Beauty ecommerce is a thriving industry, thanks to newer digital technologies, a vibrant online beauty community, and the increasing ease of online shopping experiences. However, it didn’t get there overnight. The beauty industry had help from numerous innovations and technologies.
Read on to know and understand its development and why it is taking the global market by storm:
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Rapid technological advancement
The beauty market is traditionally a tactile market, where personally seeing, touching, smelling, and testing a product was a prerequisite. Now, people only need to trust that the website delivers the best quality products. Click here for the best and most trusted Asian Beauty Wholesale skincare and cosmetic items online.
Virtual makeup apps reduce the cost for both beauty retailers and customers. The rise of cutting-edge technology like augmented reality (AR) such as those found in beauty apps like L’Oreal’s Makeup Genius and Sephora’s Visual Artist help bridge the gap between online commerce and the beauty market. Shoppers can now virtually try on makeup shades before purchasing them. Since retailers do not need to dole out testers as in traditional, brick-and-mortar makeup stores, buyers can make instant purchase decisions with their phones.
Online migration of makeup artists
The beauty ecommerce industry has also primarily grown due to the migration of makeup artists online. These makeup artists, gurus, and professionals offer their services through online platforms, take clients online, and share their makeup skills to the public. The makeup artistry was no longer confined within beauty salons and parlors; it now hit the digital realm.
The online migration of makeup artists created an unusual, but increasingly emerging market of online beauty communities that would create a massive and dynamic growth of the new ecommerce beauty industry. This emerging movement would, later on, attract a much larger, vibrant, and influential but slightly different online community called beauty influencers, composed of beauty bloggers and video bloggers whose main forte was beauty marketing.
Rise of beauty bloggers and vloggers (video bloggers)
Nowadays, beauty influencers often drive the beauty ecommerce market. Beauty influencers are mostly beauty enthusiasts who share their product reviews, makeup tutorials, beauty journeys, and makeup transformation experiences on social media platforms, especially on Instagram and Youtube.
Many beauty influencers, like Michelle Phan, started as regular people who happened to share their passion for makeup and beauty on social media platforms like Youtube. Eventually, they gained a massive crowd of followers and gained semi-celebrity status. Celebrities can also become beauty influencers, like Kylie Jenner, whose makeup line Kylie Cosmetics was launched exclusively on Instagram.
Beauty influencers put in a lot of time and effort into creating digital content to amass and retain followers. In Youtube alone, thousands of videos and channels are available for all things related to beauty and makeup. Beauty influencers create highly creative video tutorials, ranging from quirky to high-end, so much that watching these tutorials almost feels like entertainment similar to reality TV.
Many beauty companies have reported an increase in sales due to their product/s endorsed by a beauty influencer. Because of their personalized marketing approach (e.g. sharing video product reviews), potential customers feel more secure in buying a particular product because it has been advertised in a relatable way and not through an often impersonal product commercial or store ad. Many otherwise obscure, smaller beauty companies gain increased market exposure due to beauty influencers, and collaborations between beauty influencers and startup beauty brands are becoming a trend in beauty ecommerce.
Beauty influencers have a firm hold on the beauty ecommerce industry and often kickstart trends that ripple throughout the entire industry, so much that numbers of startup makeup companies are launched to cater to markets opened up by trends (e.g. K-Beauty). The rise of beauty influencers has also made it possible for smaller beauty companies to compete with established, beauty company giants through leveraging social media trends and communities.
Digital is the new normal
Online shopping has become mainstream because it makes the buying experience more convenient. The ease of comparing multiple products online, quick shipping and delivery options, and the ease of reading product recommendations at your fingertips is the main reason why customers are flocking to ecommerce, including beauty ecommerce. What they could get in a face-to-face shopping experience is now readily available in a more convenient online shopping experience.
