Perfect Corp. CEO: “Social commerce drives digital transformation in the beauty industry”

08 Nov 2021 --- The term “social commerce” is fast entering the business vernacular of every major beauty brand, with digital shopping channels seeing a significant rise throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. PersonalCareInsights speaks with Perfect Corp.’s CEO and founder Alice Chang, who explains how this “digital revolution” with the use of social media and online beauty technologies can benefit sales, drive consumer engagement and accelerate personalization in cosmetics.

PersonalCareInsights: Why is social commerce important and how did the trend emerge?

Chang: Through social commerce, brands are able to sell products and services on social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Over the past several years and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers have shifted their focus to digital channels for beauty shopping, inspiration and product advice. With over 4 billion consumers active on social media today, brands have naturally shifted to prioritize social channels as an essential component of the omnichannel shopping journey.

PersonalCareInsights: How can social commerce change the landscape of the beauty industry and what are its benefits?

With AR-powered shoppable posts on Instagram, consumers can try on products and see products come to life from their social feeds.Chang: The rise of social commerce is helping to drive digital transformation in the beauty industry. In addition to web and in-store experiences, consumers are now turning to social channels to discover beauty products and access beauty advice. This allows brands to drive sales on a new channel and connect with shoppers in interactive and engaging ways. Brands now have the ability to share product education and recommendations via social commerce live streams and content. Brands are also able to offer product inspiration on these platforms while creating a seamless add-to-cart shopping experience.

PersonalCareInsights: Is it a sales channel that will last a long time, or is it a fad? Do you believe the pandemic boosted its appeal?

Chang: During the COVID-19 pandemic, store closures led many consumers to seek out beauty product advice and inspiration through digital channels. Social commerce became a prominent touchpoint to engage consumers in the omnichannel shopping journey. As the world emerges from the pandemic, impactful digital shopping experiences will continue to become more and more essential to drive customer engagement. Consumers have come to expect strong digital experiences across all shopping platforms. As social media begins to play a bigger role in beauty product discovery, we will see social channels become an even bigger driver of sales and customer engagement.

PersonalCareInsights: How is Perfect Corp. innovating in social commerce? Do you have plans to improve your offerings?

Chang: In 2021, Perfect Corp. partnered with Google, Facebook and Snapchat to launch virtual try-on solutions for social commerce. Through these partnerships, brands can integrate hyper-realistic virtual try-on technology into content across Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat and even Google search results. This technology allows customers to discover and try on many different products directly from their social feeds. Virtual try-on technology enhances social commerce experiences by adding an element of interactivity and enabling every customer to discover their perfect shade. This increases brand loyalty and purchasing confidence.

With AR-powered shoppable posts on Instagram, consumers can try-on products and see products come to life from their social feeds. Brands can then tag products on in-feed posts and Instagram stories, driving consumers directly to purchase. This creates an engaging and seamless social shopping experience. With virtual try-on-enabled social commerce experiences, brands can also enhance content created through influencer marketing partnerships.

Brands can now share product education and recommendations via social commerce live streams and content. Brands are able to link products within influencer content, allowing consumers to try-on products and purchase the product the influencer is using. By combining advanced virtual try-on technology with the power of influencer marketing, brands can create personalized and engaging social commerce shopping experiences that drive conversion. As Perfect Corp. develops its social commerce programs, the company plans to expand its virtual try-on capabilities to support more beauty and fashion categories.

PersonalCareInsights: How much can social commerce improve a brand’s consumer engagement?

Chang: A strong social commerce experience and strategy can improve a brand’s consumer engagement immensely. Social content becomes interactive and entertaining, allowing each social follower to experience products and find their ideal color. Beauty tech solutions such as virtual try-on can enhance a brand’s social commerce strategy and supercharge customer engagement by providing each follower with a personalized beauty experience.

In a recent brand partnership with clean beauty brand Jane Iredale, Perfect Corp. worked with Google’s Youtube to create YouTube TrueView Ads enabled with virtual try-on capabilities. During the ad experience, the YouTube TrueView in-stream ad plays and a pop-up box appears on the screen inviting the viewer to virtually try on the advertised product. The experience was a huge driver of engagement for Jane Iredale, with 11% of viewers clicking through to try on a shade versus the standard 1% click-through rate for ads.

Perfect Corp. has also partnered with leading industry players such as Coty and Avon to amplify their digital consumer reach and appeal. PersonalCareInsights also recently reported on the Metaverse and its promising potential for the beauty industry.

By Kristiana Lalou

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