of 30 kilometers where the best master craftsmen of the province of Florence work — and gave its workers a € 2,000 bonus that goes beyond the agreed parameters, sharing the positive results achieved with the collaboration of all.