Thirty-year-old British skin-care brand Elemis, which was acquired by L’Occitane for $900 million this month, launched a new website feature on Monday that integrates the brand’s Instagram Stories. The goal is to offer shoppers between 25- and 35-years-old engaging content that promotes the brand’s Superfood anti-aging line.
Since its expansion into the U.S. in July, Elemis has been focused on appealing to younger, modern consumers. This has entailed revamping its brand image and updating its e-commerce functionality to be more mobile-friendly — streamlining the checkout process was among site improvements; for instance, it now accepts Apple Pay.
Targeting millennial customers is trending among beauty brands. Botox (and its parent company Allergan), Shiseido and the international arm of Avon have all made recent attempts. For Elemis, that this demographic is used to consuming its content mobile-first was the motivator. On average, 60 percent of Elemis’s site traffic comes from mobile, according to Kelly McDonnell, vp of digital at Elemis.
The attention on mobile is in keeping with shopping trends: Twenty-two percent of consumers prefer using their smartphone to make a cosmetics purchase, per market research group Mintel, and mobile commerce conducted through smartphones accounted for $117 billion retail sales in the U.S. in 2018.
On Elemis.com, the featured Instagram Stories include how-to videos, user-generated content, testimonials and Q&As about the full Superfood range. The Superfood line launched in Jan. 2018 and expanded on Monday with four new products, including a facial exfoliator and a face mask, prompting the integration.
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“The challenge is that we have a lot of ranges that cater to different anti-aging skin concerns, so how do we make Superfood appeal to this [specific] younger demo?” said McDonnell. “We are trying to test the capabilities [and] the boundaries of tech on our e-commerce site.”
The campaign for the new Superfood products will last six weeks, with the corresponding Instagram Stories content refreshing on a regular basis. In addition to tracking e-commerce conversion, Elemis is also tracking how many views Instagram Stories are receiving through the Instagram app versus its website, and how much time a person spends viewing the Stories.
“It’s really tough and challenging to [increase content] on a website that’s tailored to conversion,” she said. “We’re being careful not to break the cycle of someone shopping the website by showing them a carousel of products. This doesn’t slow down the site experience.”
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Moving forward, Instagram Stories will also be featured on product pages, and UGC will have an increased focus. “UGC Stories is our next wave of content outside of product information” said McDonnell. “We see a decline of posting to the feed [among our customers]. People are more active on their Stories.”
