Did I get your attention with the term ‘Post-Covid World’? I’m betting I did. We all long for the days of mask-free shopping, being able to sample goods without fear of getting a variant of the Covid virus and touching surfaces that we would normally consider a playground as adults. As  the virus continues to mutate and we adapt our lives to prevent sickness, we retain hope of going back to the “good ole days” of life before the word Covid entered our lives.
 
Covid made us all users of ecommerce in beauty. We could no longer indulge our addictions in-person at Sephora, Ulta, Blue Mercury, or the mass and prestige beauty counters. We dipped our toe into the online world of beauty, doubting that we could ever be satisfied, but Sephora, Ulta and Amazon stepped up their collective game and somehow, we made it through the thick of it. We began to look forward to logging-on and seeing what product recommendations our favorite beauty sites had come up with, and in our desperation for normalcy, we ordered skin care and tools to keep ourselves beautiful at home.
 
In 2020 and 2021, depending on where you live in the U.S., retailers slowly started to open back up. You could step into Sephora with your mask on and survey the goodies, but you couldn’t touch or open anything. A staff member had to be engaged. This Fall, on my most recent trip to Sephora, shoppers were openly touching product while masked staff members offered their consultation.
 
So, if ecommerce could overrun brick and mortar retail in an all-out battle, then Sephora, Ulta and Blue Mercury would not have held on to the retail footprints, and Amazon would not have started investing in brick and mortar. Retailers know that the secret to success with their consumers is an omnichannel approach. As a result of the pandemic effects on the world of retail, consumers are now trained to seek new online experiences and with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), there are brand-new technology experiences that merge the digital and physical environments. In a Harvard Business Review (HBR) study of over 46,000 shoppers, 73% of consumers used multiple touchpoints throughout their shopping experience. These shoppers use their phones, tablets and computers to shop online—and count on in-store price checkers as well as information in-store kiosks in their decision-making and purchasing process.
 
Omnichannel shoppers actually spend more than traditional retail-only shoppers (few and far between these days) and their digital-only peers. Beauty consumers ferret-out trends online to better understand how products are new and innovative; they want to see the benefits of new skin care devices and hair care products shown through video, AI and AR rather than relying on still images or reading about results. Beauty consumers also want to see exclusive content with beauty experts they know and trust (this includes TikTok makeup and beauty influencers who saw their careers skyrocket in the past 16 months).
 
In order to bring the omnichannel to life for the beauty consumer, retailers have started leveraging live-streaming to replicate in-store interactions. As social beings who long for interactions with others (which Covid has brought to the forefront), trained in-store associates who we can live-stream or Facetime, offer safe and professional social interaction. They are in the retail location, and we are safely at home, enjoying their insights and the shopping experience from a distance. HERO, the all-in-one conversational shopping platform aims to convert and retain customers by personalizing the relationship between a store associate and the consumer—similar to the idea of Facetiming, has already enabled this with Nike, Sephora and Credo Beauty. This “social commerce” approach combines social media and real shopping to help consumers find their favorite products and explore new products, shades and formulations.
 
Nearly half of all online shoppers will not buy a product online if there’s no user-generated-content (UGC) to ensure authenticity. Shoppers also put their trust in store associates to inform beauty purchasing decisions, which is a key aspect of “social shopping.” These experts provide professional and helpful video content that not only showcases products digitally, but helps engage consumers in a new way, toward decision-making, and ultimately beauty purchases.
 
The future of beauty retail is secure, but it will be heavily augmented by digital technology. Social media and social commerce are here to stay, with product experts as the new influencers and 24/7 access that creates a legitimate bond between brands and consumers. Omnichannel is how most consumers will optimize the brick-and-mortar experience, while keeping themselves safely ensconced at home.

About the Author

Ms. Elenita (Elle) Morris is Senior Vice President of Global Strategy at Marks, part of SGS & Co., a brand experience agency delivering global vision with local relevance in North America, Europe, Asia and beyond. She is a recognized consumer packaged goods brand design thought-leader with particular expertise in beauty, haircare and skincare. Follow Elle Morris on LinkedIn.