Receive the latest articles for free. Click here to get the Luxury Daily newsletters.

Jurlique relaunches ecommerce site, focusing on reviews, consultations

August 2, 2011

Jurlique's new look

Australian skincare company Jurlique has redesigned its Web site and ecommerce store to make it easier for consumers to shop worldwide and provide a sense of community through a consumer review system.

The new site is designed to complement Jurlique’s global expansion and will soon grow to allow consumers to shop from the site around the world. Currently, the branded site serves consumers in Australia, Britain and the United States.

“They had two major challenges,” said Allen Kung, chief technology officer and co-founder of Createthe group, New York. “No. 1 was creating a next-generation digital site and really mixing content, commerce and social functionality into a unique branding experience that could speak to the consumer.”

“The other challenge was from a digital and technology standpoint and how does it create a complex global brand on a single platform that could communicate in multiple languages and currencies,” he said.

The new Web site and ecommerce platforms were designed by Createthe Group.

Createthe Group provides premium and luxury brands with digital campaign strategies that aim to create emotional connections with consumers and also offers commerce solutions with its CTS platform. It has worked with brands such as Bulgari, David Yurman, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta.

Jurlique sells luxury lotions, moisturizers and fragrances that are made of hand-grown and harvested botanicals from the company’s farm in Australia.

Home farm
The new site contains a mix of content and commerce that engages and interacts with consumers in a variety of ways.

The main content portions of the site include an ingredients glossary, information and pictures of the farm where a majority of the skincare ingredients come from and the Jurlique difference and commitment to the environment sections.

The site is organized into seven different categories including skin care, bath and body, scents, baby, gifts, top picks and skin consultation.

Within these categories are multiple subcategories such as scent, skin type, product price and staff favorites that further break down the product range.

Jurlique lets consumers explore where its natural products are grown

The site has a personalization section that brings consumers through a series of questions, at the end of which Jurlique will suggest a personalized skin care regimen.

The site also aims to create a community among the brand’s fans through a system of ratings and reviews.

Jurlique is looking to show both a digitally innovated Web site design with easy-to-navigate products and ecommerce, and still display the brand’s history and dedication to natural products.

“[Jurlique] was looking to make sure they some tools [that are] considered best practices in beauty industry, such as reviews and skincare regiments,” said Jesse Armstrong, Createthe Group’s New York-based Jurlique account manager. “They also wanted to make sure they had a tool that could [share] its unique brand history and story.”

Social currency
Createthe Group’s CTS platform is able to support global orders in a large amount of languages and currencies.

Jurlique has not yet taken full advantage of this system, choosing to relaunch the Web site only for the U.S., Britain and Australia.

The skincare brand has alerted fans of the new Web site through its branded Facebook page.

Jurlique’s Welcome page on Facebook tells fans to explore the new features and links directly to http://www.jurlique.com.

Jurlique's new site is the hero of its Facebook page

Many luxury brands and retailers have been expanding their ecommerce offerings into new countries.

For example, Bloomingdale’s recently opened its ecommerce up to 91 additional countries (see story).

In addition, LVMH’s Benefit Cosmetics recently launched an ecommerce site in China that also features user reviews and ratings (see story).

Jurlique is hoping the new site will help it increase its U.S. consumer base and build its brand presence in the face of competitors, per the brand.

“It already has a strong audience in Australia as well as Asia, but it is looking to expand its business with who its competitors are in the U.K. and the U.S.,” Ms. Armstrong said.

“I think the site is trying to align more with where [Jurlique] sees its brand and [where it] would like it for it to expand,” she said.

“[The new site] is a good tool for it to convert fans who buy one of the products in Sephora and then come to the site where they can now make repeat purchases and discover new products.”

Final Take
Kayla Hutzler, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York

Kayla Hutzler is an editorial assistant on Luxury Daily. Her beats are automotive, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, financial services, media/publishing, software and technology, telecommunications, travel and hospitality, real estate, retail and sports. Reach her at kayla@napean.com.