L'Oreal: A Case Study of Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) is the latest technological innovation that has the potential to change the face of retail industry. Many companies are taking the lead by creating AR-based apps that create a more personalized shopping experience for customers.

One such company that has taken a big dive into AR is L'Oreal. It's new revolutionary app called Makeup Genius is a complete game-changer when it comes to shopping for beauty products, as it allows you to try on pretty much any makeup or style virtually.

Essentially, this app scans your face and creates an image on your smartphone. It then allows you to try any of the 4,500 and odd products sold by L'Oreal to get a feel of how it would look on you before you go ahead and buy it. This app captures 64 facial data points and more than 100 different facial expressions to discern the shape of your eyes, lips and other facial contours, to place the makeup accurately on your face. You even have the option to save your selfie, share it with your contacts on social media and buy the products you used directly through the app.

Makeup Genius also comes pre-loaded with different makeup styles such as "Caresse", "So Timeless" and "Tropical," so you don't have to spend time picking individual makeup items when you're in a hurry.

So, what is the difference between Makeup Genius and other similar beauty apps available in the market today?

While the other apps use a static image of yourself to apply makeup, this app captures you in real-time because it uses augmented reality as the underlying technology. What this means is you can move your face, tilt it however you want and do any other expression to see how the makeup looks on you while you do all that! Its advanced facial recognition technology keeps the makeup in place even as you make all these movements.

Further, this app provides an accurate look of the makeup, regardless of your ethnicity. In fact, L'Oreal claims that this app works for women of all ethnicities, and in over 400 different lighting conditions to give you the most precise makeup.

Besides giving you a real feel of how you would look, this app also gives you the flexibility to find the products you want easily. With this app, you can scan an ad or an image to detect a color match in L'Oreal's products, so that you can have the looks of the person in that particular ad or image. So, if you want to try on the makeup of Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie, all that you have to do is take an image out of the Internet and scan it on this app. You'll get the same makeup choices within minutes and can try it on yourself within the next few minutes. All these aspects make Makeup Genius a ground-breaking app in the beauty world.

In fact, makeup doesn't get more fun and exciting than this!

Gary Herring is the President of The Albert Einstein Group, a product development, strategy creation, and manufacturing company where all of its roads end in retail. 

Augmented Reality Technology - How Does it Work?

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging technology that blurs the line between real and virtual world by giving us all the sensations of a real world within a virtual environment. With this technology, you can see, hear, feel and smell different things that are computer-generated, so as to give you an idea of how it would be in the real-world.

This technology offers unlimited potential for companies world over to better connect with their customers, and more importantly, to give them a feel of a product before buying it. It also creates endless possibilities to change the way we see the world, and interact with it.

Difference between VR and AR

Often, AR is confused with virtual reality, though they are much different from each other. Virtual reality creates a virtual environment where the user immerses himself or herself with the help of devices such as head mounted displays. However, with AR, users continue to live in the real world and are not immersed in a virtual environment. Rather, they get to feel and hear objects that are overlaid on objects in the real world. In other words, virtual reality replaces the real objects with artificial ones while AR enhances the real objects with appropriate artificial images.

How does AR work?

So, how does this technology work?

At the core, AR superimposes graphics and sensory enhancements over a real-world environment in real time. Though it sounds simple, there is a lot going on within this process of superimposition, as the final product should look and feel like the real one. The main catch is to generate images that are highly realistic, so that it is useful and beneficial to users. This is best achieved with smart algorithms that tap into the power of sensors such as gyroscopes and accelerometers that make it possible for the virtual images to stay aligned with the real world objects.

This technology is still in its nascent stages as more researchers are studying ways to use it more effectively in different fields. For now, it is available on smartphones with iOS and Android operating systems. The different features of these phones are used to generate AR experience for users. For example, the built-in GPRS feature in smartphones provide the location of a user, and accordingly, tags, images and videos pertaining to that location can be superimposed to give users more information on what they can see and do in that location. Similarly, the camera feature captures the face of a user, and a makeup can be superimposed on this face to give users a virtual feel of how it looks on them.

Besides smartphones, projection mapping is another AR method that is being explored. A case in point is the "Google Glass" that uses something called a prism projector to superimpose useful information and images on the real world of users.

Going forward, AR offers immense potential to change the way we see and perceive things as a society.  

Gary Herring is the President of The Albert Einstein Group, a product development, strategy creation, and manufacturing company where all of its roads end in retail. 

Real Estate Companies - 4 ways to make the most of social media

Social media has changed the way we communicate as a society, and from a business perspective, it has opened up a new way to connect with current and future customers. Almost every business has greatly benefitted from this opportunity to interact with customers, and real estate companies are no exception.

Why is social media important?

A statistics by Shareablesocial.com shows that by 2020, the number of Facebook users will be 132 billion while Twitter will have more than 302 million users. These vast numbers simple mean more potential customers for you, provided you start now.

Here are some proven strategies that can help you to build a strong social media profile.

Create your own page

The first step is to shout out your existence to the social media world by creating a personalized page that includes information about your company, videos, pictures and anything else that will bring in audience. Since hundreds of real estate companies already have a presence on social media, it makes sense to come up with something interesting and innovative for your audience.

Be everywhere

The sheer number of social media sites can be overwhelming, but many real estate companies have a presence everywhere as it gives them an opportunity to convert all their fans and followers into potential customers. It also gives them access to a wider customer base spread across different regions.

For example, Corcoran Group, a prominent real estate firm in NYC, gives its customers the option to connect with any social media site of their choice. They have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, FourSquare, Goawalla, Tumblr, Vimeo and more.

More Participation

Social media is not the same as static websites, so just creating an account is not enough. This is why companies have a dedicated social media team that interacts with fans and followers all the time. They engage with them, learn more about their needs and provide services accordingly. Sometimes, these companies post important tips and information related to their markets to give their customers some valuable information, and more importantly to connect with them. Such a connected environment has greatly benefitted real estate companies by way of increased businesses and higher profits.

A case in point is an apartment finder company called ApartmentHomeLiving.com. Their Facebook and Twitter pages get hundreds of requests for apartments every day, and their social media team responds promptly with listings. No wonder, it has more than 68,000 fans on Facebook and 5,000 followers on Twitter!

However, they key is not to bombard customers with listings, as the aim is to engage with them by providing useful information that will help them to make the right choices.

Tap into the power of multimedia

Good use of multimedia can bring images to life, and can give your prospective customers an idea of what to expect from a home. This is why WellcomeMat, a community of real estate agents and filmmakers, provides full-motion video tours of properties, neighborhoods and more to give customers a virtual feel of a property. It captivates the attention of customers, and delivers quality information about a place or a property, that in turn, translates to more customers.

In short, social media is a powerful tool that can transform the business of any real estate company, provided it is used well to connect with more customers.

Gary Herring is the President of The Albert Einstein Group, a product development, strategy creation, and manufacturing company where all of its roads end in retail. 

How is Social Media Shaping the Cosmetics Industry?

Social media is becoming an important channel for companies in the cosmetics industry to reach out to a wide customer base, so more brands are looking to make the most of it. An example of such a company is Julep, a cosmetics startup that is taking feedback from customers both through social media and in person, and creating products based on this feedback. It's little wonder that this successful startup raised $10.3 billion from venture capitalists in 2014.

The above example reflects how a social-media-savvy-lifestyle is creating a boom for the cosmetics industry. Gone are the days of makeup counters, survey forms and big money ad-campaigns - today it's all about selfies, likes and shares.

Here's a look at how social media is shaping the cosmetics industry.

Instagram

Instagram allows customers to see a visual representation of a blogger or a celebrity using a particular brand, and this feels more genuine and compelling when compared to a million-dollar ad campaign. In fact, the popularity of Instagram has led to a new line of stores like "#" (pronounced hashtag) and Ricky's NYC that stocks only beauty items famous on Instagram. These New York-based stores are leading the way in capitalizing the power of Instagram to create a new niche for themselves in the cosmetics industry.

YouTube

YouTube has emerged to be one of the most influential sites for customers interested in beauty products. A study by Variety showed that YouTube stars are more popular among US teens than mainstream celebrities, and this is why beauty experts who have a large presence on YouTube are highly successful.

Take the example of Michelle Phan, the beauty and makeup sensation on YouTube. With more than one million followers, her makeup tutorials are a huge hit among her fans. She has in fact, made a living out of YouTube, as different brands are reaching out to her to showcase their products. It's a win-win situation for everyone as the brands get to reach out to a wider audience while customers get to learn more about a particular product and its usage through these videos.

Besides Phan, there are hundreds of other beauty experts who provide product reviews and tutorials on how to apply makeup. Such informative content has helped millions of customers worldwide to make the right choices to look and feel more beautiful.

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media site that cosmetics brands use to interact with their fans. According to recent industry rankings, Dove, L'Oreal Paris and NIVEA are the most popular brands on social media, based on the number of followers. These brands have been successful because they fuel the social media lifestyle by giving tips, conducting polls and even answering the questions posted on their respective Facebook pages. How-to contents and user reviews are other popular features that have helped to build their popularity. A close look at all this content shows that brands strive to provide customers just the information they want, and in the process, they are able to fine-tune their own products to better meet their customers' expectations.

In short, social media has made makeup more interesting for everyone, and in turn, this interest has created a boom for the cosmetics industry.

Gary Herring is the President of The Albert Einstein Group, a product development, strategy creation, and manufacturing company where all of its roads end in retail. 

How can Technology Boost the Cosmetics Industry?

The impact of technology on the cosmetics industry is surprising a lot less when compared to other

industries. Currently, the beauty industry is worth around $20 billion, and it is expected to grow at the

rate of three percent a year. However, much of this growth is due to the geographical expansion of

physical stores and the increasing GDP of countries, with technology contributing only minimally to it.

In some ways, this is good news for the cosmetics industry as they have the potential to clock

impressive growth when they embrace more technology into their operations. Here are some ways by

which cosmetic companies can make the most of technology.

Augmented Reality

Online cosmetics shopping has not really taken off because consumers still want to have a real-life

experience when they shop for products online. In other words, they want to know how a product will

look on them and what it will smell like, before they make their purchase.

Such an experience can be best provided by augmented reality (AR), a technology that combines both

the digital and real worlds to give customers just what they want. Some companies like Maybelline

have already started experimenting with AR to help users choose the right nail color for their nails. In

this experiment, users can align their fingers on the Maybelline app, and can see how each nail color

looks on their fingers. Maybelline believes that this was successful in generating more interest among

consumers, and plans to extend it to other products as well.

Similarly, L'Oreal's Makeup Genius is an app that uses face recognition to convert the front-mirror of

an iPhone or iPad into a virtual mirror where users can try on different makeup products. Currently, this app is available only for US and France iPhone customers, but it plans to increase its reach to others soon. In the future, AR is expected to create a process that will take customers on a discovery journey to help

them identify what products will suit them the best, so they can buy accordingly.

Personalization using big data

Imagine a product created just for every customer! It's not as daunting as it sounds, thanks to the age of

information and the many technologies like big data that harness this information to achieve the highest

levels of personalization. For example, images from social media can be scanned to analyze the skin type, tone, eye color, hair color and lifestyle preferences of customers, and based on these attributes, it's possible to suggest the right beauty products. Such a process would replicate the experience that consumers get when they visit a shop or a stylist, and this can in turn, boost online sales.

Social media

Though many beauty companies have a presence on social media, it does not seem to be enough. More

companies, both big and small, should come up with innovative ways to engage with their audience.

In short, as big data and artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more sophisticated, it won't be long before

cosmetics companies offer a real-world experience through a digital channel.

Gary Herring is the President of The Albert Einstein Group, a product development, strategy creation, and manufacturing company where all of its roads end in retail.