Beauty professionals will now be able to sell products to their customers via the platform, where previously they were limited to a single point-of-sale at the time of the consumer’s treatment.
The launch taps into the ongoing rise of e-commerce within beauty, and looks set to pull the professional segment into the spotlight.
Opportunity for salons
The new e-retail platform allows salons and beauty professionals a slice of the online sales pie, which has been booming recently.
Digital marketing agency PM Digital recently conducted a study of 45 make up and skin care brands in the U.S. and found that online sales of beauty and personal care items are expected to grow 3-4% annually over the next three years, reaching $81.7 billion by 2017.
Karen Fuss-Zipp, senior vice president of ecommerce strategy and development at L’Oreal USA, has confirmed that tapping into this growth was a key motivator behind the company’s latest platform launch.
“Ecommerce is the fastest growing channel in beauty and as an industry, we need to match their experiences in-salon to online to effectively compete and ensure success in the years to come,” she noted.
Boost for the segment
Fuss-Zipp confirmed that the application will present a key opportunity for growth within the professional beauty segment.
“Together StyleSeat, the largest and fastest growing marketplace for beauty and wellness services, combined with L’Oreal Professional Products Divisions, the professional subsidiary of the world’s leading beauty company, offer salons a compelling opportunity to modernize their salon and compete online,” she said.
Indeed, StyleSeat reportedly claims that once they start using the platform, stylists are able to grow their revenue by 70% during the first 15 months.
According to PM Digital, matching the right product and ensuring consumer engagement is vital to staying ahead in beauty e-commerce, and mobile is tipped to grow in the next few years: this new app suggests L’Oreal is making moves to keep on top of these trends.