Charlotte Tilbury introduces social shopping to virtual store

Charlotte Tilbury is expanding the functionality of its immersive virtual shopping experience.

Founded by U.K. makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury, the vertical beauty retailer is rolling out the “Shop with Friends” social shopping tool from the Obsess experiential e-commerce platform in its virtual Beauty Secrets store. The retailer initially launched the digitalized version of a brick-and-mortar store, leveraging Obsess technology, on its e-commerce site in November 2020.

The Charlotte Tilbury virtual store is an immersive, three-dimensional shopping environment where customers are guided by a “Magic Charlotte” avatar to virtually duplicate an in-store visit from their own home. Within the virtual store, customers can explore, shop, receive personalized advice and product recommendations, join live events with Tilbury and special guests, and watch makeup and skincare tutorials.

Utilizing the virtual 3D Shop with Friends solution, Charlotte Tilbury customers can now opt to invite others to join them for a virtual store experience by clicking a button and sending friends and family a link to the virtual store by email or text. The video feature allows individuals in the group to see and hear one another as they navigate the virtual environment separately or together, similar to the experience of a multiplayer video game. Users can opt to view a live video feed of the other participants on the side of their screen or hide the feed to see the virtual store in full-screen mode.

“My three-dimensional Virtual Beauty Gifting Wonderland is at the center of the Charlotte Tilbury metaverse this holiday season,” said Charlotte Tilbury MBE, founder, president, chairman and chief creative officer of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty.  “It combines all the sparkle and retail theatre of our stores with the ease and portability of the digital universe to unveil a truly immersive Charlotte Tilbury experience. Customers will be guided by my Magic Charlotte avatar to enjoy the magic of in-store from the comfort of their own home. Digital innovation is at the heart of everything we do and I am so excited that we can bring this beauty tech to life for you to shop and play this holiday.”

“We are delighted to announce this launch on CharlotteTilbury.com in partnership with Obsess,” said Charlotte Tilbury chief growth & technology officer Corinne Suchy. “The new Shop with Friends feature is a hugely innovative addition to our next-generation online experience. We have always been a digital-first brand and by launching this new feature within our virtual store, we are truly operating as an omnichannel business to bring our customers rich and immersive experiences whenever and wherever they meet the brand.”

“In the real world, so many of us love to go shopping with our friends as a social outing, but, until now, no one has been able to re-create that group experience online,” said Neha Singh, founder and CEO of Obsess. “Our Shop with Friends video feature lets groups of friends navigate virtual stores together and talk to one another in real time to share advice and inspiration, just like we do when shopping in physical stores. Many younger shoppers have grown up interacting online with friends in video games and esports and this feature brings the best elements of the gaming world to the experience of digital shopping.”