Future of Beauty Industry post-pandemic in India by Simrita Dhillon
The year of 2020 marks a profound transformation in retail across verticals. The beauty industry adapted to this change quite positively for the generations of loyal customers it had to cater to. The changes implemented in the buying process and product marketing through technology is engaging and experiential. Customers – among millennials and zoomers have favoured online purchases and got themselves accustomed to the latest innovations that the beauty industry has integrated. Going forward, one can expect the following changes to sustain in the Beauty Industry after the pandemic.
- Ever-expanding m-Commerce and e-Commerce: The Indian buying majority has access to a mobile device. With over 76% of active e-commerce penetration in India, the idea of buying a product has shifted from physical to virtual by a large extent. The pandemic put everybody behind closed doors, and that seems to have given rise to digitization of a plethora of businesses. The unexpected shutting down of stores across the nation not only reduced the customer footfalls, but it advanced the online buying processes of e-commerce/ m-commerce aggregators.According a report by IBEF, the ecommerce orders volume increased by 36% in the last quarter of 2020, with the Beauty and Personal Care segment being the largest beneficiary. This goes to show that, amidst a pandemic the beauty industry is brimming with the most loyal customer base. Going forward, emerging businesses shall prefer to have their businesses hosted completely on digital platforms.
- Augmented Reality tools: The post-pandemic experience of visiting a cosmetic store turned dreary, thanks to the masks which were supposed to be worn all the time inside the premises. The buying experience of a store, where the user would test out samples and pair cosmetics was furnished online through integration of Augmented Reality. Brands and beauty experts joined forces to create tools that would help map out the user’s facial structure, texture and skin type for them and make personalised suggestions.Tools among the likes of –Olay’s Skin Advisor, Maybelline’s Makeup Virtual Try-On Tool, and L’Oréal’s ModiFace have been able to create a safe and embodied experience of a cosmetic store on their ecommerce pages.
This also made it possible for the brands to track the user interests comprehensively. The product choices that were made during the purchase could be upsold or remarketed eventually. - Low in-store interaction: Going forward, and adding to the integration of AR tools, physical stores would maintain a hygienic indoors with little-to-no interaction between the customer and the in-house beauty expert. This would also mean, the tester samples would be evaded and instead, a mirror-like screen would help the user pick a shade of cosmetic – say a lipstick and it would appear as if the user is wearing it on them without actually trying the product in reality. Fragrance dispensers with sensors are being used in the place of tester bottles to do-away with human touch on the products.
In hindsight, it would also translate into laying-off in-store workforce as there would be minimal need for assistance in buying. A device like the ‘Magic mirror’ or any other AR tool would make prompts and suggestions for the user, ultimately walking them through the buying journey. By design, the machine would make the experience so unique that, majority of the participants would want to actually go-ahead and purchase the product after trying it for the first time.
The future of the beauty industry post-pandemic would continue to flourish with major inclination towards technology. From assisting the users and making personalised product offerings to making judicious use of generated user data, the beauty industry is expected to grow with emerging technologies and platforms of product retail.
Author:
Simrita Dhillon, Founder, SANDA and an expert in beauty sector (bringing International brands into India).
