Bulgari capstone project: Luxury fashion meets business analytics

5 min read

Driving business transformation through data is a major focal point of the Master in Business Analytics and Data Science at IE School of Science & Technology. This program, offered in both in-person and blended formats, is designed to take students out of the classroom and into the real world of business. That’s why students had the opportunity to present their capstone project to luxury fashion and jewelry house Bulgari.  

We recently sat down with program graduates Maud Lecerf and James Clayfield to learn more about their learning experience. But more specifically, we wanted to hear about their capstone project, which took their five-member team to Rome to present to real clients at Bulgari—the iconic Italian luxury brand that’s part of the LVMH group.

Making the pivot to data analytics

Maud is from Paris and started her academic journey in hospitality school. She originally focused on service, but found a lack of technology in the industry, something she really enjoys. Looking to fill this gap, Maud decided that IE School of Science & Technology was the best place to add data and analytics skills to her toolkit.

On the other hand, James is a Swiss national currently living in Zurich. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international business before moving into a tech role at KPMG. He always knew he wanted to sharpen his credentials, and the Master in Business Analytics and Data Science was the perfect way to build on what he already knew and expand his technical skills.

As part of the program, students are assigned to small groups for certain projects to learn how to work with people from all over the world. Collaborating with like-minded thinkers truly provides an international experience that prepares them for today’s global environment. The capstone project, however, is a group exercise that students join based on their interests and what they want out of the assignment. Maud and James chose the Bulgari option for different reasons, but it brought them to the same result: presenting their hard work to leaders in the field.

A capstone in luxury fashion

The main objective of their project was to create a model that would allow Bulgari store managers to optimally calibrate KPIs for each location. “It sounds pretty simple,” explains James, “but the execution took a lot more work.” 

The system they created allowed managers to know if KPIs were being met or not, affecting whether they reached their monthly and yearly budget objectives. This alert system works by feeding them the exact numbers they need to achieve their KPIs and tips to do so, like boosting conversion times or increasing sales by a certain percentage, for example. 

“I’d say the most interesting KPI to look at was the conversion time. Converting someone from a prospect into a customer takes a while. We set a hard limit at four months—anything beyond four months is no longer considered a prospect conversion. This was based on the data we saw,” he shares.

In short, the tool helps store managers make decisions. If they are below target, they can review their KPIs and use the data as a guide for tailoring their strategy and approach. 

Challenges in presenting the Bulgari capstone project

The concept was relatively straightforward, but it took the team some trial and error to land on the final result. “At the start, we got thrown into this huge amount of data. Plus, we weren’t really familiar with the landscape of luxury retail,” says James. “So first, we had to understand these KPIs and how they connected with each other.” 

An invitation to the Bulgari store in Madrid helped clear up these doubts, making it easier to grasp the relationship between KPIs and why every location had them in place. “Bulgari was there to help us really understand everything they were doing,” Maud adds. “It was challenging to balance working on this solution and what we were doing in class with exams and other projects, but their support made it easier.”

Uniquely, continuing to learn while working on this system gave the students a wide range of tools to choose from. “We’d learned how to create and implement machine learning models,” Maud explains, “but in the end, the final solution was better with an easier Python function. This took time to discover, but ultimately taught us about data and relationships.” 

James adds, “This program, and the capstone project itself, really taught us to branch out and go beyond, but also to take a step back and go simpler.” 

There were other obvious obstacles along the way, like finding a time when five busy master’s students could align their schedules to meet and work on the tool. But the team members were able to identify each other’s strengths and collaborate to implement their “less is more” idea, which definitely paid off. “What Bulgari liked about our project was that it was a simple, straightforward solution,” he concludes. 

The final presentation

Once their project made the final cut, our students headed to Rome to unveil their tool to Bulgari leadership at their flagship store. “It was super rewarding because it meant all the time and effort we put into it came back to us,” shares James. “Plus, we got to see things like their Gem Table and the process of acquiring these stones and putting them together to make fancy haute couture pieces, like necklaces you’d see at the Met Gala.” 

The presentation was as exciting as it was educational, “On top of giving us excellent feedback, they asked very relevant questions about some things we hadn’t thought of,” Maud reveals. “We learned a lot about how the data scientists at Bulgari work and think, and it was very interesting to see these other points of view.”

Sparkling credentials from a renowned luxury fashion house

Our students really enjoyed their foray into the luxury market and hope to use their new skills in whatever roles they accept in the future. It’s safe to say that both Maud and James feel happy with their decision to work on the Bulgari project and are incredibly proud of the final outcome. “It was obvious that the Bulgari staff were eager to teach us and help us take our learnings to real-world situations. I am thrilled with my choice,” Maud shares. 

They advise future students to step out of their comfort zone when selecting a capstone project. As James asserts, “It goes further than just a university project. We actually got to see our work in a real, more professional context.” None of them went in as pros of the luxury jewelry industry, but they learned something new and walked away with an incredible, truly one-of-a-kind experience.