Personal care products manufacturer and retailer L’Occitane is targeting mobile users with a new interactive digital catalog that can be viewed on tablets.

The interactive digital catalog is available in 64 versions for L’Occitane’s numerous Web sites and Facebook pages across 28 different countries. Users can tap on hotspots to directly purchase items from the L’Occitane Web site.

“Given the fact that some retailers are reporting that 30 percent of their Web traffic comes from mobile devices, it is essential that digital catalogs be accessible on any device,” said Isabelle Ciacchella, head of the U.S. office for Prestimedia, Campbell, CA. “It is particularly important for digital catalogs to be available on tablets, as they deliver a much more pleasurable user experience in terms of browsing and interaction.

“According to a recent survey from Shop.org, 30 percent of tablet owners plan to make a holiday purchase on their tablet this year,” she said. “To put this in perspective, there are approximately 200 million tablets sold worldwide, with about 25 percent in hands of North America users, meaning 15 million U.S. consumers will be purchasing gifts on their tablet devices this holiday season.

“Additionally, it is important for retailers to deliver a consistent message to their customers across all channels: print, computer, and mobile devices. Consumers must be able to find the same content independent of the device being used. A customer might access the digital catalog from her mobile device when commuting, and access it later on a home computer.”

L’Occitane partnered with Prestimedia on the digital catalog.

Tablet commerce
After clicking on the digital catalog link, either from an email or from the retailer’s Web site, the catalog automatically loads on the mobile device and opens to the catalogs front cover.

The catalog can be browsed in landscape mode with double pages or portrait mode with single pages.

From the top menu bar, readers can search keywords to directly access a page with products of interest; access a thumbnail view of the full catalog; view the table of contents, and share the catalog via email or social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Within the individual pages of the catalog, customers can zoom in and out, and tap on hotspots to directly purchase the product from the Web site.

Practical ordering
The catalog includes such features as product glorifier, which enables shoppers to highlight specific products within the catalog while minimizing other content. A premium mapping tool creates multipoint interactive zones that accurately follow the outline of products within the catalogs to engage shoppers.

Shoppers will also find twinkling-star animation, holiday music and a video on the final page.

L’Occitane sells natural-based personal care products and operates over 2,000 boutiques worldwide.

“The catalog is visually appealing on the iPad, offering beautiful imagery, a fun video, options for sharing the catalog, and intuitive steps for quickly completing purchases,” Ms. Ciacchella said. “The entire experience for the viewer is not only engaging, but also becomes a practical way to order products.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York