Success Story Retail

British Cosmetics Company Extends its Digital Reach

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In 1976, the company began in a little green shop selling cosmetics, skin care, and fragrance products in Brighton, England. In the 40+ years since, it has become an iconic global brand with an online presence that spans more than 15 languages.

Apexon has been an integral part of this company’s strategic initiatives since 2005, a relationship that began with providing thought leadership in quality engineering. Our input has increased over the years, and includes migrating the company from legacy based home-grown systems to its current SAP ERP and e-commerce platforms.

The company also engaged Apexon to automate software testing, expand its e-commerce website reach to include more languages, and to create an engaging mobile presence for its customers.

  • 1000+ products online and in store

    1000+ products online and in store

  • 3000 stores in 65 countries

    3000 stores in 65 countries

  • Previously owned by L’Oréal (2006-2017)

    Previously owned by L’Oréal (2006-2017)

  • Part of Natura since 2018

    Part of Natura since 2018

The Customer Journey
2005

2008

2011

2014

2017

2020

2005
  • Launch of UK website
  • US core upgrade and automation
  • Quality Engineering

2008
  • UK platform migration
  • Loyalty program design
  • US platform migration
  • Launch of UK M-com

2011
  • Site rebranding project delivered (BBB)
  • Launch of Sweden E-com platform

2014
  • Hybris Strategy Implementation
  • Cybersource
  • CRM Migration Platform

2017
  • SAP order placement support
  • Hybris Australia Catalogue Support
  • Digital Implementation Management
  • Jenkon Online Registration

2020
  • Hybris CI CR5
  • FrontEnd testing

the Results

Key Outcomes

Expanded Language Testing
Expanded
Language Testing

Support for more than 15 languages

Mobile Testing
Mobile
Testing

Provided QE for more than 30 different devices

Loyalty Program Launch
Loyalty
Program Launch

Rolled out online Customer Loyalty program to multiple EMEA markets

Increased Customers & Revenue
Increased Customers
& Revenue

Via new mobile, loyalty, and e-commerce initiatives reaching new markets and cultivating repeat customers

Our methodology

how
we did it

Apexon works with companies across the digital lifecycle.

Go Digital
Go Digital

Accelerating the delivery of new digital initiatives with confidence

Be digital
Be digital

Creating the infrastructure and foundation to scale digital initiatives

Evolve Digital
Evolve Digital

Leveraging data and analytics to continuously improve digital delivery processes

Launch & Experiment

Automate & Accelerate

Be Intelligent & Autonomous

Launch & Experiment

Enable digital adoption in a quick, and agile mannertransform the patient experience

Apexon helped this company deploy digital capabilities in support of its new loyalty program, mobile app, and e-commerce site.

Automate & Accelerate

Build digital infrastructure and foundation for enterprises to scaledigitization on patient Experience

Apexon automated the testing of the entire digital platform for components of the SAP Hybris-based e-commerce platform and its integration with SAP ERP system, CRM, personalization, recommendations engine, and payments capability.

Be Intelligent & Autonomous

Leverage data engineering to make strategic decisions and get digital right every time

With testing automation, company can launch globally within 3-5 days after code complete and execute ~1000 test scenarios in 6-8 hours.

The challenge

To accelerate mobile & e-commerce & deliver loyalty program

This company looked to Apexon to help it accelerate its entry into mobile and e-commerce and accelerate the delivery of its new loyalty program.

The reasons for this request were:

e-commerce and mobile presence

The lack of e-commerce and mobile presence was limiting its reach in key markets.

online membership loyalty system

No online membership loyalty system, or customer retention program in place, putting it at a disadvantage with new competitors.

testing program in place to support the new initiatives

There was no testing program in place to support the new initiatives, slowing delivery cycles and risking customer satisfaction.

The Solution

Global comprehensive quality engineering plan for new e-commerce platform

Apexon laid out a strong mobile device testing strategy to cover leading devices based on geography, and an execution strategy to ensure broad device coverage for all releases.

The Apexon team also deployed a comprehensive quality engineering plan for company’s new e-commerce platform across 30+ countries on both mobile and web. In addition to functional validation, Apexon also provided performance and security testing strategies at various layers of the stack to validate both individual components and the overall integration of the system and how well it met customer demands. The engagement included:

Hybris omni-channel solution

Complete ecommerce re-platforming Hybris omni-channel solution with emphasis on enhanced mobile capabilities, increased customer engagement and deeper analytics.

End-to-end testing of SAP Hybris system

End-to-end testing of the implementation of SAP Hybris system incorporating online and in-store orders and connected supply chain — inbound, outbound, returns, transfers and warehouse management.

rollouts of e-commerce websites and software releases

Coordinating with multiple vendors and contractors for smooth rollouts of e-commerce websites and software releases​.

Launching a new online customer loyalty program

Launching a new online customer loyalty program in multiple EMEA markets.​

Launching a new mobile app for the UK market

Launching a new mobile app for the UK market, fully tested on a broad set of real mobile devices​. ​

With Apexon’s quality engineering and test automation solution in place, this company has elevated its digital presence in multiple markets and improved its ability to respond to demand for new digital services.

deploy global releases within 3-5 days

The ability to deploy global releases within 3-5 days of code complete.​

functional regression suite

A functional regression suite of ~1000 test scenarios which can be executed in 6-8 hours.

integration of testing in the development stage

The integration of testing in the development stage — increasing early defect detection by more than 50%.

execute automated tests

Enhanced device coverage and the ability to execute automated tests in multiple locales with the right test data — significantly reducing support tickets and calls.

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