Consumer engagement at scale with Sitecore

How can you be sure of choosing the right shade of lipstick, nail polish, or even hair color when buying online? How is a product suited for your specific skin condition? How can you provide an alternative to in-person experience in a contactless context?

The era of the contactless economy accelerated with the COVID-19 crisis, requiring an alternative to in-person makeup try-ons and skin diagnoses conducted by beauty advisors and the use of testers in stores.

As part of the L'Oréal Website Factory, L’Oréal launched a set of new versions of its brands websites, www.lorealparisusa.com, www.redken.com, and www.essie.com built on Sitecore XP. L’Oréal is able to provide augmented reality services for consumers to try on beauty products and simulate hair color through its websites. The collaboration with Facebook enables users, on this social media platform all over the world, to virtually try out the Group’s main beauty brands.

Technological advances have also made their mark in the area of personalized skin “diagnosis”. An artificial intelligence algorithm developed by ModiFace, combined with deep learning and the expertise of L’Oréal’s skincare laboratories, enables a precise assessment of the signs of skin ageing based on a selfie as well as recommendations for beauty routines and tailor-made products. In addition, the Group’s brands have incorporated QR codes into packaging, which consumers can scan using their mobiles to access safe virtual try-ons. Millions of these virtual product tests have already helped consumers in Europe. All of these interactions are federated and supported by the Sitecore-powered websites integration capabilities and content flexibility.

L’Oréal’s digital transformation has enabled the Group to build new relationships based on innovation, relevance, transparency, and trust with both consumers and employees. It is providing a best-in-class narrative content format through stories, short episode playlists, or employee-generated content. This was essential during the COVID-19 lockdown when brick-and-mortar stores closed, so L’Oréal could still maintain product sales and customer contact. For example, it used tools like its digital factory to cut time to create a new website from two years to just three months, enabling L’Oréal to quickly adapt its engagement strategy to continue reaching consumers.

“Digital is one of L’Oréal’s main growth drivers, and this became even more apparent during the crisis,” says Lubomira Rochet, L’Oréal’s Chief Digital Officer.

Both customer engagement and purchases have increased three-fold during 2020, with certain brand usage up five times. QR codes on packaging allow customers to access safe virtual try-ons via mobile. L’Oréal’s new ModiFace virtual try-on technology was added to L’Oréal websites plus 25 distributor sites. Services are now live for 26 brands in 80 countries and can be accessed on L’Oréal websites, apps, or social media as well as point of sale and retailers.