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.
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