Urban Decay freshens e-commerce approach

Specialty cosmetics retailer Urban Decay is taking a lively approach to online customer engagement.



Urban Decay plans to launch a new content-driven website later this fall using the FirstSpirit content management system. The new “UD All Access” site will complement Urban Decay’s existing Demandware-based e-commerce site with the intention of delivering a richer, more immersive and interactive experience



“We have the commerce side and that’s going strong,” said John Perasco, assistant VP of digital at Urban Decay. “Now we’re building out the content side and making a visually relevant, beautiful, and interesting Urban Decay-branded portion of our site. It’s like whispering to our best beauty junkies to come take a peek behind the curtain and come back stage with us. People are looking for all kinds of content whether it’s editorial content, videos, product information or other users’ content.”



Urban Decay is in the midst of global expansion and needed a way to keep its brand presence consistent in every country. It also needed a way to maintain consistency across its Demandware site and the content side.



These needs first led Urban Decay to pursue a content management system. After considering a range of options, the company’s IT and marketing teams settled on FirstSpirit in part for its certified Demandware integration, ease-of-use for content creators and global content management functionality. By moving to a central system for managing and publishing content, Urban Decay is in effect creating a corporate content cloud for managing its brand globally.



The “UD All Access” site is scheduled to go live in late October and will be accessible as a menu item on the current e-commerce site. The site will let consumers explore content at their own pace without active promotions. Urban Decay also plans to integrate consumer interactions on Instagram and Facebook with the new site.