Dr David Heath from the company Cutitronics, states that the beauty world is being disrupted by technology. You don’t need to search further than the high street retail sales receipts for the last few Christmas holiday periods. Every blow wave bar was booked out and all the toys sold out! The upcoming year is predicted to show more changes still in the consumer buying behaviours. When the beauty industry changes, we need to decide whether we need to disrupt or be disrupted.
The companies that will be holding the most significant pieces of the global beauty-pie are going to be the ones who are consistently meeting the changing needs of their consumers. Tech-based innovations are going to be a massive part of the strategy.
If we look at the med-tech industry for starters, there seems to be a natural transfer of principles from the home med-tech into the beauty world. The heart of it all is where the well-designed home uses the tech devices alongside the drug formulations to meet a common objective of preventing, managing and improving patient health.
Topical products will still be the star of the show here in the beauty world, and it seems technology might not create a product with the right ingredients that will be displaced by our growing technology anytime soon. There is the belief that in the product formulations in the future, they will fundamentally change as the device technology can provide new platforms for new formulation innovations. So far, with the technology, we have the date brands that are still performing their solo act. As for product efficacy and the product, transparency go up the ladder agenda, the more devices and digital systems will track product performance and the brands will need to start sharing the centre stage with the ingredients.
It seems not all agree. More people are stating that tech is good for the beauty world than the opposite. In the beauty world, for example, salons offering fancy gel nails, it seems people are saying that technology is the driver for change and the success of the companies that are in the contest trying to tap into the purchasing power. The key drivers for such new technology are firstly there to create new solutions for the demands of the customers and secondly to enhance the connection and experience for the customer.
Beauty brands are making the most of the tech and are doing so with great success. Big brands now have before-you-buy apps, which offer unique services and tools for the customers. You can add makeup to your face and even hair dye to your hair to get an idea of the colour and how it will look on you before you go out and buy it.
The unique opportunities and experiences that the brands can offer their customers using tech can open up a world of closeness within the beauty consumer and the beauty company. While tech is maybe disruptive in some aspects, it has the potential in some other ways to offer so much to the beauty world. Tech can make life so much easier and bring in a positive and memorable experience to customers in the stores and also in the comfort of their own home.
Tech is growing, and we need to be growing with it otherwise the big brands are going to be left behind while the others will be thriving on the popularity of the tech being introduced to the beauty industry.
