Beauty, Technology, & Consumer Trust

The beauty industry has experienced healthy growth in recent years, with sales expected to exceed $716B by 2025.

Much of the beauty industry’s sales come from in-store shopping, which accounted for an estimated 85% of all sales prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the effects of COVID-19, the need for beauty technology has increased as more and more brands look to power personalized experiences.

The Rise of Beauty & Technology

A few years ago, this idea of shopping for beauty and skincare products online seemed far-fetched.

Without the ability to test products, or get a sense of how the products would feel on the skin, shopping online for beauty products just seemed like a guessing game.

This created a particularly difficult challenge for eCommerce marketers looking to increase consumer confidence and ease in shopping online.

Enter the world of beauty technology and learn about the eCommerce trends that are helping the industry as a whole adapt to digital.

What’s the Latest in Beauty Technology?

Artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies have increased in popularity in recent years in order to emulate the high-quality, personalized experiences shoppers receive in-store.

Below, we’ve outlined two examples of solutions for each of these sectors.

Virtual “Try-On”

Earlier this year, Pinterest partnered with leading beauty brands to implement a virtual try-on solution within its visual search tool, ‘Lens.’

The try-on software is able to recognize upwards of 2.5 billion objects making it one of the best market solutions for digital make-up applications.

Perfect Corp is another “try-on” software that has been popular within the beauty industry since 2014.

By enabling consumers to virtually “try-on” different beauty products from the comfort of their own home, many retailers have increased their conversion rates by 2.5X.

The power behind virtual try-ons is that the guessing game is significantly reduced.

Consumers simply upload an actual photo of themselves, and are able to apply filters on top of the image in order to get a better idea of how the product will actually look on their skin in person.

Product Finders

Another growing area of popularity for beauty brands is implementing product finders to guide consumers to the best product they’re looking to purchase.

Leading skincare brand, Bliss, created an on-site skincare quiz as a permanent edition to their product page in order to assist first-time and returning consumers find products based on their preferences.

The best part? Bliss continually collects key declared data points from their consumers in order to personalize future communications and recommendations based on each individual consumer’s wants and needs.

MECCA is a leading Australian beauty and skincare retailer, that was looking to create more interactive digital experiences in response to COVID-19. MECCA’s team was able to create a holiday gift finder in order to ensure their shoppers could shop for gifts online with greater ease and accuracy.

Plus, the brand achieved a 3X increase in email conversion by deploying this helpful gift finder for consumers to use online.

Product finders are one of the easiest ways to guide your consumers through the online shopping journey in a matter of seconds.

How do new technologies impact consumers?

Simplified Shopping Experience

Mckinsey research found that many consumers plan to shift almost completely to online shopping after COVID-19. One of the greatest benefits to beauty technology is its ability to create a more simplified shopping experience.

Rather than leaving consumers to their own devices, brands are able to guide shoppers through a more seamless journey.

Consumers save time, confusion, and frustrations, while brands increase sales and conversion rates.

Increased Confidence

Much of the hesitation around online shopping, is that many consumers prefer to actually see the product first rather than rely on how the product is presented online. In fact, 51% of shoppers believe the biggest drawback of online shopping is not being able to touch, feel, and try a product,

With the power of AI and data, this friction is resolved as consumers can receive far more accurate experiences that truly emulate that of shopping in-store.

61% of consumers would be more likely to buy from a brand that uses immersive technologies because these technologies enable consumers to actually see the product and better imagine how it would look in real-life.

By seeing an accurate picture with a new foundation, lipstick, or eyeshadow, consumers are better able to understand which products will work with them and which ones will not, rather than having to guess.

Greater Trust

Consumers are 80% more likely to purchase from brands who offer more personalized, 1-to-1 experiences and 73% of consumers are willing to share more personal information if brands are transparent about how it is used (up from 66% in 2018).

This is because consumers are sharing more data and trusting brands to better understand their wants and needs and power greater personalization.

If a consumer knows their data will help power greater shopping experiences in the future, then they are much more likely to trust brands who are transparent in their data collection processes.

The Future of Beauty & Technology

ECommerce growth in the beauty industry is expected to increase by 20-30%, making this one of the few industries to positively recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A simplified shopping experience, increased confidence, and greater trust are some of the many benefits in optimizing consumer’s online shopping experience.

Continual investments in key beauty technologies will ensure these brands continue to grow and succeed in coming years.

Create an interactive experience to increase your consumer’s confidence today.