Creating the Crabtree & Evelyn brand was born out of Cyrus’ passion, but he drew his inspiration from the life of John Evelyn, who was one of the first naturalists and conservationists and a visionary of his time. It was Evelyn’s personal motto ‘explore everything, keep the best’ that resonated with Cyrus and remains at the heart of the brand today.
Meal Soaps were the first products to be launched under the Crabtree & Evelyn brand, and these have evolved over the years into a range of Heritage soaps which are still available today. These conditioning and rich-lathering soaps feature unique fragrance combinations from Crabapple & Mulberry to Black Sea Mud & Seaweed. From here the product portfolio expanded to include English Flower Waters and Toilet Waters, Bath Gels and Men’s Colognes to enhance everyday rituals.
Long before the natural and wellness movements became popular, Crabtree & Evelyn was producing ranges featuring fruit, flower and plant essences. The use of natural ingredients continued with the introduction of preserves, biscuits, teas and confectionery and Crabtree & Evelyn became known for its gourmet products in beautiful, botanically inspired packaging. The company continues to draw on its rich heritage and knowledge of plants and botanicals while embracing new discoveries.
Today the Crabtree & Evelyn product range comprises fragrances, bath and shower gels, soaps, home spa products, body lotions, hand creams and home fragrance. The ethos of the company remains, seeking out the most beneficial ingredients inspired by nature to create a range of products which make a world of difference. A blend of the very best of nature and science coupled with tradition and innovation.
With an outdated point of sale (POS) system increasingly at odds with security demands and customer expectations, Crabtree & Evelyn’s IT team decided it was time for a change.
The brief was relatively simple: get a new system that could meet the new data security standards set out by the payment card industry (PCI) while providing a platform to support multichannel retailing.
What Crabtree & Evelyn got from us did all of that, and a lot more. In a massive leap forward, the retailer has gone from dial-up to an on-demand store system that includes a PCI compliant managed payment service, a platform for true multichannel retailing and a one-stop shop for all problems and support.
It’s the first such implementation to be deployed on BT’s virtual data center (VDC) cloud platform. And the benefits of this infrastructure as a service approach are starting to show.
