The influence of tech in the beauty industry is pathing the way towards our most bespoke approach to hair, make-up and skin care yet.
Welcome to the new era of hyper-personalisation.
Technology is helping boost beauty in both revenue growth by attracting new audiences but also by evolving the way customers shop, allowing the demand and interest of personalised formulations become a reality.
AI might be receiving a lot of negative noise but there is a case to say that AI can be for good. More specifically, tech that enables a more customised approach to beauty formulations, such as precise complexion matching make-up to skin analysis, with more launches on the horizon that harness the power of AI tech, using it to develop highly customisable products across beauty categories.
In Korea, the use of tech in beauty isn’t new but it is always fast evolving. They’ve used AI to drive product-to-market speed by being able to use consumer feedback and feed into AI algorithms, allowing products to come to launch in as little as eight weeks rather than 18 months. K-beauty has always led the facial device market and now, skin-tech brands are integrating hardware-software to develop facial devices that are designed to be paired with specific skincare formulations – a futuristic version of the single brand skincare routine.
Perhaps the most sustainable and smartest beauty tech to come out of Korea is the ability for ‘on-demand manufacturing’. With brands offering point of sale formulas which cuts the need for surplus products but even more impressively, give brands the ability to create customised formulas right at the point of sale. The same tech-driven companies have begun teasing the idea of personalised beauty devices coming to market soon, thanks to the power of AI – the dawn of a new hyper-personalised beauty era.
US beauty brands have seen success with similar tech, adopting it to diversify revenue and audience appeal. TikTok’s viral beauty boom might still be efficacious, but it’s touch point and customisation that consumers really want from beauty right now. So much so that shopping malls have really seen the power of offering personalised beauty can have, with the success of customisable lip formulas becoming a popular trend and destination for multi-generations, bringing the joy back into beauty.
What’s next for the UK? Hair tech – from tools to formulas, the hair category is evolving fast. Styling tools are leaning on the fast pace of tech development and AI learnings to make styling our hair easier whilst there are rumours of tech devices that will be able to analyse your scalp to determine the best ingredients for your hair’s health to inform on-the-spot formula blending. We’re pleased to confirm that these rumours are imminent in fruition and coming to retailers soon. Watch this space.