Japanese beauty brand Tatcha brings ‘forest bathing’ to metaverse

The new Tatcha online store immerses customers in a virtual outdoor environment, with a complementary physical pop-up.

The Japanese beauty brand is opening a new virtual store, running on the Emperia metaverse platform, designed to immerse customers in an interactive digital replica of a Japanese hinoki cypress forest while promoting Tatcha’s new “Forest Awakening” collection.

The virtual store is also designed to educate visitors about the Japanese ritual of “forest bathing,” also known as “shinrin-yoku,” or connecting to nature through the

Senses. Starting with a “walk” through the digital hinoki forest, customers are led to an onsen, a Japanese wellness resort, consisting of several rooms that all allow customers to move freely and learn about and shop products.

Other virtual activities available for customers include hot springs and a tea ceremony. The virtual store, available online via Tatcha.com, is accompanied by a Los Angeles pop-up experience, called Forest Exhibit, centered around a guided forest bathing experience led by Japanese Zen monk and Tatcha global well-being ambassador Toryo Ito. The pop-up is open to the public Feb. 17-19

“Virtual stores are becoming an extension of the brand, one that allows retailers to tell a story, like no other media could,” said Olga Dogadkina, co-founder and CEO at Emperia. “The Tatcha experience is both immersive and educational, allowing visitors to learn, experience and shop for products, all while being surrounded by the brand’s native environment, deepening brand familiarity and shopper loyalty, from the comfort of their home.”

Founded in 2008, Tatcha sales offices are in San Francisco and its R&D headquarters are in Tokyo. The collection is available globally at select retailers and direct-to-consumer at Tatcha.com.

Direct-to-consumer activewear brand opens new metaverse store

The metaverse is proving appealing to direct-to-consumer companies that can leverage its interactive capabilities to offer an immersive brand experience. For example, activewear brand Alo is partnering with metaverse platform Obsess to roll out a new virtual store.

The customer experience includes digital styling capabilities, streaming beauty and wellness tutorials, virtual workout classes that are typically accessible to paid subscribers of the Alo Moves fitness platform, and seamless checkout. Customers can also virtually browse, learn about, and shop Alo merchandise, and build custom outfits to visualize how different products will look on them.

Users can interact with the store environment via desktop, mobile, or the Meta Quest 2 VR headset.