During the recent Singles’ Day sales, more than 1 million orders were placed and processed through voice command via Alibaba’s Tmall Genie.
What do such observations mean for beauty-care retailing? Besides increasing digital savviness, the adoption of voice command is one of many examples of how the line between the offline and online experience is almost seamless. In the case of beauty-care products for example, we know that the success of the product is dependent on the user’s offline experience and how they share that experience online. As such, it is even more important for retailers to keep up with changing consumer buying preferences and apply new ways of retailing across offline and online platforms. This means giving our consumers the options to buy products online, in-store, or even via voice command on e-commerce channels.
When we speak about user experience, there is an element of exploration and discovery. The online space levels the playing field and is fast becoming a platform where new brands and products can suddenly skyrocket into prominence as the next best thing in beauty care. Digital innovation is also influencing the way retailers interact with consumers. For example, the concept of the “capsule wardrobe” has influenced the way consumers select their clothes, by choosing quality over fast fashion. In beauty care, we see concepts like “bare-faced”, “self-love”, and Schwarzkopf’s “blonde me” resonating with consumers.
It is important to share content which is relevant to consumers and to establish close and trusted collaboration with influencers who provide authentic endorsements. Digital innovation is about technological disruption. It is also about leveraging data to steer our growth strategy.
The future of beauty care retail
We are already seeing some indications of how the future of beauty-care retailing will look. Today, consumers can check out the products in-store, make online purchases and have the products delivered to their homes.
Some retailers have begun to use artificial intelligence to cope with the abundance of data, assist with efficient last-mile delivery and cater to product customisation. At Henkel, we have experienced some success using live broadcast for our homecare products in Asia Pacific to raise product awareness and boost sales. Many brands, including our own beauty-care brands like Beology, GlissKur, Schauma Nature Moments, Freshlight and Got2b are available on different channels, such as chain stores, online platforms and specialised online stores.
We have also developed strategic partnerships with local e-commerce start-up Synagie, for example, which owns the Beautiful.me platform. Synagie manages the go-to-market strategy of Henkel across the entire value chain – from logistics and warehousing to customer management and brand advertising. Through this partnership, we aim to expand our footprint across Southeast Asia, reaching out to 700 million consumers across various touchpoints. We are also working closely with key retailers such as Watsons, Dairy Farm International Holdings and Lazada.
