The beauty industry is the perfect playground for experimenting with technology trends. Creative, colorful, dynamic, and involved, the space is simply full of possibilities. It also speaks to a broad market that covers all ages from different walks of life, ready to complete every engagement with a purchase. As the industry evolves with the times, we look at the various trends shaping its future today.
AI and A+
Artificial intelligence, which has long existed in fiction, now thrives in the beauty space. Think Altered Carbon’s Poe, completely capable of processing the entire spectrum of human intelligence, but as brand ambassadors telling you all about your favorite products from behind the beauty counter.
AI chatbots are its most straightforward representation, simulating human conversations using Natural Language Processing (NLP). These chatbots save time and effort by assuming repetitive communications, such as answering price requests, providing product information, or answering other frequently asked questions.
Meanwhile, there’s also AI+. It integrates AI into the industry — that is, beyond responding to simple Q&A. which provides digital skin diagnosis by analyzing photos, and platforms that use virtual makeup to replace makeup testers are examples.
New Commerce
Digital platforms and the refinement of e-commerce are technology trends that have paved the way for “new commerce,” which covers e-commerce, social commerce, and live commerce. These are just a few fascinating developments that would have otherwise taken years to evolve but were expedited over the last couple of years.
Popular platform Shopify defines e-commerce or electronic commerce as the buying and selling of goods on the internet — the foundation of online shopping. Social commerce, a successful offshoot, is online shopping on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Finally, live commerce, more popularly known as live selling, is vending products by streaming video and allowing the audience to participate by liking, commenting, and purchasing on the spot.
The Beauty Metaverse
The beauty industry has begun infiltrating the metaverse through gaming platforms. Some brands have also dipped their toes into making their own. Baby Dove recently launched the , a metaverse where moms can explore spaces, join challenges, and interact with other virtual moms.
POND’s has also created its own virtual experience, , where customers can play games to earn U-COINs as their designed avatars. They can also learn and try out POND’S products, including those in the POND’S Healthy Hydration range like POND’S Aloe Vera Jelly Cleanser.
Tech-Driven Sustainability
End-to-end sustainability is a lofty goal for most beauty companies, but it’s vital to their survival. These developments combined can help inch them towards this objective. Activities such as virtual product sampling, in which the customer tries on swatches via augmented reality and AI, replace wasteful on-site product sampling at boutiques, which is frankly also unsanitary.
These emerging technology trends can help cut down the overconsumption that results from purchasing the wrong products and providing thousands of samples to stores around the world.
By helping consumers identify the right product for them, companies reduce the number of wasted products in the wild. While this may seem counterintuitive in terms of growth, it inspires more loyalty to the brand in the long run. It also allows brands to practice zero-waste beauty by reducing the production and packaging of excessive samples.
These technology trends may be raw for now, but they are decidedly changing the face of beauty. Here’s hoping their refined, future versions will provide a better experience for customers through better service, superior products, and sustainable practice.