Artificial Intelligence is Transforming the Beauty Industry
More and more beauty brands are adopting AI and AR technologies to enhance personalized digital customer experiences. Estee Lauder is doing this, Sephora is doing this. If your beauty business hasn't started integrating AI technology into your business model, you're certainly thinking about it.
The Sephora brand recently launched the "Sephora Virtual Artist" application, which uses augmented reality technology to enhance online experiences. With facial recognition technology, the application can detect the position of users' facial features, helping them virtually try on effects from contour to eyeliner on their phones. Top beauty brands like NARS, Estee Lauder, and Maybelline already have such applications, where users can get customized beauty effects with just one click.
Customer-Centric Business Model¶
"There are traditional players, now there are digital brands and startups, so the cosmetics industry has become a very crowded industry," said Benjamin Lord, NARS e-commerce executive director. "Therefore, it has become even more important for us to be more customer-centric and provide more personalized experiences for shoppers in this field."
What industry insiders fear: serving this red ocean market through people. However, China's online retail sales are expected to exceed $1 trillion in the coming years, and China's largest online retailer JD.com launched its "AR Styling Station" to help customers virtually test various products through real-time customer feeds. Considering that over 266 million customers use the app for shopping, this is a smart move for the company. Now people care less about who they get their products from, and more about how they get them.
Finding a Place in Digital Space¶
This is exactly why the world's largest beauty company L'Oreal recently acquired Canadian beauty tech entity ModiFace, one of the world's most advanced augmented reality suppliers in the cosmetics industry. Before being acquired by L'Oreal, ModiFace went against the AI tools of Estee Lauder and Sephora. This tech giant recently partnered with MAC to launch in-store augmented reality mirrors, allowing curious shoppers to try makeup electronically. In fact, L'Oreal is actively seeking to dominate the digital space, as evidenced by their purchase of ModiFace.
Advanced Technology vs. Human Service¶
Meeting consumer needs means ensuring you have everything your competitors have, at least the effective ones. From apps that can determine skin tone matching based on selfies, to the eyebrow shape that best fits your frame, online portals have become a holy place for beauty enthusiasts. But do these services threaten the human-to-human beauty expertise?
It's certainly within the realm of possibility. According to The Daily Telegraph, Skin Advisor is an app that analyzes users' skin and skincare habits, and is more successful than expert dermatologists at guessing facial age.
"One of the app's creators, Jun Xu, said the app has learned to understand age and skin imperfections by showing thousands of aging faces."
From contouring classes to touchscreens emitting different fragrances, companies quickly realize that customer wishes are their command.