L'Oréal Doubles Down On Personalization

L'Oréal continues to invest in its personalization capabilities to provide more engaging and relevant consumer experiences.

The company’s Middle East business has tapped Accenture to help the beauty group across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) use data and advanced technologies to deliver more “authentic and human-centered” experiences to its consumers.  

Providing engaging, virtual experiences for consumers has become table stakes for beauty brands as they seek to capitalize on growing social commerce trends while compensating for uneven and unpredictable physical retail sales. In a snapshot survey of consumer goods and retail executives in CGT's recently released Sales & Marketing Report, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they had either started or planned to start within two years a major upgrade surrounding marketing personalization. 

Indeed, tech-infused commerce was already a pre-pandemic priority for L’Oreal, which acquired the ModiFace AR company in 2018 and invested in social commerce platform Replika Software last year.

This new partnership will enable the beauty company to leverage consumer sentiments and insights to personalize content across all of its digital platforms at scale. The additional data is also expected to streamline and enhance consumer engagement through more relevant product messaging, recommendations and loyalty rewards online.

[See also: Essie Taps Into L’Oreal’s AR Tech For Virtual Try-On Services]

L'Oréal, the No. 13 consumer goods company, has had a presence in the Gulf region since the 1960s, and the company formally established operations in the region in 1998 as L'Oréal Middle East. It’s presently headquartered in Dubai and has three entities across the GCC region, with a portfolio of 26 beauty brands.

Mehdi Moutaoukil, L'Oréal Middle East chief marketing officer, said Accenture's competencies will help drive growth for the beauty company. This includes through new experiences, such as skin diagnostics and virtual try-ons, as well as personalized or bespoke products.

"As a digital-first company, we are focused on using technology to innovate and deliver beauty experiences tailored for our consumers," Moutaoukil noted. 

Accenture also teamed with Shiseido earlier this year, forming a joint venture with the beauty brand.