L’Occitane: online shopping and store customer experience
In a 2016 MediaMetrics interview, Eugene Mischenko discussed L’Occitane’s online and store channels, loyalty-card identification and offers encouraging customers to try another channel. The conversation provides a starting point for examining beauty retail: how can an online order preserve the confidence, product understanding and gift presentation that customers associate with visiting a store?
Support a customer choosing an unfamiliar product
A returning customer searching for a known hand cream has a different task from someone choosing a gift. The first needs an exact match, size, availability and a dependable delivery date. The second needs help narrowing the choice, understanding the contents and checking whether the presentation fits the occasion. A useful catalogue supports both routes without forcing every visitor through the same recommendation sequence.
For a beauty retailer, test product pages with customers who have never handled the item. Ask what remains uncertain before payment. Use their questions to improve descriptions, photographs, comparison information and access to advice. Check that the promised packaging can actually be selected and fulfilled.
Carry gift instructions through fulfilment
A gift order can involve a purchaser and a recipient with different contact details. The operation needs to know which person receives delivery updates, whether prices appear in the package and what to do if an item becomes unavailable. Capture those choices as order data that the packing team can see. Free-text notes alone make repeatable execution difficult when volume rises.
Place a test order with several items, a gift message and a delivery deadline. Inspect the received package against the checkout selections. A neatly designed gift option creates additional work in picking, packing and support; its price and cut-off time should reflect that work.
Connect loyalty recognition with the service promise
A shared loyalty identifier makes it possible to recognise an existing customer during an online purchase. To make that recognition useful, a retailer must decide which benefits follow the account, how the balance changes after a return and what support can resolve when a card is missing. A customer should see the relevant conditions before committing to an order.
Test an existing member buying as a guest, a corrected email address and a gift recipient who later visits a store. Keep the purchaser’s history distinct from the recipient’s preferences. An inaccurate association can produce an irrelevant recommendation and make a supposedly personalised message feel intrusive.
Measure the next purchase across both channels
When inviting store customers to place their first online order, compare their subsequent total purchasing with an eligible group that did not receive the invitation. Include the cost of the incentive and the different cost of fulfilling an online basket. Observe a period long enough to include the customer’s usual replenishment cycle.
Separate gifting from purchases for personal use where the data allows. A seasonal gift buyer may respond to a calendar event, while a regular user returns when a product runs out. Use these patterns to choose the timing of the next offer, then verify whether additional contribution survives after the initial promotion ends.
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