CASE STUDY
CHARLOTTE TILBURY EMBARKS ON E-COMMERCE JOURNEY
Celebrity make-up artist takes the next step in building a successful beauty business with her own make-up range, by working with a specialist agency to design, implement and launch a fully responsive online shopping site
C
harlotte Tilbury has over 20 years’ experience as a make-up artist in the
fashion and beauty industry, working with celebrities including Kate Moss, Rihanna and Penelope Cruz. Tilbury’s passion for make-up led
to her creating her own luxury make-up range, which first went on sale both in the brick-and-mortar and online stores of luxury department store Selfridges in September 2013. In October 2012, the company launched a YouTube channel providing make-up tutorial videos and a blog. And the range has also launched online at NET-A-PORTER and, most recently, on a newly developed own-brand website,
www.charlottetilbury.com. Retail T
echnology spoke exclusively
to Rachel Jones, head of e-commerce at Charlotte Tilbury, about the strategic and technical decisions behind the company’s own website launch. Although the company officially
launched as a brand last November, Jones said work had been ongoing for the team
48 Winter 2014
during the last two years to bring Tilbury’s vision to life. When investigating potential
e-commerce platforms, the Charlotte Tilbury team met Magento e-commerce platform experts Space 48 at the Ecommerce Expo in London, and shortly after, chose the digital agency to design and build the company’s transactional website. “Space 48 had already been selected
when I joined,” she explained. “We’re a very small team and my role has entailed the management and execution of the build before the site was launched. We did have wireframes in place at that point but there was still room to change the design and specifications if we wanted at that stage.” Having previously worked for a large
retailer, Jones reflected on how, as an artist, Tilbury was keen to make sure the company’s e-commerce site would reflect her distinctive creative vision and value for the brand. Tilbury is known for her belief in the ‘transformative power’ of make up and
so it was fitting that her online brand was built using the YouTube tutorials. “Charlotte is very passionate about
teaching the best make-up techniques,” said Jones. “So the site has to have a very educational message – every product comes with a video that is designed to make sure everything the customer has bought is easy to use. “We also have to think ahead from
a technical point of view,” she added, “knowing responsive web design will ensure the site works as well on mobile devices as it does on PCs.” This strategic decision to improve
customer experience across all devices and appeal to mobile users would also streamline the design of other technical aspects associated with marketing emails, merchandising and site analytics. The choice of the Magento Pro open
source e-commerce platform hosted by Space 48 gives Charlotte Tilbury also provides the company with the flexibility to scale operations easily in line with
www.retailtechnology.co.uk
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