Perfect Corp SVP: AI-driven personalisation the ‘biggest opportunity’ in beauty

In CosmeticsDesign-Europe’s tenth Beauty 4.0 Podcast​ – a digital series looking at how technology and innovation will shape beauty’s future – we catch up with Wayne Liu, senior vice president and general manager at beauty tech major Perfect Corp. 

In this 26-minute podcast, Liu talks about the advances being made in virtual try-on technologies and touchless beauty experiences and discusses what he thinks beauty brands and retailers should be investing in today.

Artificial Intelligence to ‘understand’ consumers more​

“I believe that AI personalisation, the AI-driven personalisation, is really the, I’d say, the biggest opportunity,”​ Liu said.

“…We need to understand the customer more, which AI is really good at.”​

Liu said the desire for personalised beauty stretched across all demographics but was especially sought after amongst Gen Z and Millennial consumers because they had “grown up with all the technologies”.​ For the older demographic, he said it was the job of beauty brands, retailers and tech specialists to establish smooth and engaging offerings.

Globally, opportunities for AI-driven personalised beauty were especially high in Western beauty markets like the US, he said, and there was rising interest in Latin American markets amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.  EMEA uptake of beauty try-on technologies and AI-driven personalisation technologies, he said, was “stable”,​ with interest slightly stronger in Middle Eastern markets.

Asked if store re-openings would impact the level of opportunity for AI-driven personalisation, Liu said no because these technologies were transferable to an omnichannel setting and still offered value to the shopping “process”.​

Omnichannel beauty retail the future​

“What we are seeing here is a hybrid model,”​ he said, where humans and AI technology worked together.

The future of beauty retail was certainly omnichannel, he said, featuring the plethora of traditional outlets like brick and mortar stores and e-commerce but also new platforms like social media and video entertainment majors Instagram and TikTok.

The important takeaway within all of this, he said, was that the shopper journey was no longer one way and had many entry points.

Beauty 4.0 Podcast – closer thinking on beauty tech in retail​

For more insight on the opportunities and challenges ahead for beauty tech in retail, listen to our 26-minute podcast above or access our podcasts by subscribing via Apple Podcasts​​ or finding us on Spotify​​.