How is Boddess Utilizing AR/VR Technologies to Enhance Consumer Experience
How is Boddess Utilizing AR/VR Technologies to Enhance Consumer Experience

With the onset of the pandemic, the world is changing faster than we can imagine. Safety has become a major concern for all consumers and things planned for the future are happening way early. Consumers are now driven to the brand that can be trusted while making a purchase. Hence, the brands have started to continuously evolve to keep up with the changing consumer expectations. One such brand that has recently entered the offline retail market is Boddess.

The Indian beauty and personal care market is growing undeterred at a whopping $26.07 billion, as per 2022 figures. The market is expected to boom annually by 4.64 percent (CAGR 2022-2025). Boddess plans to take a large market share in this market.

Spreading Wings

Boddess is present through an e-commerce platform and an app with an enhanced user experience and a strong loyalty program with significant customer fan bases.

“Our platform reaches 15K pin codes and is expected to be serviced pan India by end of this year,” Ritika Sharma, Founder and CEO, Boddess said.

The brand started with its online digital business during the pandemic and launched its flagship in December 2021. Boddess’ first Boddess Beauty store flagship is located in Ambience Mall, with salons and experience zones in its store.

How is Boddess Utilising AR/VR Technologies to Enhance Consumer Experience

Its flagship store is an experience and service-based concept with a Hair, Nail, and Brow Bar, and Smart Mirrors with AI tools providing a true omnichannel experience with physical and digital integration, to help guide its customers in what works for them in the makeup and skincare space.

“We are now on our way to opening 10 more stores next year followed by further retail expansion in different formats, in a coordinated and sequenced way,” she added.

Brand Portfolio

Boddess has a diverse portfolio of over 150 brands. Some of the brands include Kora Organics, Korean Luxury Skincare brand Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Innisfree, Natural Skincare brand; Caudalie, the Cult Makeup brand; Anastasia Beverly Hills, Cruelty-Free & Vegan Skincare and Body care brand; The Body Shop, luxury haircare brand; Kevin Murphy and Olaplex. Premium brands like Issey Miyake, Carolina Herrera, Mont Blanc, Paco Rabanne, Burberry, Givenchy, Salvatore Ferragamo, and more, are also a part of the assortment. Pioneer in Organic Health, Neal’s Yard Remedies, a British Luxury Skincare Brand, Juice Beauty, and an International Farm to Beauty brand also recently made their first entry into India through the Boddess Store. The Boddess store also hosts a plethora of well-known D2C homegrown brands like Minimalist, Dot & Key, and The Man Company.

“We plan to touch a mark of 200 brands by the end of this year,” Sharma stated.

The brand’s target market includes consumers who are evolved and innovative in their beauty journey to consumers who play in both mass and premium segments, follow the latest trends, are not necessarily high on technology but want the latest SKUs whether it's Anastasia Beverly Hills or L’Oréal.

“Our millennials and GenX are also large audience categories who are well networked, big spenders versus the latter who are more price-conscious, and value-driven,” she further asserted.

Boddess’ grooming category is an important part of its portfolio with brands like The Man Company, Mcaffeine, Bombay Shaving Company, etc.

How is Boddess Utilising AR/VR Technologies to Enhance Consumer Experience

Technology at the Forefront of the Business

Beauty and technology have come together in a way that involves digitization as the core of creating, manufacturing, and distributing beauty products including the conception of the ‘hybrid ecosystem’ with the Metaverse. 'Beauty-tech' has witnessed widespread adoption and practice.

The growing importance of technology in each industry is known. Catering to such a demand, Boddess has made investments in the ML-powered AR/VR tech stack and introduced the ‘Boddess Virtual Pro’, which provides the consumers with access to the virtual skin analyzer and virtual makeup tool. This helps consumers to navigate solutions and seek recommendations for themselves while staying within the safety of their homes.

With the help of make-up try-on, its customers can find a true match for foundation shades, lipsticks, etc. Backed by consumer data sets, machine learning, and augmented reality tools, the Boddess Virtual Pro helps diagnose skin issues faced by several consumers on their mobile phones and accordingly provides tailor-made skin care regimes for the users. The whole idea of AR/VR is utilized by the users for engagement as well as conversion, as it gets more prevalent in the current scenario.

“Another area that we are starting to look at is evolving our personalization efforts and communication; how we can leverage data and insights to further evolve our guest experience, understand customer behavior, and predict where our consumers are going,” Sharma said.

How is Boddess Utilising AR/VR Technologies to Enhance Consumer Experience

READ MORE: Beauty Trends Shifting to Cater to the Conscious Consumer

Deploying In-Store Tech

Known for being a tech-led beauty brand, it was only apparent that Boddess’ flagship on-ground store would not just incorporate all the digital touchpoints available on its e-retail platform, but also take it a notch further. Some of the technologies deployed in-store include:

  • Magic Mirror Technology: Powered by Machine Learning Technology, the Magic Mirrors installed in the store allow consumers to have a touchless and Virtual Skin Diagnosis and provide access to a tailor-made skincare regime. The Magic Mirror screen also substitutes their advanced Makeup Try-on feature that allows consumers to scroll and skim through a wide range of beauty products and find the perfect shades that they can try on virtually.
  • Click and Collect Feature: To round up a seamless and technologically interactive shopping experience, the brand has added a click and collect feature at the store where the customer can buy or order products from the website and collect them from the store.
  • Interactive App: At the store, the interactive APP enables customers to digitally navigate, surf product catalogs, and place orders. The inbuilt application visible on the screen further informs the user of events and happenings, new and exclusive product launches, latest promotions, and trending.
  • QR Codes: Boddess has also placed QR codes across the store on bestselling products to enable customers to scan and explore the products online.

“From Magic Mirrors that work as skin analyzer and make-up try-on to interactive screens and experiential zones, to multiple strategically positioned touch points, the brand boasts of providing customers with a seamless digital and physical experience,” she concluded.

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