Snapchat adds Perfect Corp.’s AR beauty testing

Dive Brief:

Perfect Corp. and Snap Inc. have teamed up to integrate augmented reality beauty product try-on experiences into Snapchat, according to a Thursday press release.
Brands and retailers can share existing AR experiences they built with Perfect Corp. on Snapchat as shoppable lenses, the companies said. The experiences will live on a given retailer's brand profile.
The collaboration will allow over 200 beauty brands to create virtual storefronts on the platform, according to the release. Snapchat campaigns that have shoppable AR lenses experienced a 2.4 times "higher action intent lift" than the third quarter average, the company said.

Dive Insight:

With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing consumers away from testing cosmetics in person, this collaboration with Snapchat lets beauty brands use AR and AI to engage with Snapchat users, Perfect Corp. founder and CEO Alice Chang said in a statement.

According to Snapchat, its young audience is highly engaged with AR, with more than 180 million users engaging with AR features every day. The platform's AR creators have built over 1.5 million lenses, the company said. Perfect Corp. also has a longstanding relationship with AR.

Over the past couple of years, Perfect Corp. has been introducing features to digitize the cosmetic try-on experience. Last year, the company added its YouCam virtual try-on technology into Alibaba's Tmall and Taobao platforms and debuted "YouCam for Web," which lets consumers preview makeup using AR tools on a brand's website. Earlier this year, the platform teamed up with PRIV to feature PRIV's Runway Trends Collection in an interactive Fashion Week beauty showcase. In September, the company rolled out contactless makeup testing tools to meet the needs of a pandemic world.

Snapchat has undergone changes of its own. Last month, the social media platform unveiled new tools to help developers marketing their apps on the platform. During the coronavirus pandemic more broadly, Snapchat has seen higher engagement, signifying how cell phone cameras have evolved into an essential engagement tool.