Brief:

• The Body Shop, the beauty product chain with 2,600 stores worldwide, revamped its customer loyalty program in Switzerland with a new mobile application developed by data management provider Axway. The Love Your Body Club mobile app helps the retailer deliver personalized promotions to 90,000 Swiss customers, according to a press release. L'Oréal sold The Body Shop to Brazilian company Natura Cosmeticos in September.
• The app, which is available for iOS and Android, lets shoppers receive tailored offers, earn vouchers, get invited to special events, shop for products, view their purchase history and locate stores. It also uses location data to notify club members of offers when they're near a store.
• Customers who tap their smartphones to respond to offers are shown a QR code that can be redeemed at checkout or a voucher that can be used online. Store staff can view the recent purchase history of customers and re-order items, which helps to cut wait times to check out, per the release.

Insight:

Since its inception, The Body Shop has tried to distinguish itself from other makers of beauty products by touting its ethical process of using sustainable materials and shunning animal testing. But the company also has faced declining sales and intense competition from other companies like Procter & Gamble that started its own natural product line.

By redeveloping its loyalty program with an emphasis on mobile connectivity, the company aims to drive more traffic to its brick-and-mortar stores and maintain quality relationships with existing customers. Axway, which acquired mobile app firm Appcelerator last year, is helping The Body Shop to manage its customer data and integrate compelling promotions with smartphone technology.

The retailer has struggled of late as more brands continue to move into the beauty market. Its new owner could have plans for reviving The Body Shop's overall health by embracing more innovative mobile tech for customers.

The Body Shop is also experimenting with new ways to use mobile platforms to promote its brand and special advocacy causes. In September, the company launched a campaign with marketing partner Urban Airship that included a mobile wallet pass for Android and iOS to let customers view updates on The Body Shop's Forever Against Animal Testing efforts. The company is seeking more signatures on an anti-animal testing petition to present to the United Nations next year, and so far had collected more than 2.8 million signatures online and in stores as of September.