L'Oréal eCommerce Growth Sparks 2021 Sales Spike

L'Oréal singled out its eCommerce growth of 25.7% as one of the driving forces behind its successful 2021, which was marked by an overall 16.1% increase in sales, twice the industry standard, according to the company, to 32.28 billion euros ($36.82 billion).

L'Oréal’s eCommerce growth accounted for 28.9% of the company’s overall 2021 sales, according to its earnings report released Wednesday (Feb. 9).

“We have been able to seize the opportunities offered by new digital channels,” L'Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said in the quarterly report. “At the same time, we are continuing to digitalize points of sale as part of an integrated omnichannel strategy.

“We are also pursuing our Beauty Tech transformation by investing in data and artificial intelligence, and by establishing strategic partnerships such as our alliance with Verily, to better understand and characterize skin and hair aging mechanisms,” he said.

L'Oréal also relied on “rigorous cost control” to be able to invest in its brands “and increase their appeal,” said Hiernonimus.

He called 2021 “a historic year for L’Oréal” and its 85,400 employees around the world. North America and North Asia were the primary growth markets for the company in 2021, while L’Oréal Luxe became the company’s largest division and the Professional Products division became “truly omnichannel.”

Earlier this week, Beauty brand Sally Hansen launched a virtual try-on tool with the help of Perfect Corp.’s AgileHand Technology, allowing consumers to experience hundreds of Sally Hansen nail color options in augmented reality.

The tool is available from any mobile device and lets consumers see their chosen nail color on a live moving image of their hand.

Coty, Sally Hansen’s parent company, entered an agreement with Perfect Corp., an artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) beauty and fashion tech solutions provider, at the end of last year, pledging to embed AR and AI experiences into its digital marketing. That starts with virtual try-on.

The companies are working on future collaborations related to online skin diagnostics and data-driven personalization across Coty’s portfolio of cosmetics, skin and fragrance brands.