The questions you ask us before we start

arad's head office is in Casalecchio di Reno, just outside Bologna, with a second office in Milan. arad works on site where being in the same room matters and remotely for the rest, and its clients are across Italy and Europe.

No. arad works with Italian and international companies: the case studies on the site include British, French and German groups and the European operator of an American sportswear brand, as well as projects across many markets, such as a marketplace expansion to thirteen markets. arad's offices are in Casalecchio di Reno, near Bologna, and in Milan.

Because arad combines senior strategic thinking with hands-on execution and stays until the change works. Most of its people are partners and senior experts with fifteen to thirty years in their area; it is vendor-neutral, so recommendations follow the client's case; and it works inside the client's teams, leaving method, competence and autonomy behind. More than 200 projects across twelve industries stand behind that approach.

It depends on what is being changed. The assessments published on the site took from nine weeks to four months, and one with a narrower scope can take less, while a platform project or a reorganisation of the digital channel runs over several months. In the published cases, temporary and fractional roles have run from nine months to two years.

Both, with a hybrid default: on site where being in the same room matters, such as kick-off, workshops, steering committees and go-live, and remotely for the rest. arad's model is based on working inside the client's teams, systems and meetings, and the balance is agreed at the start of each engagement.

Yes. arad signs non disclosure agreements and can do so before getting into the substance, so commercially sensitive context can be discussed openly from the first detailed conversation. Confidentiality also shapes what arad publishes: every case study on the site is anonymised, describing the client by sector, size and markets rather than by name. To ask for one, mention it when you get in touch through the contact form.

arad is vendor- and partner-agnostic: it does not resell Salesforce, Shopify or Adobe licences and has no commercial lock-in with any platform, so its advice is not tied to what it sells. It knows the platforms from the inside, having overseen a Salesforce Commerce Cloud replatforming and Shopify replatformings, and having worked with Adobe, SAP and HubSpot, which it assesses within IT Ecosystem and Martech / Adtech.

Within two working days. arad replies to everyone, including those who are only looking around or want to find out whether arad is the right fit, and the reply is a first read of the situation rather than a brochure. A question for a specific person can go straight to them through the Let's talk link on their Team page.

Yes, it is where arad has the deepest roots: more than twenty of its published case studies are in fashion and luxury, from e-commerce insourcing and composable replatforming to marketplace launches, CRM and temporary management. The sector works on collections that change every season and a brand that cannot lower the bar, and arad builds platforms, clienteling and omnichannel around that rhythm. See the fashion and luxury case studies.

arad is a senior consulting boutique, with offices near Bologna and in Milan, whose deepest experience is in fashion and luxury. It works on AI, digital and omnichannel transformation from strategy to execution, for example supporting an Italian luxury fashion house in bringing its global e-commerce in house onto a composable platform, and running the marketplace channels of another through temporary management.

Yes. Retail is one of arad's twelve industries, and fashion, luxury and retail are where most of its experience lies. Wide ranges, thin margins and high volumes call for e-commerce, product data and logistics that hold up at scale, as in the work for an Italian grocery retailer on its B2C and B2B e-commerce, from delivery and logistics to customer care and retention. See the retail case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique that works with retailers from strategy to execution: e-commerce and marketplaces, omnichannel services between stores and online, CRM, logistics and the AI that runs inside these processes. Its retail work includes a CRM strategy for an international collectibles and publishing group moving from a product-centric view to one built around its direct customers.

Yes. arad has published several eyewear case studies, for optical retailers and brands, covering digital and omnichannel strategy, replatforming, PIM and DAM migration and AI catalogue automation. It is the sector where the physical store and the digital channel really have to talk to each other, with store networks, marketplaces and catalogues that must stay aligned. See the eyewear case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation, with a solid track record in eyewear. For an Italian optical retailer it ran an AI programme to automate catalogue production, and for another it led a website redesign and replatforming designed to drive traffic to stores and strengthen the role of local opticians.

Yes. arad's beauty and cosmetics work includes digital and omnichannel strategy, operating model evolution and organisational assessment for international beauty groups. In a sector of multiplying SKUs, sampling and repeat purchase, the direct channel pays off when it holds catalogue, content and replenishment together. See the beauty and cosmetics case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation. For an international professional beauty group it defined a digital and omnichannel strategy that sets the role of direct and indirect channels and strengthens consumer engagement while creating value for the professional network, then redesigned the operating model of its digital business.

Yes. arad's food and beverage work ranges from e-commerce feasibility studies and end-to-end digital management to logistics coordination and demand forecasting. It is a supply chain short on time and long on rules, where traceability, shelf life and shipping constraints are something digital has to respect rather than work around. See the food and beverage case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique that works from strategy to execution. In food and beverage it has built demand forecasting for an Italian artisanal gelato chain, predicting daily sales per shop to feed automated replenishment, and run a feasibility study for a food hall brand on whether and how to sell online, which set out a phased programme built on its existing strengths.

Yes. In home and design, products are configurable, lead times are long and the sale still runs through the relationship, so digital is there to prepare that conversation rather than replace it. arad's work includes a CRM strategy for an Italian design lighting brand built around architects and designers, contract partners and dealers as well as private customers. See the home and design case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation. For design brands that sell through professionals and dealers, arad connects B2B and B2C: its B2B CRM strategy for an Italian design lighting brand covered professional audiences and private customers in one model, drawing on CRM & Customer Centricity and B2B Business Model Evolution.

Yes. arad has worked with the European operator of a global sportswear brand on marketplace development, end-to-end process optimisation and the digital operating model. Sport and outdoor need solid product data for sizing and technical specs, and a direct channel that holds up through seasonal peaks. See the sport and outdoor case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique that works from strategy to execution. For the European operator of a global sportswear brand it planned a marketplace expansion from one marketplace in nine markets to fifteen channels across thirteen markets, and reviewed go-to-market, customer service and logistics processes, with temporary managers carrying the new model into wholesale and merchandising.

Yes. In consumer electronics you win on the quality of product data and on a service that does not end at delivery. arad built a three-year online acceleration plan for a European leader in smartphone accessories, rebalancing .com, marketplaces and retailers' online channels in a distribution model built retailer-first. See the consumer electronics case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation. For electronics brands that sell mostly through retailers, arad designs B2B2C distribution: its online acceleration plan for a smartphone accessories leader drew on Omnichannel Distribution, Marketplace and eTailers and Business Planning to make digital a competitive advantage in a model built retailer-first.

Yes. arad's pharma and healthcare work includes a digital business plan for an Italian pharmacy group, operations and logistics model design, and user research and B2B transformation for a natural health company sold through pharmacies and herbalists. It is a sector where compliance comes before conversion, so architectures, content and tracking are built to stand up to an audit. See the pharma and healthcare case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation. For an Italian pharmacy group with an online pharmacy and a store network it built a digital business plan covering online growth, new pharmacy services and the integration of digital channels with physical pharmacies, and it helps health brands open direct digital channels without weakening their trade network.

Yes. arad has worked with the lifestyle division of a global Italian luxury automotive group, redesigning its e-commerce operating model with a new outsourced provider and selecting a new fashion ERP. In automotive and mobility, dealer networks, configurators and an informed customer call for digital that ties the online journey to the sale on site. See the automotive and mobility case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique that works from strategy to execution. For the lifestyle division of a luxury automotive group it ran the selection of a new ERP, from bills of materials to integration with PLM, POS and e-commerce, and redesigned the e-commerce operating model through to the migration of the online store, with a vendor-agnostic approach throughout.

Yes. Technical catalogues, distributor networks and complex orders are where digital brings a manufacturer's precision to the way it sells. arad defined a strategy for third-party marketplaces across seven European markets for the consumer adhesives business of a global consumer goods group. See the manufacturing and industrial case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation. For the consumer adhesives business of a global consumer goods group, a leader in first-party sales on the main marketplace but weak elsewhere, it built a marketplace strategy across seven European markets, and it works with B2B businesses on digital commerce through B2B Business Model Evolution.

Yes. In hospitality and travel, bookings, the on-property experience and loyalty are where digital makes guests feel expected before they arrive. arad ran a pre-acquisition review of the customer data, consents and technology of an Italian sports events brand for an Italian hospitality group. See the hospitality and travel case studies.

arad, a senior consulting boutique for AI, digital and omnichannel transformation. For an Italian hospitality group acquiring a sports events brand it ran a customer data and technology due diligence, giving the negotiators a prudent, defensible reading of what the data was really worth.

By starting from the use cases with the highest impact rather than from the technology, and embedding them in business processes with clear measures. arad's AI Transformation service identifies opportunities, assesses organisational readiness and builds governance and roadmaps with its ADAPTS methodology, so technology, people and governance evolve together; Workflow Automation & Knowledge Management then brings AI into everyday processes in 30-60-90 day cycles.

Start with the processes where manual work costs most, measure the impact and scale only what works. arad's Workflow Automation & Knowledge Management integrates AI and automation into key processes such as catalogue and product content, customer service, reporting and internal knowledge bases, in iterative 30-60-90 day cycles. In one catalogue automation project, the work started from supplier images, product attributes and descriptions.

By making the brand readable and credible to the models that build those answers: structured product data, consistent content and the sources AI considers trustworthy, such as verified reviews and editorial mentions. arad's AI Brand Visibility (GEO, AI ads, etc.) service assesses how the brand is represented, cited and recommended, benchmarks competitors and monitors it over time, as in a published AI searchability audit.

By making product data, catalogue, pricing and checkout readable and usable by agents, so the brand stays visible, interpretable, recommendable and purchasable when an agent shops on the customer's behalf. That is the scope of arad's Agentic readiness / commerce service, supported by Data Strategy / Optimization and IT Ecosystem, and arad's predictions for 2026 expect delegated purchases to become mainstream.

By rethinking digital touchpoints and journeys around how customers now discover and buy: through AI-powered discovery, conversational assistants and agentic commerce as well as the site and the store. arad combines Service & Experience Design, Conversational & Agentic Experience Design and .com Evolution to find where engagement, conversion and experience can improve, designing for both people and AI agents.

With B2B2C approaches that reach the consumer directly while strengthening relationships with existing partners, rather than competing with them. arad connects physical and digital touchpoints, experience and operations through Omnichannel Distribution and B2B Business Model Evolution, as for an international professional beauty group whose omnichannel strategy also created value for its professional network.

By deciding the role of each channel before adding the next, so that .com, marketplaces, retail, wholesale and B2B follow one logic, with clear synergies, targets and incentives. arad's Omnichannel Distribution service defines that model through channel assessments, market benchmarking and strategic planning, and Business Planning tests the investments, as in a three-year online plan that rebalanced .com, marketplaces and retailers' online channels.

By translating the strategy into an actionable roadmap and giving the programme one point of accountability across business, IT and partners. arad's Transformation Program Management sets up an Advanced Programme Management Office for governance, dependencies, risks and budgets, while Digital Project & Release Management keeps individual projects and releases on scope, time and budget through to go-live, with change management alongside.

By choosing marketplaces country by country, integrating them into the wider distribution model and running them with a dedicated operating model for assortment, pricing, content and service. arad's Marketplace and eTailers service covers strategy, partner selection and day-to-day management, and its paper on marketplace expansion for fashion notes that marketplaces account for around 86% of global e-commerce.

With a structured, vendor-agnostic selection: clear requirements, market mapping, objective scoring, a view of total cost of ownership and a negotiated contract. arad's RFP & Vendor Selection Management runs the process end to end, involving its experts from each domain for complex RFPs, and IT Ecosystem defines the target architecture across e-commerce platform, ERP, PIM, OMS and POS.

By comparing the economics of the current model with the alternatives, checking whether the organisation is ready to absorb the work, and managing the transition as a programme. arad covers insourcing strategies in .com Evolution and runs the transition with Transformation Program Management, as for an Italian luxury fashion house that brought its global e-commerce in house onto a new composable platform.

By aligning services, systems and incentives across channels: shared stock, order management, clienteling and targets that reward the customer rather than the channel. arad's Omnichannel Services & Integrations covers journeys, omnistock, OMS and systems integration, with change management and incentive models, while In Store Experience Evolution redefines the role of the store and its service model.

By connecting customer data to decisions and campaigns: a single customer view, segmentation, contact strategies, personalisation and loyalty, with measures that link marketing to business results. arad combines CRM & Customer Centricity, Data Strategy / Optimization and Business intelligence for this, with Martech / Adtech for the tools, chosen with a vendor-agnostic approach.

With a financial model that turns the opportunity into numbers you can test: a business case, multi-year P&L projections and scenarios. arad's Business Planning service builds these models to validate opportunities and prioritise investments in digital and omnichannel, as in a digital and omnichannel business plan in eyewear.

Through temporary or fractional management: a senior person joins the team, runs the role and hands it over. Coaching & Fractional management is one of arad's six engagement modes, and in one published case an arad partner served as temporary Chief Digital Officer for over nine months until a permanent executive joined.

By choosing a few high-impact use cases, measuring them and scaling only what works, while the organisation, data and governance evolve with them. arad's AI Transformation prioritises use cases and supports adoption with change management, and Workflow Automation & Knowledge Management takes them into processes in 30-60-90 day cycles, with Data Strategy / Optimization where data access limits scale.

By redesigning roles, governance, processes and capabilities together with the model, not after it. arad's Org & Processes Evolution runs organisational assessments, designs the target organisation, optimises processes and supports change management and adoption, and senior arad people can work alongside the team to train it on the job, as in the organisational assessment for an international beauty group.

By finding what actually holds conversion back in each market, then fixing the gaps with the biggest effect first. arad reviews the site from the outside in, sizes the uplift of each fix and turns it into a prioritised plan. In one review the main gaps were personalisation, customer care, fit tools and loyalty. For another luxury house, the first design iterations lifted conversion by 53% and sales by 60%.

Not necessarily, and not always through every channel. arad starts with a feasibility study of whether and how the business can sell online, built on its existing strengths. For an Italian food hall brand, that study advised against a marketplace model for now and set out a phased e-business programme instead. Business Planning then tests the economics before any investment.

By planning fulfilment, customer service and demand forecasting together, well before the peak. For a global jewellery brand, arad built a peak management plan across Europe and the Americas that kept service levels high through the year-end peak. It also defined a roadmap to scale click and collect across 170 US stores.

By comparing the logistics models on cost per order, service and control, then moving the work where it is cheapest to run well. For an Italian food group, domestic online orders moved to its own logistics hub, chosen over two third-party options at an estimated 50% lower price per order. For a pharmacy chain, a new automated distribution centre had an estimated payback of about 26 months.

Treat the renewal as a decision point: stay, renegotiate, change provider, or bring operations in house. arad compares the options on economics and control, and runs the transition if there is one. For the lifestyle division of a luxury automotive group, that meant selecting a new outsourced provider and migrating the whole online store end to end.

With a migration planned as a programme: scope, data, integrations, testing and a go-live rehearsed in advance. For an Italian wine group, arad took eight sites and domains onto one new headless platform. Go-live happened on the planned date with under an hour of downtime and 11,000 historical orders migrated.

By assessing what the business really needs before choosing the software. For an Italian eyewear group with an ageing custom PIM, arad worked out the scenarios and selected a standard SaaS PIM and an integrator. It dropped asset management from scope as unnecessary, built the cost model and planned a two-batch migration to retire the legacy system.

By assessing architecture, organisation and processes together, then funding only the initiatives that matter most. For an international bridal fashion group held back by heavy customisation, arad delivered a costed roadmap that the board approved. The roadmap estimated 30 minutes a day saved per store employee and quantified the sales and margin upside.

Market by market, choosing the channels that count in each country rather than one global formula. arad maps the distribution opportunities, from leading platforms to emerging and niche channels, and shortlists the partners worth assessing. For a global sportswear operator, the plan went from one marketplace in nine markets to fifteen channels across thirteen markets.

With a business case before the listing: which marketplaces, which assortment, what incremental sales, and in what order. For an Italian contemporary fashion brand, arad benchmarked the competition and built a business case forecasting the incremental GMV on Zalando. It also set a season-by-season rollout plan for the priority channels.

Through temporary local management that works with the central digital team, so the market has someone accountable on the ground. For a global luxury fashion house, arad ran the Italian e-commerce market this way. Over time the role also brought local insight into European planning and omnichannel initiatives.

Keep the channel running first, then fix what made the organisation fragile. For an Italian mountain sports brand after a wave of resignations, arad reviewed the direct-to-consumer organisation and redesigned the cross-department processes holding the online channel back. The result was a playbook that became the reference for the whole operations team.

Sized on the business plan, not on headcount habits. For an Italian luxury fashion house moving to an omnichannel model, arad designed a to-be organisation over 18 to 24 months. It had three areas and 17 new positions, taking the department from 27 to 44 people while keeping staff cost stable at about 1.3% of revenue.

By fixing governance before tools: who decides, who funds and who activates the client. For an Italian luxury fashion house, arad identified four critical nodes and five no-regret actions, including a cross-functional committee and budget autonomy for retail. It recommended a dedicated activation role as the target model.

By designing the programme, its brand and its place in the customer journey together. For an Italian contemporary fashion brand, arad created the loyalty identity, including programme and tier names and visual guidelines. It also delivered the UX/UI for the key website touchpoints, ready for the digital launch.

By learning on real work rather than on slides. For the digital team of an Italian luxury fashion house, arad turned an AI masterclass into seven proofs of concept built by the teams themselves. They covered sales forecasting, stock monitoring, product descriptions and generative content, and were tested on more than fifteen AI tools. The work showed where data access and skills limit scale.

By modelling what actually drives sales (stock, promotions, stores, advertising and marketplaces) instead of extending past trends. For an Italian fast-fashion group, arad built an omnichannel forecasting model for daily and monthly projections across three brands. For a gelato chain, it predicted daily sales per shop to feed automated replenishment.

With one team holding briefs, agencies and reporting across markets. For an Italian high jewellery house, arad supported the European marketing team across five e-commerce markets and their local agencies, from campaign briefs to consolidated performance reporting. It also brought the team's skills and procedures up a level.

By relying less on paid attention and more on assets you own: customer data and CRM that bring buyers back, and a presence in the AI answers where discovery now starts. arad's predictions for 2026 expect brands that appear consistently in AI answers to acquire customers at a far lower cost. arad works on this through CRM & Customer Centricity, AI Brand Visibility and Digital marketing.