Middle East
Beauty is a tech story
Extreme personalization
With unprecedented speed and scale, Tech has revolutionized lives and social interactions. Tech has transformed the consumer journey by multiplying the number of possible interactions. Today, many consumers have a hard time finding the right products, with 70% feeling overwhelmed by the number of choices available. So, they ask friends, watch videos and search on-line to try and make sense of the sheer number of products on store shelves. In this world of unlimited choices, universality has given way to singularity and extreme personalization, and the cosmetics industry is no less affected.
150 Cosmetics start-ups in France
To meet the incredibly wide range of beauty needs and expectations, cosmetics companies earmark a major share of their sales to research: more than 2% of the sector’s sales in France. These companies are brought together by an industry association (Cosmetic Valley) and incubators funded by brands like L’Oréal.
There are 150 cosmetics start-ups in France, around 1% of the total ecosystem. Cosmetics start-ups produce either digital or chemical innovations.
L’Oréal Groupe: enhancing new beauty experiences
L’Oréal has always embraced the changes in society and consumer shifts. We have evolved over the decades, from promoting icons in the 90s to embracing inclusivity in the 2010s (beauty for all), and now focusing on individualized beauty experiences. To face this new paradigm, we pioneered Beauty Tech, championing a personalized, inclusive, and responsible beauty at scale with the motto: “Beauty for Each, powered by Beauty Tech.”
At L’Oréal, we believe that Beauty Tech is essential to astonish consumers with trailblazing innovations. By combining advanced science with game-changing technologies, we open new possibilities for unequalled beauty innovations. It’s also essential to empower consumers with elevated beauty experiences. By imagining services that guide, diagnose, predict, treat, and coach, we build lifelong value for consumers. At the end, its’ crucial to augment beauty consumers' journeys.
By harnessing the power of Tech/IT, Data, AI and Generative AI, we create new codes of beauty and new relationships between our brands and consumers. We are committed to creating innovative solutions that not only enhance beauty experiences, but also contribute to a more sustainable future - a future where Beauty is accessible, inclusive and caters to the diverse needs and preferences of all individuals worldwide.
Beauty Tech
L’Oréal Groupe: beauty for each
At L’Oréal, for over a decade, we’ve been pioneers in the area of BeautyTech, recognizing the potential for individual, environmental, and social benefits of tech. We believe that tech can push the boundaries of what’s possible, help us improve the lives of consumers around the world and cater to the infinite diversity of beauty needs and aspirations of every individual. We used to promise “beauty for all”, thanks to tech we want to offer ‘beauty for each’. As a result, more than 10 years ago, we actively engaged in a digital revolution at L’Oréal, which allowed us to pave the way and become leaders in digital and e-Commerce.
Our first generation Beauty Tech innovations helped match consumers with the products and services that were best suited for their skin tone and type, and have allowed natural resources, such as water, to be used more efficiently and sustainably in hair salons. Fast-forward to today, and we’re now harnessing the full arsenal of augmented beauty; including data diagnostics, smart devices and the new codes of beauty to cater for the widest possible audience in increasingly personalized and bespoke ways.
Championing Beauty Tech
In 2018 we decided to embark the entire company on a second revolution – to become the undisputed leader in Beauty Tech. And we are uniquely positioned to do this – as after over a century solely dedicated to beauty, we have the world’s richest database concerning all aspects of beauty – from skin and hair knowledge, to formulation science, and from beauty routines to connecting with our consumers across our 37 international brands across all beauty categories and channels.
In leveraging its digital leadership to reinvent the beauty experience, the Group is pioneering disruptive products and services to reinforce its position as a Beauty Tech powerhouse. At the intersection of science and technology, this new field of growth and innovation will help to advance L’Oréal’s vision to bring inclusive, personalized, and sustainable beauty to more consumers.
10 Petabytes of data
L’Oréal is uniquely positioned to champion Beauty Tech, with the world’s richest beauty database. For 115 years we have been dedicated to beauty, and beauty alone, and we started our digital transformation nearly 15 years ago. Today, we have the world’s richest beauty database, with 11K terabytes of data on the Group's Beauty Tech Data Platform, and 80% of our applications hosted on the cloud. We have a strong network of 8,000 digital, tech and data experts.
Beauty augmented by tech
We have deployed more than 800 digital services instances, used 100 million times in 2023. With our Beauty Tech services, we elevate the experiences of 31 Global brands in 72 countries. Beyond these great numbers is a data reality.
Thanks to these services, L’Oréal is developing the world’s largest and richest beauty dataset that unlocks new insights. It’s a virtuous data circle that allows us to constantly improve and create even better products to fit the market. The end result? We anticipate and answer consumer expectations and desires, with the best of creativity, science and technology.
As ever, L’Oréal strives to meet the real needs of its consumers. The end result? Beauty for each augmented by Tech – designed to anticipate and answer consumer expectations and desires, with the best of creativity, science and technology. As ever, L’Oréal strives to meet the real needs of its consumers.
Tech to connect with consumers responsibly
We are driving responsible consumer engagement with beauty, alongside the industry and our partners. As the 4th largest advertiser globally, we aim to lead and support the industry in measuring and reducing our carbon footprint in digital media. To achieve this, we have partnered with IMPACT+ and are using their tools in our creative and media planning processes. These tools enable us to measure the carbon impact of our digital activities and optimize our campaigns to minimize CO2 emissions. Additionally, as the leading player in beauty influence, we have established an Influencer Value Charter to guide our collaborations.
Furthermore, as the leading e-beauty player globally, we are proud to announce the launch of the first-ever Digital Circular Economy in Beauty partnership between L'Oréal China and Alibaba. It aims to promote sustainability and circularity in the beauty industry, emphasizing the importance of reducing waste and maximizing resource efficiency.
Inclusivity at the heart of tech & innovation
Inclusive, inspiring, respectful experiences
Our beauty experiences are inclusive. They flourish in humanity’s infinite diversity and empower every individual to express who they are and who they want to be. They are also inspiring and always one-step-ahead, whether it’s introducing new cutting-edge formulas, AI-powered diagnostics, augmented beauty devices or developing new ways of bringing beauty, health and well-being to people around the world.
At last, they are respectful, and which prioritize sustainability, safety and quality, to ensure we can make a positive impact on people’s lives while preserving the beauty of the planet, to be true to our purpose, to create the beauty that moves the world. And of course, they respect the highest standards in ethics and data privacy.
Robots to help apply make-up
50 million people around the world have limited fine motor skills. Innovative hardware is helping them apply their makeup. Launched by Lancôme, Hapta is a handheld, ultra-precise smart make-up applicator for people with limited hand and arm mobility, offering the ability to steadily apply lipstick at home.
Customized experiences
Developed by L’Oréal in partnership with the Korean startup Prinker, a pioneer in printed, non-permanent tattoos, Brow Magic is the first handheld, lightweight, electronic brow make-up applicator to provide consumers with their most precise brow shape in seconds. Launched by Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, Rouge Sur Mesure by Perso, powered by AI, is a handheld device that offers the possibility of creating thousands of customized lipstick shades in the comfort of home.
Digital beauty
In the metaverse, beauty companies are selling virtual makeup products and personalized avatars. 60% of millennials are willing to buy the physical products they have in virtual worlds (Forbes, Busting The Myths Of The Metaverse). With Gorjs, NYX Professional Makeup launched the world’s first beauty DAO (Decentralized autonomous organization), to create an artist community and launchpad for 3D creators, who are at the heart of the metaverse.
A multi-brand beauty partnership led by L’Oréal Ready Player Me, the leading cross-game avatar platform for the metaverse, will create new forms of self-expression through avatars. These exclusive make-up and hair styles by Maybelline New York and L’Oréal Professionnel Paris can be used on more than 4,000 platforms and Apps worldwide.
N°1
in advocated/influencer media with 29% share of beauty influence
+100m
million uses of our digital services across 31 brands and 72 countries
6
Consumer Electronics Show innovation awards in 2023
" Great beauty captures me, but a beauty still greater frees me. "
Khalil Gibran19th-20th Century Lebanese poet.
