Elizabeth Arden opens virtual store

Dive Brief:

• Alongside other brands and retailers creating virtual stores, Elizabeth Arden has tapped the experiential e-commerce company Obsess to launch one of its own, the brand announced Tuesday.
• At the virtual store, users can take quizzes to find their ideal skincare products and browse the company’s other offerings.
• The store also features information about the brand’s founder and the company’s history, per the press release.

Dive Insight:

Elizabeth Arden is now among a growing list of brands and retailers, including Lacoste, Bloomingdale’s, Alo Yoga and Laura Mercier, that have extended their brands into virtual stores in recent months.

For Elizabeth Arden, the digital store will be the brand’s first immersive virtual shopping experience.

“Elizabeth Arden has been a leading beauty industry innovator for the past 120 years and we are thrilled to launch our first metaverse shopping experience in partnership with Obsess,” Martine Williamson, global chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “We are truly operating as an omnichannel business to evolve our customer experience and engage a whole new generation of shoppers about our products and legacy through digital storytelling.”

In addition to Elizabeth Arden, Obsess recently launched its Ava by Obsess service, which enables brands and retailers to create virtual stores. So far, the company said it has helped create more than 200 immersive stores for brands like Ralph Lauren and Charlotte Tilbury.

As more brands and retailers invest in virtual stores, it remains to be seen how the virtual shopping experience will take shape. In a Forrester report released in July 2022, the firm cautioned that consumers might not use metaverse technologies just because they’re available.

As Elizabeth Arden expands its digital presence, its parent company aims to turn itself around after filing for bankruptcy. Revlon, which owns Elizabeth Arden, Juicy Couture, Almay and various celebrity cosmetic brands, exited bankruptcy proceedings last month. The company will get rid of over $2.7 billion in debt and receive $285 million in financing in a restructuring plan approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Source: Retail Dive