Dive Brief:
- Perfect Corp. announced a partnership with travel retailer Dufry on Monday to introduce augmented reality makeup try-on tech in airports worldwide, according to a release. The virtual try-on will be made available in airport stores and online.
- Products from 15 brands including Benefit, Kylie Cosmetics and Huda Beauty are eligible for virtual try-on through the collaboration.
- The try-on tech is available at the London Heathrow, London Stansted, Manchester and Barcelona airports and Dufry plans to expand it to more airports in the future. The online experience is rolling out in 27 countries.
Dive Insight:
Virtual try-on could be a solution for travelers with limited time between flights and limited space to carry products, who want to test out a color or look before purchasing.
"Our true value for retailers is our capacity to provide hundreds of brands’ virtual SKUs to retailers wishing to engage with their consumers wherever they are,” Perfect Corp. founder and CEO Alice Chang said in a statement. “Our collaboration with the global travel retailer Dufry allows us to also touch traveling consumers during their journey, be it online or offline."
Perfect Corp.’s established partnerships with brands allow the AR beauty company to create virtual product SKUs. The company also owns and operates the mobile apps YouCam Makeup and YouCam Perfect, where users can try on makeup and edit photos of themselves. Retailers can choose the brands they want to deploy, with brand approval. Perfect Corp.’s database holds over 350,000 SKUs from over 500 global brands.
Virtual shopping experiences have existed throughout the metaverse and Web3 spaces with many brands collaborating with augmented reality developers. Virtual try-on however is only recently being explored. Last month, Google introduced a virtual dressing room through generative artificial intelligence on its search engine. Shoppers can use the “Try On” tool to show an item on models ranging from sizes XXS to 4XL, even featuring different skin tones, body shapes and hair types. Last year, Amazon also introduced augmented reality tech for shoe try-on on its site.
Virtual try-on could further personalization efforts in some cases, like Google’s, that allow shoppers to customize the model wearing a product. Perfect Corp.'s technology also allows customers to see what items look like on their face. At airport stores with already limited product offerings, the virtual tech can also offer a broader selection of items for shoppers to choose from than what is typically sold at duty-free shops.
