L’Oreal is boosting its digital efforts with its acquisition of ModiFace, a tech developer that powers many brands’ AR platforms.
The beauty sector has significantly pushed the boundaries of artificial intelligence and augmented reality, leading the way for other luxury brands. ModiFace is one of the most prolific creators of AR tech with beauty brands and retailers such as Sephora and Estée Lauder using its services.
“We are thrilled to welcome ModiFace to L’Oreal to become the heart of our digital services R&D,” said Lubomira Rochet, chief digital officer at L’Oreal, in a statement.
“With its world-class team, technologies and sustained track record in terms of beauty tech innovations, ModiFace will support the reinvention of the beauty experience around innovative services to help our customers discover, try and chose products and brands,” she said. “We at L’Oreal and ModiFace want to pioneer this new page of the beauty industry and serve our customers with innovative services and experiences.”
L’Oreal, the parent company of Lancôme and licensee of brands including YSL Beauty, is also known as an innovator in beauty technology and marketing tactics.
The beauty giant is looking to continue this inventiveness with its latest acquisition in ModiFace. ModiFace is known for its tech services that provide solutions such as try-on features through augmented reality and facial recognition.
L’Oreal has been working with the tech developer to develop these types of consumer facing initiatives. The brand recently looked to ModiFace for its “Style My Hair” application that allowed users to see themselves with its different colored hair dyes.
“This acquisition is in line with L’Oreal’s digital acceleration strategy to provide the group’s 34 international brands with the most innovative technologies in terms of services and beauty experience,” the company said in a statement.
ModiFace is made up of almost 70 staff members in research and engineering. Their services will act as the core of L’Oreal’s digital services, named the Digital Services Factory.
Reuters reported that L’Oreal spends 38 percent of its media budget on digital campaigns for its brands, which will now be supported by ModiFace. The tech company also has roughly 30 patents that the beauty manufacturer will be able to leverage.
It is still unknown what will happen to ModiFace’s numerous partnerships with beauty brands outside the L’Oreal group, but the partnership will likely lead to a series of new inventions in tech and personal care. The financial terms of the deal has also not yet been disclosed.
As beauty counter foot traffic continues to slow, the use of augmented reality has the potential of recreating the in-store experience through inclusion and personalization.
When comparing augmented reality and virtual reality, AR has emerged as a more practical option for retailers to develop since the technology relies on smart mirrors or consumers’ personal smartphones rather than a clunky, and often expensive, headset. Valued at $237 billion, the beauty sector has embraced AR as a method to create try-on experiences at the cosmetics counter, and more often, from the comfort of a consumer’s home
L’Oreal acquires Modiface
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