Dive Brief:
- L’Occitane en Provence is showcasing its range of summer fragrances in a new virtual experience called L’Occitane Greenhouse, according to a Tuesday press release.
- Inspired by views and scents of the French region of Provence, the virtual environment has three distinct spaces: a main hall with its women’s collections, another room for its men’s scents and a Middle East oasis space, per the press release.
- The space shares information about each fragrance’s craftsmanship and locally sourced ingredients. The company partnered with virtual reality tech company Emperia to create the experience, the release said.
Dive Insight:
As retailers rush to create mini immersive worlds, one key sensory obstacle persists: smell. While there’s no technological workaround for this limitation, L’Occitane en Provence’s virtual store aims to use vivid visual storytelling which “evokes senses and curiosity with online visitors,” Olga Dogadkina, co-founder and CEO at Emperia, said in a statement.
The debut of its new virtual world follows its previous immersive e-commerce experiments. In February, L’Occitane en Provence teamed up with Emperia to create a virtual store in celebration of Ramadan. The virtual store drew inspiration from a Middle Eastern-inspired house and highlighted gifting, togetherness and self-reflection. This time around, the L’Occitane Greenhouse contains a Middle East oasis that mimics a regional lounge-like room, where online shoppers can find local fragrances like Ambre and the 86 Scents collection.
“Our new virtual experience is dedicated to L’Occitane’s world of natural fragrance creations, inviting guests to immerse themselves in a sensory journey of Provence through exquisite fragrances and exploration, while learning about the brand’s deep roots in the region,” Mariana Rodrigues, marketing director of L’Occitane Middle East, said in a statement.
As L’Occitane enhances its digital offerings, the cosmetics brand is changing its structure and holdings behind the scenes. In April, L’Occitane Group sold a majority stake of the Australian skincare brand Grown Alchemist to former L’Occitane Group vice chairman and CEO André Hoffmann for roughly $30.2 million, transitioning it into a privately held brand. The following month, L’Occitane International’s board of directors disclosed that Reinold Geiger, the company’s chairman and largest shareholder, offered to take it private for about 34 Hong Kong dollars per share.
Meanwhile, Emperia has continued to grow its clientele for virtual worlds to include retailers like Lacoste and Bloomingdale’s. Obsess, another experiential e-commerce company, has attracted retailers like Crate and Barrel and Alo Yoga seeking to create immersive environments for their e-commerce businesses.
