Estée Lauder is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The Company Store app is their internal eCommerce store for employees in the APAC region.
Running an eCommerce operation across multiple Asian markets is complex enough. Now imagine doing it for an internal employee store. It needs to maintain the same quality as consumer-facing apps, but has to work with limited development resources.
That's exactly the challenge Estée Lauder faced with their employee benefits program. Here's how they solved it, with MobiLoud's help.
The Setup: Employee Store on Magento
Estée Lauder's employee benefits store was already running smoothly on Magento. It served desktop users well. Thousands of employees across Asia Pacific used it for exclusive discounts and promotions.
But their workforce was increasingly mobile-first. They needed to evolve.
The challenge wasn't just creating a mobile experience. They needed something that could handle multiple regions with different product catalogs. It had to support various local payment methods. And it needed to match the quality of their consumer apps.
They needed to do all this, while launching quickly, without a massive development team.
Why Apps Were Essential
In markets like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and across APAC, mobile apps aren't just nice-to-have. They're essential for engagement.
Estée Lauder's employees were already heavy users of the company's consumer apps, and they naturally expected the same convenience for their benefits program.
Building separate native apps for each market would have been massive. It would need multiple codebases. Separate App Store submissions. Different payment integrations per region. Plus ongoing updates and maintenance.
The MobiLoud Solution: One Platform, Multiple Markets
Instead of building from scratch, Estée Lauder transformed their Magento stores into a suite of mobile apps using MobiLoud. Our multi-configuration system became their backbone.
It's like running multiple apps from a single backend. Each market – Hong Kong, Taiwan, and APAC – got its own configuration. This included specific product catalogs, local pricing, market-specific content and custom payment methods.
Solving the Payment Puzzle
Payment integration was crucial in Asia, and every market has its own preferred payment methods.
Through deep linking, Estée Lauder integrated a variety of local solutions, such as IPay88 for Malaysia, Touch and Go, plus numerous local bank wallets.
The breakthrough came with their first integration. Once they built the deep linking for one payment method, the same approach worked for others. No reinventing the wheel for each market.
Real Performance in the Wild
The apps have proven remarkably successful. The Hong Kong app maintains a 4.5/5 star rating with 26 ratings. The APAC app boasts an even more impressive 4.6/5 stars from 63 ratings.
But the real story is in the usage. Their monthly active user base stays consistent. These apps have become part of employees' regular shopping routine.
A Straightforward Engagement Approach
Their goal with the app isn't to maximize revenue, it's to make the employee benefits program accessible and convenient, and they've had no issues doing just that.
Monthly email newsletters keep employees informed. Push notifications announce new promotions. Bundle deals appear exclusively in the app. Each market gets its own specific campaigns.
The app ticks all the boxes it needs to.
Making It Work Behind the Scenes
The platform runs like a well-oiled machine. Content updates sync automatically with their Magento backend, and they can push updates without App Store approvals. New markets launch within the existing infrastructure, making expansion easy.
Their testing process is methodical. It starts in the development environment, moves through UAT (User Acceptance Testing), and only then reaches production.
This ensures thorough testing of new features, payment methods, and market launches before going live.
Navigating Team Transitions with MobiLoud
Organizational changes can break even the best systems. Estée Lauder went through several internal reorganizations, which resulted in different groups taking responsibility for the apps.
MobiLoud's support model made the difference. We set up dedicated Slack channels for each team, and when new groups took over, MobiLoud conducted knowledge transfer sessions. They explained everything from the multi-configuration system to deployment processes.
New teams could quickly understand how to manage and expand the apps. We documented custom implementations, explained technical decisions and provided context about previous work.
This meant seamless continuity. Even as internal teams changed, the apps kept running smoothly. The expansion into new markets continued without disruption.
Looking Forward
The program keeps growing, with Vietnam and Thailand launches on the horizon. New payment methods are coming to Malaysia, while UI improvements roll out based on user feedback.
These expansions build on their existing foundation, and require minimal additional development resources to deliver.
The MobiLoud Advantage
Estée Lauder's success highlights MobiLoud’s powerful approach to mobile apps. No separate native apps for each market. No massive development resources. Instead, they got a flexible, scalable solution that grows with their needs.
Our multi-configuration system lets them launch in new markets without new apps, with no additional app store approvals needed. When they need local payment methods, the deep linking architecture handles it, with no extensive custom development required.
MobiLoud's full-service support model allowed continuity through team changes. Dedicated communication channels on Slack keep everyone aligned and knowledge transfer sessions got new teams up to speed quickly.
The results speak for themselves. Their apps maintain high app store ratings and steady monthly active users. Successful expansion across multiple markets. As they roll out in Vietnam, Thailand, and beyond, they're building on a proven foundation.
MobiLoud combines the convenience of mobile apps with the flexibility of web technologies, and adds the reliability of dedicated support. It proves that effective mobile app solutions don't always require building everything from scratch.
Ready to Launch Your Apps?
MobiLoud removes all the hassle and complexity of app development. Even complicated implementations like Estée Lauder's are made easy with our approach.
You can launch full-featured mobile apps in just a few weeks, with minimal investment and overhead.
To see what's possible, get a free app preview now, and start the process of turning your web experiences into mobile apps your customers love.
Estée Lauder is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The Company Store app is their internal eCommerce store for employees in the APAC region.
