Estée Lauder Introduces AR Try-On Experience
Shopping online for beauty products can be difficult for consumers. Products look different on each person’s skin tone and face shape. So when it comes to beauty, consumers are, naturally, more likely to move forward with a purchase after seeing a realistic preview of the product on their own face and skin.
That’s where ModiFace’s Light Field Rendering technology comes into play. The augmented reality (AR) capability allows brands, like Estée Lauder, to offer consumers a realistic try-on experience through its web and mobile sites.
“Estée Lauder is among the first brands to be using the LFR technology, which uses the lighting of the scene to adjust the shade rendering accordingly,” explains Jon Roman, vice president of Estée Lauder Online. “The ability to see products rendered realistically on the user's photo, and to see a personal view of what each shade could look like on the user's photo, were the main motivating factors behind this implementation.”
Estée Lauder's AR integration incorporates several technology upgrades, including the latest advances in WebGL technology to create unique virtual surfaces to model the textures and finishes of each of the Estée Lauder lipstick shades. It also uses ModiFace's latest generation facial tracking technology to accurately map the contours of the eyes and lips in live video through any webcam. Users snap a "selfie" and can “try on” different shades of beauty products sold by Estée Lauder.
“The ability to see products before purchasing is a definite utility for customers," says Roman. "Realism, immediacy and ease of use are key factors that we've optimized for the Estée Lauder ModiFace AR implementation.”
Since the launch of the AR try-on tool in May, Estée Lauder has been focused on measuring the following key metrics:
- engagement (i.e., number of users and interactions);
- number of try-ons; and
- conversions.
Estée Lauder is tracking increased engagement to not only its e-commerce sites, but on its social media pages as well. Users have started sharing pictures of how different products look on them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
It seems as though AR is just beginning to disrupt the beauty industry. Sephora paved the way with its try-on AR technology that promotes the brand’s omnichannel strategy, and has now extended its use of AR technology from beyond just the mobile app to its stores. Roman also wants to extend Estée Lauder's use of AR in the future.
“We believe AR has a number of potential uses in the beauty industry," notes Roman. "For example, it can be helpful in personalizing foundation shades. It can be helpful in conversational beauty advisor chatbots. We're delighted to be exploring AR across many platforms and settings with our partners at ModiFace.”
