Beauty and cosmetics brands have been through a challenging time. A combination of lockdowns, store closures, social distancing, home working, mask wearing and other essential measures changed consumer needs and behaviors overnight. For cosmetics in particular, the impact was dramatic.

Beauty should expect a strong bounce

Audrey Depraeter-Montacel

However, now that the end of the pandemic is on the horizon, there are many reasons to think beauty will be one of the sectors to bounce back most strongly.

First among these is the industry’s history of technological innovation — something that will be crucial in the post-COVID world. Those companies that made the pivot to e-commerce and digital beauty services, leveraging the agility, scalability and resilience of cloud technology, will be well placed to capitalize. There’s also likely to be huge pent-up demand for social interaction — which is good news for beauty brands.

People are craving the physical connection, and once they’re able and willing to get together again, there’s likely to be an explosion in the need for beauty products and services. L’Oréal has even dubbed the coming decade the “Roaring Twenties” as the company anticipates a post-crisis economic and cultural boom comparable with that of a century ago.

A bounce forward, not back

For all the optimism, the fact remains that the pandemic has fundamentally changed the consumer landscape — in some ways permanently. Digital adoption, particularly e-commerce, has been accelerated by years in the space of a few months. Recent Accenture research found that one in consumers moved online for virtual consultations (e.g., hair, makeup), and almost half plan to continue to do so going forward. The research also found that consumers are three times more likely to purchase products such as makeup, fashion and food online now compared to prepandemic.

These new online shopping habits are highly unlikely to just go away overnight. The combined effect is that the home will continue to be a much more central part of the consumer experience than it was prepandemic. It’s also likely to be a more fluid experience, with consumer, social and work activities intertwined throughout the day.

Digital solutions will predominate for now

This focus on the home consumer could be good news for beauty brands, which have generally been at the forefront of the drive to expand direct-to-consumer channels, subscription models and smart home-delivery options.

What’s more, thanks to its “high engagement” nature, beauty is also leading in areas like digital chat services, video tutorials, Zoom try-ons, and virtual consultations. Kiehl’s, for instance, took its personalized consultations online via a “healthy skin hub.” These kinds of services will be just as important after the pandemic subsides.

Of course, physical retail will still be a key part of the beauty strategy. But it will need to evolve. And we should expect to see a lot of activity in the fusion of digital and physical experiences. Accenture’s new “Business Futures 2021” report found that retailers and brands are doubling down on virtual technologies to create “real virtualities” — defined as digital environments that are increasingly realistic, engage all senses and create a greater connection to the physical world — with nine in 10 C-suite executives of retail and consumer goods companies saying that they are investing in technologies to create virtual environments and plan to invest further.

Going forward, we can expect to see brands looking for ways to drive a much stronger sense of digitally “added value” in High Street retail locations, and precision beauty will be one of the main ways of doing that, although it’s equally applicable to home beauty services. By using technology to personalize the beauty experience — think personal skin care analysis and individually tailored products, for example — brands can provide a more “science driven” answer to consumer needs.

Innovation is the key to post-COVID beauty

The beauty industry’s history of technology-led innovation and organizational agility means it’s well placed to rebound strongly from the pandemic.

By continuing to drive forward with digital solutions for both home and High Street, and by making sustainability a core objective, the industry will make deeper connections with post-COVID consumers. That will be critical in capitalizing on the expected post-pandemic boom.

Audrey Depraeter-Montacel is global beauty lead at Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Service industry group.