The Body Shop is launching a mobile-first global ecommerce platform as part of a £10m digital transformation project.

This new platform is the first step in a three-year strategy to streamline The Body Shop’s Digital Offering, which sees the retailer aiming to achieve 20% of total sales from ecommerce.

The Hybris-based digital platform has been designed so The Body Shop’s customers can engage more effectively with the retailer’s products and ethos. Rather than creating a ‘one-size-fits-all’ platform, The Body Shop has accommodated regional variations in its development, meaning it can be adapted to each market’s consumer preferences for merchandising, payment and delivery fulfillment.

The new digital platform has launched in 11 countries, including UK, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia, and will be rolled out to over 20 more countries in 2017. 

The new platform will be a hub for all of The Body Shop’s content and also features a number of tools that appeal to today’s knowledge-hungry shopper, such as a live appointment booking service for in-store consultations and a personalised skincare diagnostic tool. It incorporates click and collect functionality, which will launch later this year. 

The platform also makes it easier for The Body Shop to communicate its wider activity online, allowing customers to engage with its ethical campaigns digitally, including the Bio-Bridges programme that aims to protect 75 million square metres of threatened rainforest by 2020.

With 52% of The Body Shop’s existing online traffic from mobile and 11% from tablet, the impact of The Body Shop’s digital investments is already being felt, with a +19% YOY growth in global ecommerce sales in 2016 – double that of the previous year.

In February 2017, owner L’Oréal confirmed it was considering selling The Body Shop, and is expected to make a decision in the coming months after exploring all strategic options.