Consumers are becoming aware of their wellness needs. They understand that no single product or brand is the sure shot answer to their grooming needs. The tech revolution is sweeping across the beauty industry. With the pandemic having driven everyone indoors, beauty and wellness have drastically changed in skincare and cosmetic product requirements. For instance, an entire market has been created for ‘Maskne’ (mask acne) with companies coming up with new products and solutions to tackle this.
1. Virtual Try-On:
The virtual try-on tech trend leverages the Augmented Reality technology for make-up and hair colour in the professional beauty sector. Through this technology, customers can try on dozens of shades of make-up and hair colour. The virtual try-on technology uses an advanced face tracker algorithm that detects where customers’ lips, eyes, cheeks, hair, etc., are and applies virtual cosmetics on this zone to give them a real-time, true-to-life view of the products. Loreal India invested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) by acquiring ModiFace to enhance their product and customer experience.
2. Webcam consultation
Webcam consultations are the latest consumer trends in the professional beauty sector which enhances the online shopping experience for customers through e-consultations and individualised skincare consultations. Kiehl’s India, a beauty and skincare brand rolled out one-on-one skin video consultations where skin experts interact with customers and give them insights on choosing the products that are the right fit for them.
3. Store Management
Modern beauty salons, skincare clinics, and even cosmetic stores are adopting store and salon management tech that are customised for beauty brands and businesses. Salon and store management technology encompasses accounting, payroll and financial reporting, inventory control, scheduling, and CRM (customer relationship management) software. Beauty businesses are tapping into these technologies to streamline workflows, manage clientele, and attract modern clients.
4. Skin Diagnostics
Skin Diagnostics is a tech trend in the beauty world which brands are leveraging for expert skin analysis. It’s an online tool based on AI driven by dermatologists that evaluates customer’s skin profile through a phone or computer camera. Skin diagnostics tech is built on massive volumes of data and developed on clinical atlases which can deliver tailor-made skincare routines for beauty customers. Indian personal beauty brand Skincraft performs skin analysis for customers by matching the answers received on a detailed questionnaire to regimen kits. This system relies on a data repository which creates a suite of ‘skin profiles’ for their algorithm. These skin profiles are then matched to appropriate products.
5. Interactive retail experience
MAC cosmetics had opened its first ever ‘phygital’ experience centre in Shanghai. Aimed at understanding GenZ’s make-up purchase behaviour, the retail store was equipped with technology like cognitive walkthroughs, virtual makeup mirrors, and infrared touchscreens. Although this concept store trend was first kicked off by MAC in Shanghai, it will surely catch on and eventually seep into the small business sector in India in the near future.
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The virtual try-on technology uses an advanced face tracker algorithm that detects where customers’ lips, eyes, cheeks, hair, etc., are and applies virtual cosmetics on this zone to give them a real-time, true-to-life view of the products.
What’s in it for me?
Beauty product recommendation is being left to Artificial Intelligence in the beauty industry. This is not only eliminating expensive dermatologist visits but also paving the way for start-ups to innovate and disrupt the beauty space with technology. Technologies like Machine Learning and AI have penetrated the beauty and cosmetics industry.
Beauty brands are using technology to bring about a makeover in the market by delivering tailor-made products and forever upending the beauty industry’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ standard. The beauty and personal care market in India is worth $25 Bn. The D2C sector in beauty is booming currently and D2C brands are the biggest adopters of the beauty tech trends in India currently. There is immense scope for start-ups to disrupt the industry through data science and AI tech.
