Shopping for a new lipstick or eye shadow will be easier than ever for Facebook users, thanks to a long-term partnership created between the social media platform and cosmetics giant L’Oréal. Through its recently acquired AR division ModiFace, L’Oréal will offer Facebook users augmented reality experiences focused on trying on various shades of makeup products.
The announcement made by L’Oréal comes a few weeks after Facebook started rolling out the first series of augmented reality ads in partnership with other two major brands, Sephora and Michael Kors.
A Journey towards Better Shopping Experiences
The augmented reality experiences which L’Oréal will start rolling out on Facebook are the culmination of a careful development strategy devised by the French based cosmetics company. In March 2018, L’Oreal acquired Canadian tech company ModiFace, specializing in augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
As a result of embedding augmented reality experiences in its online shopping website and app, L’Oréal saw a rise in e-commerce sales to 9.5% out of all sales during the first half of 2018, compared to 5% in 2015, according to a report by Reuters. “What we’ve seen on our sites is that when there is a virtual test facility, conversion rates increase significantly,” stated the chief digital officer of L’Oréal, Lubomira Rochet.
And social media has become an important source of traffic and sales for the cosmetics company, as the potential clients are being redirected to various third-party retailers or L’Oréal’s own brand websites.
The Start of Augmented Reality Experiences on Facebook: End of August 2018
Fans and loyal customers of the French cosmetics company will have to wait until the end of August to try on the first products in augmented reality on Facebook. The first brand under the L’Oréal umbrella to offer this experience will be NYX Professional Makeup. It will be followed shortly afterwards by other brands owned by the French based company, such as Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Lancôme, Urban Decay and Shu Uemura.
The founder and CEO of ModiFace, Parham Aarabi, stated that: “This deep collaboration is very relevant for ModiFace since it will allow our AR experiences to live on Facebook and be used by millions of consumers across the world. This is a great new way to discover L’Oréal products and brands through very realistic, engaging and meaningful beauty experiences.”
The VP of Global Account Partnership at Facebook, Will Platt-Higgins, reinforced the commitment made by the social media platform to offer its users rich augmented reality experiences in every type of engagements they have – with friends or with brands. “People want new ways to experience products and services and Facebook’s Augmented Reality platform can make that happen today. By bringing AR into the mainstream L’Oréal and Modiface are reshaping the beauty experience and we’re thrilled to see this brought to life on Facebook”, he said.
L’Oréal shared a short teaser of the upcoming augmented reality experiences for the NYX Professional Makeup brand which will be soon available on Facebook:
L’Oréal’s ModiFace and Facebook are teaming up to create new augmented reality experiences delivered through Facebook camera products. Through a direct and seamless connection between both platforms, ModiFace and Facebook are giving people all over the world augmented reality powered makeup from the world’s leading beauty brands, like Maybelline, L’Oréal Paris, NYX Professional Makeup, Lancôme, Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, Urban Decay, and Shu Uemura. Here’s a sneak peek at the first experience to be launched by NYX Professional Makeup at the end of August 2018.
Posted by L'Oréal Group on Wednesday, August 8, 2018
L’Oréal Promises Augmented Reality Experiences beyond Facebook
According to Reuters, L’Oréal will also expand the augmented reality experiences to another social media platform owned by Facebook, Instagram. At the same time, the cosmetics company is working with a series of currently undisclosed partners in an attempt to roll out similar augmented reality experiences for consumers in China, where Facebook is blocked.
Instead, Chinese luxury brands conduct their marketing through WeChat, a local direct chat platform owned by tech company Tencent.
