Artificial intelligence holds great potential for understanding and attracting consumers yet many marketers are still unable to capitalize on it. Some 85% of executives say AI could give their company a competitive edge yet only 5% of companies have extensively integrated AI into their processes. The gap between the hope and the reality is due the lack of clarity about what AI can do for their business, underlined by the fact that 61% of companies say they do not have an AI strategy in place. Some of the uncertainty surrounding AI can be attributed to AI vendors who, instead of delivering ready-to-action insights, are developing products to solve problems.[Image Credit: © Gerd Altmann]

Facebook and Instagram are emerging as powerful platforms for sellers of beauty products. Both platforms are rich with beauty content and Facebook (which owns Instagram) is investing to help beauty companies reach beauty consumers. AI, and especially its face recognition software, is enabling Facebook to better target user interests. It is also letting businesses have “real-time, one-to-one conversations with their customers over Messenger” (Karin Tracy, head of industry for beauty, fashion, luxury and retail, Facebook). Instagram Stories proved an effective way to deliver fun and behind-the-scenes content to young, mobile users. The number of followers on IS has grown rapidly, now standing at 300 million with more than a third of the most viewed stories provided by businesses. Facebook is also beta testing and trialing with Sephora an AR-enabled camera effects for use in Messenger. [Image Credit: © Facebook, Inc.]

Beauty brands should take advantage of developments such as artificial intelligence, personalization, and the rise of indie brands in order to adapt to a changing market. According to Terry Young of Sparks & Honey, beauty brands should try to emulate the success of Instagram, Amazon, and Netflix by thinking “exponentially" rather than incrementally to create a competitive edge in the industry. Young, who is the CEO of the cultural consultancy company, said brands can achieve a 10X status by offering more personalized experiences, customized products, and actively engaging smaller brands in the fragmented, yet rapidly growing, marketplace. [Image Credit: © Sparks & Honey]

NARS, and its Japan-based parent company Shiseido, see data and AI-driven personalization as key in their efforts to cater to the needs of an increasingly digital customer base. Benjamin Lord, NARS executive director of omnichannel of global eCommerce, sees the use of data and AI and critical to stand out in an "oversaturated" beauty market that is cluttered with new players (Glossier, Beautycounter) and established brands (Clinique, Estee Lauder). In 2017, Shiseido acquired AI and AR developer Giran, and more recently, artificial skin tech startup Olivo Labs, and personalization solution provider MATCHCo, in order to help NARS and its other brands (bareMinerals, Dolce & Gabbana…) create new personalized products and seamless experiences for their customers. Shiseido looks to be ahead of most companies: mobile and online sales account for 25 percent of its revenue compared to just over 6 percent for the entire beauty industry as a whole. [Image Credit: © NARS Cosmetics]

Mastercard Inc. reports that one in five customers in the European Union used voice aides such as Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa and similar chatbots. Conversational commerce is expected to rise strongly and Mastercard projects that by 2022 it will make up 6 percent ($40 billion) of all online expenditure in the US. Additional research says that 16 percent of EU residents made payments using voice assistants and 7 percent performed banking using the same technology. Voice-powered commerce poses an additional threat to physical stores that are already struggling because of online shopping. But for consumers, voice provides an opportunity for “faster, easier, and more convenient [shopping] experiences,” said Ann Cairns, vice chairman of payments company Mastercard. [Image Credit: © Andres Urena]

In a survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers last month, RichRelevance found that 86 percent of shoppers preferred typical search functions such as search bars over voice assistants like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. Moreover, 72 percent of participants said they would leave the website if it lacked a ‘strong’ search tool, while 80 percent confirmed that they use the search bar exclusively when shopping online. Consumer focus on traditional search also points to the slow integration of voice aides in retailers’ websites. In fact, 70 percent of participants have not used voice assistants yet, with 63 percent of consumers saying that they don’t have faith in industry leaders such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. “With many retailers looking to go beyond last-generation keyword-based search, brands and retailers would be best served by focusing on personalization and image search while positioning themselves to win with any developments in voice-based search,” added Mike Ni, chief marketing officer of RichRelevance. Results also show that the Millennials and Generation Z are more familiar with voice aides:  43 percent of younger people have used them compared to just 30 percent of older people.[Image Credit: © Andres Urena]

Drum Agency chief strategy officer, Dave Randolph, is skeptical virtual assistants will quickly have a massive impact on shopping. He claims technology, notably AI and bandwidth, are too inadequate for consumers to meaningfully interact with voice-activated devices. He also points out that many of the worries raised about voice-shopping – loss of visual cues, ability of Amazon to promote its own products, importance of ratings – are all factors already faced online. He suggests that marketers do not need to ‘fully dive in’ until voice technology advances greatly, becomes more ubiquitous and offers much more significant benefits to consumers.[Image Credit: © Thomas Kolnowski]

Consumers mostly use voice-shopping for products in groceries, clothing, electronics, and entertainment but analysts expect voice-activated shopping to grow rapidly as consumers use it to buy a wider range of goods. Currently shoppers typically buy “low-consideration goods” and products customers have bought before, but Capgemini executive vice president Mark Taylor believes consumers will buy “high-consideration” items in the future as they become more comfortable with voice shopping. eMarketer found that 36 percent of consumers in the US like the idea of voice shopping and Capgemini expects it to be the “dominant” mode of making online purchases in a few years. OC&C Strategy Consultants projects that in the US the voice-shopping market will grow from $2 billion today to $40 billion by 2022.[Image Credit: © Thomas Kolnowski]

AI-based voice communication is popular for accessing information, playing music and podcasts, but has yet to become ubiquitous for shopping. Professor Rahul Kapoor and Ron Adner suggests looking at the entire ecosystem of a new technology – device, voice AI, apps, personal data… - to understand how benefits are delivered and where bottlenecks lie. Denise Dahlhoff points out that while there is an extensive array of devices that support voice-assisted shopping, software components remain undeveloped. With Amazon’s solution so aligned with its core business, Dahlhoff recommends that retailers work with Google Assistant, just as Target, Walmart, Ultra Beauty and others have already done. Through mitigating shopping chores by leveraging personal data and using screens with voice to make shopping easier, Dahlhoff believes voice shopping will take off. [Image Credit: © Sebastian Bednarek]

Beauty retailer Sephora uses five ways to provide customers with personalized services and tools, according to chief engineering officer Raghu Sagi. With everything starting with what the customer wants, the company lets customers virtually try on products through its Virtual Artist virtual reality tool. Launched in 2017, the Beauty Insider Community provides a virtual social network for customers, allowing them to link up with each other, ask questions, and receive recommendations. Whenever a customer approaches a Sephora store, the company's mobile app becomes the Store Companion tool which offers customers tips and product recommendations. [Image Credit: © Sephora USA, Inc.]

L'Oreal Innovation Runway, the beauty company's startup challenge, will focus on three categories: personalized beauty experiences, sustainable innovations, and performance materials and products. South Korea-based Sketchon joined the L'Oreal Innovation Runway 2017, receiving research and development support and mentorship from the beauty company. In March 2018, L'Oreal acquired Modiface, which uses facial recognition and augmented reality to let consumers have a realistic preview of how a beauty product would look on them when applied. New Zealand-based Ethique's sustainable innovations include making and selling solid bar soaps, shampoos, and conditioners and earth-friendly packaging. [Image Credit: © L'Oreal Innovation Runway]

Equipped with most of the features that came with the original HiMirror smart mirror, the HiMirror Mini comes in a smaller package and includes a built-in stand. In smart mode, the mirror functions like a tablet computer with a full-features touchscreen. It lets users login to their wifi, it responds to commands, and can navigate the system using touch. HiMirror Mini comes with YouTube built in, allowing users to play back online videos of makeup tutorials and other beauty tips. Other built-in apps include Facebook and Instagram. [Image Credit: © Cal-Comp Big Data, Inc]

Despite the fast-growing popularity of voice-controlled devices, with 53 percent of chief marketing officers expected to invest in voice search in the coming year, according to Internet Retailing, search marketers do not have to worry about its impact on their platform. Voice-controlled devices may be a new channel for searching for information; however, the search marketing techniques that go with them are likely to be similar to those already put in place by successful marketers. With voice-controlled searches gaining more advanced capabilities than before, search marketers need to keep doing well instead of worrying about the new technology's impact on their business.[Image Credit: © CSTRSK from Pixabay]

L'Oreal USA manager of digital innovation and entrepreneurship, Samantha Bort, said she keeps abreast of the latest developments in technology and innovation by getting information from different sources. Also, she always thinks of herself as the consumer before the marketer and looks at the reason why a technology exists and how it will improve the consumer experience. Bort said her company has been using artificial intelligence to personalize the consumer experience at scale. She considers conversational commerce as one of the most exciting innovations, as well as blockchain and how it can be applied to the beauty industry. [Image Credit: © L'Oréal Corp]

Beauty brands are using augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to create customized strategies for differentiating themselves from the competition and for selling products and services. For example, makeup expert Charlotte Tilbury introduced a “Magic Mirror”, an AR-enabled device that lets users see their face wearing Tilbury's 10 beauty looks, when she launched her new Beauty Wonderland at Dubai Mall. Another sign of the growing importance of technology for beauty brands was L'Oreal's acquisition of AR mirrors pioneer ModiFace. [Image Credit: © CTBL]

According to a survey of female beauty consumers in the US from Automat, 49 percent of consumers they definitely would or are likely to use a virtual beauty advisor when shopping online or offline. Data revealed consumers prefer to shop with a virtual advisor because they have a hard time making purchasing decisions, with 70 percent of respondents saying they are overwhelmed by available beauty product choices. Among respondents who are likely to use an online beauty advisor, 84 percent prefer communicating with chat or text, with 43 percent saying they prefer retailers' websites as the channel for contacting virtual advisors. [Image Credit: © Perfect Corp.]

Artificial intelligence is driving growth and innovations in the beauty industry. With its ability to quantify beauty through biometrics and data analysis, AI offers the “perfect solution” for the industry, according to market analysts. AI, combined with cosmeceuticals, is expected to provide consumers with customized beauty solutions. Leading beauty brands are using AI-based solutions, such as AI chatbots and AI-powered algorithms, to enhance their online capabilities to provide customers with personalized shopping experience. For their part, haircare brands are relying on AI and machine learning algorithms to provide consumers with customized and unique solutions, such as personalized combinations of shampoo and conditioner ingredients. [Image Credit: © Roberto Delgado Webb]

L'Oreal and its recently purchased augmented reality and artificial intelligence company ModiFace have partnered with Facebook to create AR experiences for consumption by users of the social networking platform's camera products. Featuring a direct and seamless link between Facebook and ModiFace, the partners will deliver AR-based experiences, enabling consumers to virtually try on makeup products from leading beauty brands, including Maybelline, L'Oreal Paris, and NYX Professional Makeup. [Image Credit: © Modiface Inc.]

Businesses are at the early stage of adopting voice technology-enabled devices as a marketing tool. With 47.3 percent of US consumers having access to smart speakers, such as Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, or Google Home, according to a recent study, voice technology presents a huge market opportunity for brands. CPG giant Procter & Gamble, for example, has been experimenting with in-home voice technology. It has created an Alexa skill for its Tide detergent brand, helping consumers remove more than 200 kinds of stains. For its part, PR agency APCO Worldwide launched the AI Comms Lab, a department serving as an incubator for ideas, such as early adoption of voice marketing.[Image Credit: © Przemyslaw Marczynski on Unsplash]

Among US smart speaker buyers, 39 percent said they are most receptive to shopping for personal care and wellness products using voice commerce, according to a Digitas survey in June 2018 by The Harris Poll. Results of the survey also revealed 38 percent of respondents are willing to buy beauty supplies using the platform. Also, 85 percent of respondents said that sometimes they bought the virtual assistant's most recommended product rather than the brand they initially wanted to buy.[Image Credit: © Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash]

According to The Information, only 2 percent of devices that include Amazon's Alexa voice assistant have been used to buy things online. Data revealed that out of that 2 percent, only 10 percent showed repeat purchases. About half of 491 Internet users in the US and the UK said they have never used a smart speaker to make a purchase, with 20 percent saying they do not have a smart speaker at all. More than half of 500 Internet users across the US and UK, when asked what do they use their smart speakers for the most, said they do not use a smart speaker. Checking the weather was the most commonly cited use for the smart speaker by 12.3 percent of respondents, with voice shopping accounting for  10.4 percent.[Image Credit: © HeikoAL @ Pixabay.com]

There are several reasons why consumers and marketers will not adopt voice technology-enabled commerce as fast as some analysts forecast. First, consumers are not going to purchase clothes or electronics because they cannot browse products with voice. Also, retailers and brands still need to address securities issues, including parental control and control of Alexa and Siri through subliminal messages in music. Voice technology is brand-biased; for example, there is a strong probability that consumers' order for batteries will return Amazon Basics-branded products. Without enough competition, voice is not an even playing field at present.[Image Credit: © PhotoMIX-Company @ Pixabay.com]

Media companies can gain access to a potentially huge market opportunity by creating programs that include the voice of small business owners and executives. Based on lessons learned from the experience of blog website HuffPost, media companies should adopt a human-centric model, such as a “native content distributor network” where contributors pay for access to the platform but must be held to the same journalistic standards as professional journalists are. Also, native offerings created for individuals and small businesses can be added to new and current programming.[Image Credit: © William Iven @ Pixabay.com]

Infinite Beauty has begun offering its HydraFacial MD Highlights high-tech beauty services at its spa location in Bethesda, Maryland. Noted for its technology-focused approach to beauty care, the company operates eight spa locations that provide customers with innovative treatments, such as high-frequency, microcurrent, ultrasonic, and LED light therapy. According to the company, the HydraFacial process can increase skin hydration, help reduce lines and wrinkles, as well as enhance the appearance of hyperpigmentation or redness.[Image Credit: © Infinite Beauty USA]

FOREO Institute is developing ways to incorporate artificial intelligence into its LUNA fofo line of beauty technology products. Founded in 2013, FOREO has been creating high-tech products for the beauty industry, as well as “sleek” product designs. Among the industry “firsts” the company has come up with include the first silicone cleansing brush.[Image Credit: © FOREO]

To differentiate themselves from competitors in voice-based commerce, consumer packaged goods companies are expected to take a number  of steps. These include creating an audio brand consistent with other elements of their branding, such as colors and logo, owning a brand voice that is distinct from Alexa, and creating unique “audio logos”. According to Tribal Worldwide London head of experience design, Sunny Kumar, after finding a voice, brands should know how to use it. Aptos marketing director Dave Bruno said brands should “take voice seriously” and make it as easy as possible to remember how to engage using the platform.[Image Credit: © Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates]

Perfect Corp. has partnered with fashion house Flying Solo NYC to provide consumers with an augmented reality beauty experience using the YouCam Makeup app at the 2018 New York Fashion Week. To be featured during the AR event are two new looks featuring airbrush accents and colorful lashes. These looks will be integrated into YouCam Makeup to allow users to virtually try on the looks. Also, YouCam and Flying Solo will live stream a beauty special event in the app.[Image Credit: © Perfect Corp]

Beauty brands are integrating technologies, including artificial intelligence, sensors, and Internet of Things, into their skincare devices designed to provide consumers with personalization and tailored information about their beauty care routines. Brands have their respective approaches to customization and consumer education, with Neutrogena, for example, developing products that come with sensors and cameras to offer consumers information on the health of their skin. For its part, Foreo has launched the Luna FoFo AI-enabled skincare device, while Clarisonic has introduced its Mia Smart facial massaging device.[Image Credit: © FOREO]

Emily Weiss, founder and CEO of ecommerce beauty startup Glossier,said her company will never sell on online retailer Amazon's platform. Established in 2014, Glossier has received $87 million in venture funding, enabling it to create a beauty brand popular among women. Weiss said other ecommerce companies can grow outside Amazon's shadow and that the user experience offered by the online retail giant “may not be the best fit for beauty and fashion products”.

[Image Credit: © Glossier Inc.]

L’Oreal Paris has launched the Try On, an augmented reality try-on tool powered by the ModiFace virtual technology. Requiring no other apps, the tool allows consumers to virtually try on more than 300 of the company’s beauty products, including blushes, eyeshadows, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lip liners. Available on LorealParisUSA.com, the Try On tool is easy to use, with users needing to follow only four steps.[Image Credit: © L’Oréal Paris]

Skincare trends, referred to by industry observers as “black tech”, are becoming popular among millennial consumers in China. Three of the leading black-tech product categories are black-tech facial machines, with the ReFa Electronic Roller from Japan as a leading example; black-tech facial cleansers, such as those from Foreo; and black-tech massage boosters, including those from the SK-II brand. Facial rollers from ReFa accounted for 50 percent of the segment’s revenue in 2017, with more than $4 million worth of ReFa machines sold during the November 11 Singles Day shopping festival. Foreo’s facial cleanser became a social media favorite, with many celebrities posting themselves using the product. SK-II launched a massage booster in 2017, selling all of its 10,000 units during the company’s 2017 TMALL Super Brand Day event.[Image Credit: © ReFa USA]

Samsung and beauty giant The Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. joined forces to host the 2018 WWD x Samsung Style Dimension, an industry event highlighting the use of immersive technologies in creating consumer experiences. Held on September 6 and 7, the event also focused on industry trends involving the integration of beauty, fashion, and technology. Unlike its previous editions, the 2018 Style Dimension allowed those who attended the event to buy all the beauty brands on display and to interact with pop-up displays enabled by Samsung’s technologies.[Image Credit: © Estée Lauder Inc]

Macy’s revealed it is integrating new features, including virtual reality and augmented reality, to improve the experience of consumers shopping for furniture and beauty products. Also, the company said it will join forces with Facebook to bring almost 150 ecommerce brands to the retail chain’s The Market @ Macy’s retail platform. According to the retailer, the partnership will offer participating small businesses and ecommerce brands to take advantage of a Macy’s store environment during the holidays. During the Code Commerce On-Location Event in New York City, Macy’s will highlight several technologies, including virtual and augmented reality furniture shopping, augmented reality for beauty, beauty playground, and radio-frequency identification.[Image Credit: © macys.com]

Coca-Cola has applied for an international patent to protect its technology for reading low-resolution, multi-character pin codes on bottle caps and cartons. The company applied for a U.S. patent in February 2017. The application uses artificial intelligence to allow smartphone-equipped buyers to scan reward codes associated with its loyalty program. In the patent application Coca-Cola said that the technology provides “commercially reliable results.” Packaging already contains QR codes, data matrix codes, and bar codes, but the new pin codes “can drive and really create completely new experiences for consumers,” according to a packaging executive.