With the outbreak of COVID-19 businesses and brands are executing new strategies to engage with their customers. The cosmetic industry struggles to connect with its customers since most of them give priority to health and hygiene factors. Since the repeated washes can dry the hand very soon, people shop skincare products in this situation but an extended lockdown period saw a decrease in the hair care products including hair color products. Recently, with the ease in the restrictions of lockdown and open up of market there is a surge in the demand for beauty products including hair care products.
Kavita Angre, the director and marketing insights & media of L’Oréal tells that as with the current situation mask becomes an important part of life there can be a shift from face makeup and lip make up to eye makeup. She also told that they expect a shift of lipstick towards waterproof products. So, in the short they decided to concentrate upon skincare and haircare products. The company also found out that 18 percent of e-commerce purchases in the personal care and beauty category were from first-timers. Earlier, people wanted to touch and experience the product before use which lacked online shopping of cosmetic products. But the lockdown period had made the people more familiar with digital media and online shopping. She also talked about their expectation of deep penetration led growth that they can access with the reduction in barriers.
L’Oréal India has accelerated their work on digital transformation. With the usage of tools like ModiFace, a VR led solution that lets a user see how a shade of lipstick looks on them. By this they made a purely offline experience enabled online. L’Oréal is currently focused on having price points that are accessible to make sure the availability of quality products from a reputed and loved brand at pocket friendly prices.
The company also conducted 4250 training sessions online for 50,000 hairdressers and beauticians to help salon partners upskill. Guiding them on safety and hygiene measures, L’Oréal had distributed back to business guidelines to 45,000 salons from their network.
