L’Occitane En Provence has launched a virtual experience that transports its customers to the heart of Provence, where the French beauty brand gets its inspiration.
“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,” says Mariana Rodrigues, Marketing Director at L’Occitane Middle East.
The experience has been developed in partnership with Emperia.
It includes videos, facts, and interactive content about the brand’s universe, highlighting its best sellers, including skincare, fragrance, and body care.
People can explore lavender fields on a bicycle, fly on a hot air balloon to Corsica to see the immortelle fields, have a picnic on almond orchards or discover the Shea Butter collection in the African scenery of Burkina Faso.
“L’Occitane has always taken a customer first approach to their products and customer experience,” says Olga Dogadkina, Co-founder and CEO at Emperia.
“The brand’s work with us has resulted in this new virtual store which puts customers in control and at the centre of their journey; adding a new layer of personalisation and a dimension of interactivity to the online shopping experience, which immerses the shopper in the world of L’Occitane.”
Funding round
Earlier this year, Emperia raised a $10 million Series A.
This followed an $875k pre-seed in 2021 (featuring Concept Ventures, SFC Capital, Blissgrowth).
Step into @Bloomingdales ‘s exclusive party room, a virtual haven filled with all your favorites from brands like @KurtGeiger, this room has everything you need for any occasion 🍸
See how Bloomingdale’s is pioneering digital shopping → https://t.co/YZEKzST9Lm #Bloomingdales pic.twitter.com/cIjh4ggfs4
— Emperia (@emperiavr) July 5, 2023
The Series A round was led by Base10 Partners and joined by investors including Daphni (via its retail fund Dastore), Sony Innovation Fund, Background Capital, Stanford Capital Partners and Concept Ventures.
Emperia’s other clients include Dior, Bloomingdales and Lacoste. It was launched by fashion and retail specialist Dogadkina and VR innovation expert Simonas Holcmann in 2019.
It is using this fresh funding to grow its team, develop its virtual store SaaS platform and deepen the capabilities of the data suite that powers it, with the aim of accelerating global market presence .
It also plans to utilise virtual store customer data to provide retailers with even better tools with which to personalise the customer experience.
Emperia will also work with partners to bring various global virtual e-commerce solutions under one roof; leveraging the fast growing Web3 ecosystem and its partners’ brand and retail technologies to deliver “game changing customer experiences”.
Dogadkina commented: “While working in fashion, it became clear to me that e-commerce was the future, but 2D websites were merely a tool that enabled an online purchase, but were lacking the customer journey and story-telling that brands are after.”
“The solution was to bridge that gap, with the aim of making virtual experiences into the future of brands’ long-term e-commerce strategy.”
“We are strong believers in data reliance and as such all our virtual experiences are developed incorporating analytics, which is reflected in layout, design, user experience and merchandise placement. Crucially, we’re doing this in a way that has a demonstrable impact on sales, traffic, engagement and brand perception.”
“I’m confident that the pool of participating investors in this round, from both the US and Europe, will make for a great network of advisors as Emperia continues its global expansion, pioneering e-commerce’s next generation. I’m looking forward to delivering an even more impactful experience for our brand partners.”
Luci Fonseca of Base10 Partners, commented: “When we met Olga and Simon, we were absolutely stunned by the high quality team they had already built and the business’ early traction.”
“The more we spoke to customers, the more we saw that the company is on the edge of a global revolution on how consumers interact with retailers and brands.”
“One way to think about it is through the lens of ‘web 2.5’ – it is a device agnostic bridge for brands to engage with a new generation of consumers while driving real commerce.”
“Emperia is pioneering the development of virtual store creation and maintenance, and we’re excited to be partnering with a team that is truly building for the future of e-commerce.”
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