The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of quality skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. At ELC, technology touches virtually every part of the prestige beauty experience, with technologists all around the world working to deliver breakthrough solutions that provide global consumers with seamless, innovative and aspirational beauty experiences across mobile, online or in-store. Technology also fuels growth and agility throughout ELC’s business by powering our factories, informing new products and streamlining the way employees work.
The beauty industry has experienced many shifts in consumer behaviour during the last years, and adopting a digital mindset now is key. Can you tell us more about your company’s approach to innovation and what are some of the technology solutions you’ve found most suitable for your industry?
At ELC, we’re always leveraging technology innovations to help us grow across geographies, categories, channels and brands. From IoT to AR to ARVR, we leverage innovative technologies to help enhance consumers’ experience with our products through personalization and customization; we anticipate their needs with predictive analytics algorithms based on purchasing patterns; and we meet the consumer exactly where he/she desires, which is increasingly shifting to direct-to-consumer and online channels. Additionally, we consistently leverage data analytics to explore and anticipate industry trends and customer shifts and are constantly innovating to enable and grow the business.
For our company, in particular, operating in prestige beauty means creating a unique and memorable experience at every touchpoint with our brand. Arguably, one of the most important concepts is how technology enhances the joy of discovery and how our consumers discover new products. We work with our Retail and Online teams to create personalized, high-touch experiences bridging our retail stores and e-commerce sites in a truly seamless experience. From virtual makeup try-on mirrors to in-store booking applications, we’re helping to ensure our consumers have the best experience possible. Throughout the product lifecycle and beauty experience, one of the most interesting intersections between technology and beauty is personalization. Virtual Try-On allows our consumers to see how makeup and haircare products look on them in real-time. We leverage AI and machine learning to provide personalized skincare and foundation recommendations. In the past several months alone, we’ve seen a 200% increase in the daily usage of Virtual Try-On, with a 67% conversion rate verse the average.
For example, we recently introduced a new, high-tech way to shop for M·A·C Cosmetics, one of our brands at ELC. Our exclusive Queens Center Innovation Lab allows customers to custom print on eye palettes and lipstick cases to get personal on the spot, instantly try shades out with Virtual Try-On and take their in-store experience home by saving everything they love to their mobile M·A·C Pass.
How do you see the beauty industry and technology coming forward together in the near future?
The intersection of beauty and technology is dynamic and constantly evolving to keep up with the ever-changing needs of the consumer. In order to create the new beauty experience of the future — especially in this increasingly virtual environment, our technologists are innovating and driving new online business models through concepts like social selling, where we are combining consumer data and advanced analytics with creativity to personalize consumer experiences and drive loyalty.
Our Company implemented a lipstick try-on service that was made possible through Estée Lauder’s use of Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and a partnership with YouCam. Customers are also able to detect their best foundation shade or hair product using the virtual try-on feature and then are directed to purchase their recommended product. This experience for consumers is even more important than ever before, allowing those to experience their desired product online, on platforms such as T-Mall in China, without the need to travel to stores or visit a makeup counter.
While our consumers are in the comfort of their own home, they can also take advantage of YouTube’s new augmented-reality feature, which enables virtual try-on sessions. M·A·C Cosmetics was the first beauty brand to test YouTube’s virtual try-ons with an AR campaign. YouTube’s AR feature — facilitating synergy between brands and influencers — has also been introduced into videos, providing the ideal canvas for beauty bloggers to virtually play with and test products in front of their dedicated viewers: a built-in fan-base creating a unique opportunity to attract new consumers to the brand. Users are able to transform their phone into a personal mirror, in which they can digitally sample beauty products — then, utilize the “buy” button. Viewers can, for example, try on different shades of M·A·C lipstick alongside their favorite beauty vlogger, and are then only one click away from visiting the M·A·C website to purchase from the comfort — and safety — of their own home.
Another example is our Clinical Reality™ tool for our Clinique brand, which combines the latest in augmented reality with 50 years of dermatologist-driven expertise to provide consumers around the world with personalized product recommendations in just a few minutes. Our ELC teams collaborated with our cutting-edge partners to develop and deploy this breakthrough technology that virtually analyzes consumers’ skin to help them better understand their top concerns. Clinical Reality™ helps elevate the high-touch shopping experience while significantly driving sales growth.
That said, our technology advancements do not just include reaching consumers in new ways. We also turn to technology solutions to power our business in smarter, more efficient ways. Just recently, our IT team worked on an interesting project using Augmented Reality in our manufacturing settings to overcome the business challenges presented by COVID health and safety protocols. Employees in our manufacturing sites are using AR-based solutions for various use cases such as: two-way audio video collaboration, work instructions, live monitoring, remote assistance, spatial computing and more. This AR solution is key for our business continuity in manufacturing, especially considering the travel restrictions and physical social distancing measures to protect the safety and well-being of our employees, customers, partners and communities.
We’ve noticed that you are very dedicated to keeping the pace up with technology, and even organized your own hackathon in order to develop the best solutions internally. Can you give us more context into this?
Every year, we host an ELC Hackathon to bring innovative technology minds from around the world together to help shape the beauty experience of tomorrow. This event was created in 2018 by our CIO Michael W. Smith, to showcase ELC’s commitment to innovation, spirited IT culture and dedication to fostering a creative work environment for tech talent, while ultimately generating new ideas to further the company’s technology efforts. During these events, hundreds of participants, including students and professionals alike, spend hours innovating, designing and coding — all vying for a finalist position and the chance to see their ideas brought to life by ELC. With so many brands across the ELC portfolio, there are ample opportunities for these ideas to be tested across the globe.
This year, ELC organized a virtual Hackathon to rally the global tech community to help in the journey to end breast cancer. Participants all around the world came together, using their various perspectives and ideas to help solve problems, improve lives and ultimately move us closer to finding a cure. You can learn more about our ELC Hackathon and this year’s winners at elchackathon.com.
Prestige beauty is an exciting, competitive and dynamic industry that is fueled by technology. To learn more about technology at The Estée Lauder Companies, one of our official partners, please visit https://www.elcompanies.com/en/careers/technology-jobs.