16 Aug 2023
L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific is pushing boundaries by offering customers better experience using innovative beauty technology like modiface and sunscreen, and one-of-its-kind skincare cabins for SkinCeuticals, Lancôme, and Helena Rubinstein. The focus is on offering customers expert services and a customised shopping experience in travel retail.
The brand has invested in CDF Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Hainan, which is the biggest single duty free store. It has 19 beauty boutiques in the mall. According to Tao Zhang, Managing Director of L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific, this shows the brand’s strong liaison with China Duty Free Group.
Haircare has also seen a huge growth, with the shopping emporium housing the first Kérastase retail store as well as a pop-up station. Tao Zhang added that with Kérastase, customers could get professional hair styling services even on weekend and public holidays, enhancing the overall customer experience. In the future, L’Oréal plans to have many more stores and pop-ups.
L’Oréal has also been innovating in the beauty tech segment and the Lancôme Skin Screen equipped with AI to track 12 clinical skin parameters for proper skin analysis is one such innovation. It has also launched SkinCeuticals Advanced Skinscope, a AI-powered diagnostic tool that gives complete skin analysis with recommendations. In the future, it plans to have Yves Saint Laurent Beauté Scent-Station, a fragrance finder using neuroscience and Kerastase K-Scan 2.0, an AI backed tool that helps hair stylists analyse hair and scalp before giving recommendations.
L’Oréal is also working hard to enhance digital creativity. Its partnership with Urban Decay and China’s virtual human AYAYI in December 2022 is a testament to its commitment to enhancing digital innovation in the beauty industry. According to Tao Zhang, the brand is always exploring new avenues to connect with customers using tools and technologies. The Lancôme Renergie activation was one such effort where they had avatar retailtainment and a virtual store. Also, during the Lunar New Year in 2023, it had a livestream with immersive scenery including the first-of-its-kind digital drone show.
