Beauty tech — behind the surface If it’s the gadgets that have the wow factor and seduce consumers into engaging with new experiences, the real impact may lie beneath the surface. Tech is fundamentally changing how the beauty industry operates Two trends are important to observe from an operational and business model perspective. The first is how enterprise software solutions are changing the landscape. Kustomer is a CRM-style customer experience platform for the beauty and fashion industry that makes it easy for even the smallest salons or product start-ups to offer their customers a best-in-class experience. FlexyBeauty is another salon and spa cloud-based solution that already has a customer base of over 4,500 salons who use the platform to offer simple booking, e-commerce stores, mobile apps, etc. For those outside the beauty industry such enterprise software solutions might not seem revolutionary, but until recently the journey experienced by many customers was far from best-in-class. Now such software is enabling small beauty businesses to know their customer’s drink preferences, what treatments they enjoy, whether it’s their birthday, if their stylist or therapist is running overtime with a previous customer, etc. Under the hood of such systems are performance management dashboards that help owners understand which services are creating the most value and other business critical KPIs. The second trend having a major impact is the emergence of direct-to-consumer subscription services offering customized beauty boxes. The low cost of technology, cloud services, ease of fulfillment, etc. have made it much easier for new entrants to scale quickly and build brands in ways that would have been impossible just a few short years ago. Birchbox, BoxyCharm, Ipsy, Julep, Glossybox and Scentbird are just some of the beauty box subscription services consumers can choose from. And now the mainstream brands are getting in on the act. For just $10 a month, PLAY! by Serphora curates the new and best-selling products it claims to be most excited by. Recipients get five makeup, skincare and haircare samples, bonus products, exclusive tutorials, makeup bags and invitations to special in-store events. The beauty box trends caters to all kinds of niche markets. Love Goodly targets vegan beauty enthusiasts with their all-natural, cruelty-free, eco-friendly mix of beauty, wellness and lifestyle products. The cruelty angle is an interesting one for the sector. MatTek in Boston grows human skin in its lab and sells it to companies making anti-aging creams, tanning lotions, etc. In Europe, many animal testing techniques are now illegal and it’s likely only a matter of time until all new beauty products will have been tested on synthetic human skin. The fact that the industry is taking this biotech seriously is evidenced by the fact that MatTek’s main competitor is EpiSkin, a subsidiary of L’Oréal.
Rik Haslam
