L’Occitane takes customers to Provence – via metaverse

A global French beauty and skincare brand is opening shop in the metaverse.

L'Occitane En Provence is leveraging the Emperia metaverse platform to offer customers an immersive virtual shopping experience. The immersive, interactive experience includes videos, facts, and interactive content about L’Occitane, all highlighting the retailer’s products, including skincare, fragrance, and body care.

Shoppers can virtually explore the Lavender fields on a bicycle, fly on a hot air balloon to Corsica, or have a picnic on the Almond Orchards. The experience is accessible via the L’Occitane e-commerce site.

"Where innovation meets dreams,” said Mariana Rodrigues, marketing director of L’Occitane Middle East. “We strive to be pioneers in the beauty industry, constantly pushing boundaries to create products that inspire and transform. By embracing innovation, we aim to turn our customers' dreams into reality, offering them a truly remarkable and unforgettable experience.”

"L'Occitane has always taken a customer-first approach to their products and customer experience,” said Olga Dogadkina, co-founder and CEO of Emperia, “the brand’s work with Emperia has resulted in this new virtual store which puts customers in control and at the center of their journey; adding a new layer of personalization and a dimension of interactivity to the online shopping experience, which immerses the shopper in the world of L'Occitane."

Metaverse attracts cosmetics brands

Other cosmetics and personal care brands have turned to the metaverse as a direct-to-consumer promotional and commercial channel. This includes Japanese beauty brand Tatcha, whose virtual store running on the Emperia metaverse platform is designed to immerse customers in an interactive digital replica of a Japanese hinoki cypress forest.

And Clinique, an Estee Lauder company, unveiled a digital shopping experience called “Clinique Lab” in April 2023. The virtual storefront, provided by metaverse-as-a-service platform company Journee, provides a virtual Clinique counter where customers can create a customized avatar and explore six unique zones.

U.K. beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury has worked with Obsess to directly reach out to customers via the metaverse in a number of collaborations. The retailer initially launched the digitalized version of a brick-and-mortar store, leveraging Obsess technology, on its e-commerce site in November 2020.

A year later, Charlotte Tilbury introduced a virtual 3D Shop with Friends solution, enabling customers to opt to invite others to join them for a virtual store experience by clicking a button and sending friends and family a link to the virtual store by email or text.